Best of Bardolino

Bardolino.   Famous for its wines and olive oil.   Yesterday it should have been famous for its beautiful surreal light too as we looked out on to the lake, completely reminding me of the Scandinavian light we took for granted in our previous temporary homeland once upon a time.

I miss that light, and having the sea on our doorstep now that we have mountains instead.  Maybe it’s coming from another small island that does it, but like our time in Denmark, I know that this life is not forever, and one day I will probably miss the mountains as well.   Plus living where we do has plenty of good points besides, like being in Italy within a few hours as I have mentioned countless times before…

Bardolino lies on the Eastern side of Lake Garda, and is a pretty painless 4 hour drive from Munich (if you don’t try to make your way across the Brenner Pass when the rest of the world and his wife is).  You can get there in time for lunch if you leave early enough, but despite good intentions we have yet to do so.   We did arrive in time for over-enthusiastic small people to try out the (freezing cold) pool at our Agriturismo (it’s not really swimming season!) before investigating Bardolino late in the afternoon.

The old town is compact, but big enough to make you feel like you have undertaken a decent amount of exploration before sitting down to enjoy a glass of something this place is most famous for.   And if you time it just right, you can watch the sun go down too (I highly recommend Cafe Italia for location, nice service, and great pre-dinner nibbles – not that we got to enjoy that many – definitely one of the drawbacks of travelling with children)!

And the boat you can see above?  It belongs to my friend Trish.    It’s not actually really hers, but I have stared at it on her blog header for the past few years without realising it, until yesterday when I posted a similar picture on Instagram, and we put two and two together…

• Do visit the nearby olive oil museum. Entrance is free, and you will learn more than you thought humanely possible about olives. It’s also worth it for the “English” accent of the narrator believe me.
• Do venture away from the main strip where you will find good places to eat like Osteria Due Nani – which had some of us imagining “two Grannys” in the kitchen, and believe me those “grannys” can cook – their pumpkin gnocchi with walnuts is a dish that I will dream about for a while. I would happily dream about the tiramisu too despite not getting a look in on that (did I mention the disadvantages of travelling with children?)…
• Don’t feel like you have to stay in the town itself. I imagine it can be quite the tourist magnet in the summer months, and there are plenty of decent options just outside the town itself. I would recommend the agriturismo that put us up…
• Don’t leave without trying some of the famous Bardolino wines, it really would be rude not to.

Onto Folgaria tomorrow for a special visit…