Isola del Garda

This beautiful palazzo, on its own private island, is owned by the same family who operates the campsite we stayed at; and we had a perfect view of it sitting on "our" small morning beach. Seeing that NL sadly lost the World Cup final on Sunday 11/07, we required some distraction the following Monday morning so went on a guided tour offered to guests of the campsite :-)

The island has had a varied history and has been used for many different purposes over the years.

The first historical mention can be found in a decree by Charlemagne in the year 879 which documented the donation of the island to the monks of San Zenon of Verona. The island remained the property of the monks for an undetermined time, and around 1180 St Francis of Assisi visited many areas of northern Italy including Lake Garda. He apparently made a simple hermitage in the rocky part on the northern end of the small island. The island was continuously occupied by the monks, and in 1429 the old monastery was renewed and enlarged. From 1685 to 1697 it remained a convent for novices where the monks went into retreat.

In 1778 the by now outdated monastery was suppressed by Napoleon, who then acquired the right of property on the island. It later became the property of the state and in the following years had various owners. In 1860 it was dispossessed by the state and given to the army. The idea to build a fortress was quickly abandoned and it was decided to sell it at auction; the property was awarded to Baron Scotti who sold it to Duke Gaetano de Ferrari of Genoa and his wife, the Russian Archduchess, Maria Annenkoff.

Between 1880 and 1900 the new owners dedicated their time to planning the park, building containment walls, and importing fertile earth & exotic plants (including some of THE oldest, biggest and most gnarled olive trees I have ever seen!). The gardens are now surrounded by terraces with elaborately designed hedges and flowering bushes. Before the Duke’s death in 1893, the two of them together conceived the project of a palazzo to be built on the site of the old villa. The new builiding, in Neogothic-Venetian style, was constructed between 1890 and 1903, and was designed by the then reknowned architect Luigi Rovelli.

After the death of Maria, the island passed on to her daughter Anna Maria, wife of Prince Scipione Borghese of Rome. Anna Maria loved the island very much and made it her home until the end of her life.

In 1927, on the death of Anna Maria, the island passed down to her daughter Livia, married to Count Alessandro Cavazza of Bologna who kept it in an excellent state to leave it to his son Camillo, who in turn left it to his wife Charlotte and their seven children (the 4 brothers and 3 sisters who own Fornella Camping) - phew! Today the family continue to passionately look after the park and the palazzo where they actually still live.

As fortification half way through the 2 1/2 hour tour we had a break and were able to sample the olive oil that is also produced by this industrious family :-)

Alli xxx

Campsite in Italy

Well this campsite on the shores of Lake Garda (Fornella Camping) was totally different to the previous two in Croatia. It is by far the biggest campsite we have ever stayed at, and with about 80% of the campers from NL it was a bit like being in a Dutch enclave. That was especially fun in the lead up to the World Cup final, when almost every campervan/tent/caravan was decorated with some kind of orange stuff !

The campsite itself is owned and operated by one of THE families of the area (the Cavazza Borghese family). They are 4 brothers and 3 sisters who not only own the campsite we stayed at, but also a second campsite, a boat centre, a large olive farm, and the beautiful private island (Isola del Garda).

There was both a smaller and much quieter "morning" beach, and a larger busier "afternoon" beach at Fornella - we usually took advantage of the morning beach in the evenings, with a dip nearly every day after dinner at about 9.00pm :-) The rest of the time was spent swapping between the 2 swimming pools !

With so many families staying at this campsite there were always fun daily activities for the kids organised by the "animation team" - everything from table tennis tournaments, tennis games, water polo matches, treasure hunts, and the highlight for most of the teenage girls (and the not so teenage girls!), the "splash dance" (check out the photo below of the 3 Italian "life guards" !).

World Cup football match here:

11/07 NL vs Spain 0-1 :-(

Alli xxx

And another new country ...

... we can add to our list is Bosnia Herzegovina.

On the way back from the Plitvice Lakes to our campsite, we stopped off in the city of Bihac for a cup of coffee! With Croatia not yet part of the EU we had to pass through border control in both directions and on arrival once again use a non-Euro currency (this time the convertible mark). We were already used to the kuna in Croatia so it didn't feel too alien.

Now I must be honest, Bihac is definitely NOT on my list of cities I will ever return to! It is a pretty miserable little place with not that much to see outside a miniscule, but surprisingly green, inner city. There is still plenty of evidence of the war, with just about every second building riddled with bullet holes, and every other building that depressing grey concrete box-like construction typical of the old eastblock.

The last two photos you can see here are of houses along the roadside in Croatia (on the way back to the campsite). As far as we could figure out, these houses, just a couple of the dozens we saw, used to be occupied by Serbs. The occupants were forced to flee by the local Croats and later set on fire and simply left abandoned and destroyed. They remain empty to this day. Seems this is still a very sensitive subject in Croatia. On return to our campsite we began by asking a few questions of the campsite owner about the abandoned houses, and were politely but firmly told not to ask!

Alli xxx

Plitvice Lakes

This, the largest of Croatia's national parks, would have to be without a doubt one of THE most beautiful places I have ever seen, and one of the highlights of our vacation. Thanks to a tip from Jeroen's mum Bea, who was here with Piet about 40 years ago (!!), we had already set aside a day to visit the lakes before we had left home. So happy we did - it was a-ma-zing !!

The Plitvice Lakes are in a mountainous area of central Croatia. The park contains 16 lakes in total. All of the lakes are separated by natural travertine dams (a sort of naturally formed limestone made up of deposits of algae, moss and bacteria) and stretch out over some 8 kms. The lakes are famous for their distinctive colours ranging from azure, to green, grey, or blue, and apparently the colours constantly change depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. On first sight you would swear that there is some kind of artificial colouring in the water, but it is all natural!

By total coincidence we began our visit at the top end of the lakes. Winding our way slowly downhill along the many wooden boardwalks all we could keep saying around almost every new bend was "wow" !

I can assure you it is little wonder that in 1979 the lakes were included on the UNESCO world heritage list in recognition of their "outstanding natural beauty".

Alli xxx