Lady Garda

When we embarked on our Winter tour of Europe, we knew it was Winter.  We knew it was going to be cold, and on occasion very cold.  (but really!) We have become experts on the metrology of the continent, how it is warmed by the Atlantic, cooled from the East etc.  We also learnt of the odd place that bucks the seasonal trend where we could head to.   

Lake Garda for instance, has a “reasonable climate all year round”.  We picked an apartment in a lovely looking village 500m from the North East shore called Tignale and as we drove on the winding road that hugs the lake, all was good.  After going through some ridiculous tunnels that look like they were hewn from the rock with stone picks, we turned off from the main road towards Tignale and went up, and up and up.

Tignale is indeed lovely, it is indeed 500 metre from the lake but it is also 500 metres above the lake! “A reasonable climate all year round” is quite different 500 metres up, as the foot of snow that fell testified. Bit chilly too....

The locals were all quite surprised to see some tourists trudging through the snow and the lady at the reception preceded most sentences with “if it was open it would be nice” But when the sun came out and the clouds dispersed it was absolutely gorgeous, with mountain backdrop views, down to the glistening lake.  We also had a 42 apartment resort to our selves which felt pretty cool when we locked the electronic gates for the night.

The village was closed apart from the high caffeine tinged cafe Roma, the supermarket and the bakers, which is all you need. Did I mention it was a bit chilly too...?

The delicacies of Tignale are Grappa, olive oil and Truffles.  What an interesting Ready, Steady, Cook.