Monday 18 June 2012

Arco (Lago di Garda)

Earlier this year, thanks to Graham, I learnt the term "Gabion Walls" (see this post for the context), and here I mentioned that stone walls have almost the same tugging appeal to me as doors and doorways.

Therefore, you can probably imagine how much I enjoyed the climb up to the Castello di Arco, in spite of it being quite steep in places and there for us at the end of a walk that had already been at least 7 km long, most of it in the bright sun at temperatures of around 27 Celsius or more.
The sight of these olive orchards with flowers and stone walls was so beautiful, I wasn't even that interested in getting to the actual castle anymore.
We still did, of course, and were rewarded with magnificent views across the small old town of Arco, which sits right next to Riva, separated from it by Monte Brioni, a nature reserve.

Already around the year 1000, the castle was mentioned in documents, but most of what is visible today received its characteristic shape about two centuries later. The castle was abandoned in the early 1700s and made accessible to the public only in the 1980s.

On our way back from Arco to Riva, we decided to walk a different route... which took us longer than expected and wasn't quite as pleasant as the way there, because it wasn't on foot paths but along roads which, although there was not much traffic, were a little dangerous at times with their many curves and drivers of the few cars clearly not expecting any walkers.

Had we not chosen that route, though, we would not have come across this unusual house, partly built into and onto the rock; it is a restaurant, and we would have certainly gone there one evening for dinner if we had stayed longer than the one week.

Does anyone know what this beetle is?
It was about half as long as my thumb, and just as thick, and we were very careful not to step on it.

The following day, we were in the mood for slightly less walking and drove to Verona, but that is certainly worth its own post :-)

10 comments:

  1. Hello Meike:
    what a stunning situation the castle has. Truly remarkable and surely worth all the effort to reach it, although less energetic souls, such a ourselves, may well have had to be content with a view from half way up!!

    Ancient olive trees make such a wonderful romantic sight and really do give an enduring spirit to a place. The ones you show here look wonderful, as do the stone walls, all slightly wild and timelessly beautiful.

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    1. Once we were up there, we took a short break on a bench in the shade, but very soon we were on our feet again, wanting to have a good look round at the castle and the views from various points of the rock.
      I kept thinking at the people who, all those centuries ago, had to drag up the building material all the way to the top with no modern machinery to help.

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  2. What a fabulous castle. I'd love to stay somewhere like that - I'd feel like an eagle. And it's always good to arrive somewhere under your own steam, I think.

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    1. At Arco, cars are not allowed further up than maybe two thirds of the way where there is a small parking bay. I think that makes sense; cars would ruin the path and make it difficult for anyone who wanted to walk up.

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  3. The Riva Beetle? ))
    What an amazing spot!
    I bet the smells too were wonderful~
    xx
    julie

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    1. Yes, Julie, maybe it is the Riva beetle - but what was it doing in Arco? :-))

      It did indeed smell wonderful, there were hedges of honeysuckle and many other flowers, roses and some lavender.

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  4. What a beautiful trip! Your photos are just stunning! I love stonewalls too, they are very common in New England, I especially love finding them in unexpected places - like the woods on a walk, it makes me wonder what happend so long ago!

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    1. Thank you, Mary! I know exactly what you mean about finding stone walls in unexpected places and thinking about what happened there in the past!

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  5. Whoa! That's quite a location for a castle! And what a climb. I am impressed! :o)

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    1. The climb was quite easy, really, as the path was well kept and had no bikes or cars. I've read somewhere that the actual rock is used for an annual rock climbing festival...!

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