Postcards from Lake Garda

A few years ago I went on a family trip to Lake Garda. I’ve shared photos from the trip over on Twitter and Instagram and even talked about the 4 reasons you should visit Lake Garda.

I can’t remember exactly why I didn’t get around to sharing a full selection of photos with you at the time. I think it was because I was going through a very busy patch of work (full time job, lots of freelance work and blogging). It’s currently pouring with rain here in Sheffield so I thought that now would be a good chance to share one of my traditional ‘Postcards From…‘ posts. It’s basically a bunch of my favourite photos and memories from my holiday in Lake Garda, I hope you enjoy it.

Exploring italy with my family

homes in italy

One of my favourite views from the trip. This photo was taken from the Ponte Pietra bridge in Verona.

Bright yellow lemons

fruit stall lake garda

I’ve shared this photo a lot, I really like the colour combo of the green and yellow with a big burst of red from the chilli.

Colourful apartments

Flowers on apartments in Italy

There were so many balconies covered in flowers throughout Sirmione.

window shutters

Italy exploring

Exploring the shops in Italy

I spotted these interesting cards in the window of a toyshop. Aren’t the illustrations are quite creepy?

peddle boats in lake garda

evening walk by the boats

Although we went on a few boat trips we never took one of these smaller ones out. I did like how they were all lined up neatly in a row every evening though.

dark choc sorbet

Evening walks for ice cream are always a good idea. This was a dark chocolate sorbet and I’m pretty sure the flavour underneath was lemon or mint.

dainty flowers

Boat life

Bird in flight

Although this photo isn’t quite in shot I still love it. I had very little time between picking my camera up and taking the snap but I can still remember this sweet little bird. We’d all sat down for lunch after doing lots of walking around Bardolino. We were drinking lemon slushy drinks and waiting for out lunch to arrive when this little bird came and sat next to us. It quickly flew away but kept coming back to see if we had any scraps of food.

Bird cages - lake garda italy

Sirmione is a historic town with lots of cobbled streets and interesting shops.

veg stall

Beautiful fruit and veg

The fresh vegetables and fruit around Sirmione were so colourful.

Looking out - Lake Garda

A beautiful evening in Lake garda

I always love going for evening walks when I’m on holiday. It’s good way to walk off all the delicious Italian food and of course, stop off for ice cream or coffee. It’s also lovely to look out onto the lake in the evening. If you get there at the right time there are some beautiful sunsets to catch. Next time I need to make sure I’m there for the sunrise too.

markets in verona italy

markets in italy

market stall

There are lots of day trips you can do from Sirmione. We took a local bus to Verona where we walked through the Piazza delle Erbe. It’s a big market square which is filled with foodie stalls, fresh fruit and veg and of course, souvenirs.

Looking out

Lake Garda Yellow building

lake garda swan

Lake Garda Letter box

I couldn’t resist a shot of normal daily life in Sirmione.

Water feature

A water feature in the lake. I’m fairly sure I snapped this on one of our day trips to Bardolino.

Lake Garda Ice Cream

I really fancy some ice cream now. What’s your favourite flavour?

Lake Garda hotel

Cute little hotel balconies.

Lake Garda Castle

Lake Garda beautiful virwe

Italy - beautiful flowers

Italian street

We walked quite far into Bardolino and it was totally worth it. The streets were calm and quiet and we found some lovely traditional coffee shops.

Pink and white flowers italy

I just loved all the beautiful flowers I came across during my holiday.

Passiflora - passion flower

watermelon sorbet

Make sure you’ve always got extra room to stop for sorbet or ice cream when you’re in Italy. This was a delicious watermelon sorbet.

verona

I’m sure many of you will know that Verona is famous for its setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I suggest making an early morning or late afternoon visit to Casa di Giulietta (the house that inspired the play). It gets pretty busy throughout the day.

Verona buildings

Triathlon Italy

When we went to Bardolino for the day they were hosting the Ironman Triathlon. The race consists of swimming, biking and running. The quiet little town was pretty busy and full of life, as I’m sure you can imagine. It was fantastic to see the participants working so hard in the race.

the streets of verona

I love to people watch when I’m on holiday and Verona was perfect for this. It was so hot that we ended up stopping at little cafes for iced coffee and to watch the world go by.

sweet treats in italy

A selection of various sweet treats to go with a shot of strong Italian espresso.

soft flowers in italy

I couldn’t get enough of these pretty pink flowers. I took this will my 50mm lens and I’m so happy with how it came out. The bokeh and blur helps to give it such a soft and summery feeling.

shades of blue

I hope you enjoyed my collection of photos from Lake Garda. I hope to go back to Italy again, I’d really like to visit Lake Como next time. Have you been  Italy? If so, leave a comment below and tell me about adventure.