Due Leoni

Tags

Brenzone, Hotel, Hotel recommendations, Italy, Lake Garda, Villa Due Leoni

On the eastern hillside of Lake Garda is a small family-run hotel called Due Leoni. The hotel is one big house, looking more like a large privately owned house than a hotel from the outside, but divided into smaller flats that are rented out. We stayed here for three nights, in a perfect, small two-bedroom flat.

The property is framed by neatly trimmed bushed and wrought iron fences. Inside the garden is well taken care of with flowers blooming, green grass and a pool that was just the perfect size and temperature. Furthest from the entrance gate, and on one side of the pool is a small field of olive trees. Across the road and beyond the small parking lot the olive trees continued.

We slept in in the morning. The sun rose late behind the mountains behind the hotel, but soon covered the area in splendid sunshine. Our flat was built so that no sun shone directly into it until late in the afternoon, making the living room/kitchen an invigorating hide-out from the fierce Mediterranean sun. As soon as we were up in the morning, one or two of us walked the few minutes down to the small supermarket to buy fresh bread. Cheese and ham was also cut and weighed while we watched. We ate the breakfast outside while watching the splendid view of the lake and waiting for the sun to reach our table. Soon as the food was gone we walked the few metres over to the pool where we spent hours every day. Sunbathing, swimming, fooling around in the pool and water-gun fights in-between the olive trees kept all three of us busy well into the siesta hours. At siesta the pool was closed and we returned to our flat. Another small and simple meal awaited before we either took a walk down to the lake or collapsed and fell asleep on the sofa or a cool bed, before the rest of the day was spent in and around the pool. In the evening we ate at the local restaurants, freshly caught fish from the lake, or a simple and delicious Italian pizza.

The stay in Brenzone was pure heaven. Husband and I loved it, and Son had the time of his life. He enjoyed the stay in Brenzone far more than the stay in Gardaland resort. We had time for each other, time to enjoy life and time to live. These days we reminisce while eating green salads with italian prosciutto sprinkled with olive oil made from the olives from the garden of Due Leoni.

 

(I absolutely recommend this hotel – check it out here)

Brenzone – on the banks of Lake Garda

Tags

Assenza, Brenzone, Due Leoni, Italy, Lago di Garda, Lake Garda

After a few days near Gardaland we travelled further north along the Garda lake up to Brenzone. Brenzone consists of many small villages and we stayed in Magugnano. A very picturesque village with tall mountains running steeply down towards the lake. I was in heaven. Clear mountain air, a crispy greenish-blue lake, fresh locally grown fruit everywhere, and the temperature was just perfect.

We stayed at a hotel called Due Leoni (I’ll come back to that in a later post) where the olive trees grew everywhere around us. We had five minutes to walk down to a small supermarket, where we bought breakfast every day. Giant hams lay on display in a cooler, and were sliced while we watched. Every day started with freshly baked rolls (perfect, but they could have substituted some of the white flour for some whole grain…) and a variety of Italian delicacies; prosciuttio di parma, prosciutto cotto, salame.

In the middle of the village was a small market. I believe this was only open once a week, but we were lucky enough to stumble upon it while out walking. I bought kilos of apricots and nectarines grown in and around the village. They were recently harvested and a kilo worth of fruit often included a small twig or two, and at least a few leaves from the trees; exactly the way I like it! There were all types of vegetables and fruits sold, and these made me dream of spending a month in the area, having time and the utilities to cook every meal from scratch using the best of produce.

The village was vibrant and full of life, as were the surrounding hills. It was a little magical walking in the streets looking at everything around us, knowing that the same streets had been roamed for centuries. Evidence of the long history of the village was found in shape of a small church adjacent to the market square. Murals inside it were about 800 years old, and apparently the church had been built on top of an older church. Every small village in Brenzone had a similar story to tell, all stretching back many centuries, making the area so much more than a gorgeous, adventurous tourist magnet.

Thinking ’bout summer

Tags

Brenzone, Flu, Ill, Italy, Summer, Virus

I’ve been quiet for a while. My body decided to improve my immune system by downloading and installing an immunity to this year’s flu. Unfortunately, what the body did not consider was the length and difficulty of the installation process and the fact that in order to install this immunity the body needed to suffer a proper virus attack first. Consequently I have been out for more than a week, first with the flu and now with sinusitis.

I like to push myself when feeling weak, but this time my body has spoken clearly: I have not been able to do anything! So it’s been a progess of panicking for the first few days about everything I should have done and now failed to do, to accepting the virus and succumbing to its effect, and then to relax and give my immune system time to work. Now I expect to be back on my feet in a few days’ time.

The best cure now seems to think a bit ahead. I have many things I look forward to, but what especially works wonder against headaches and stuffed noses is the summer holiday. My father is turning 60 and has invited his four kids, and our partners and kids, to celebrate him in ITALY! Our extended family will spend a week together near Venice, at a hotel by the beach in each our flat. Perfect! Husband, Son, and I have decided to go to Italy a week before the rest to travel around a bit. I haven’t been to Italy now for four years, last time was our honeymoon, but this will be my tenth time (or thereabout) in the area.

Our fortnight in the sun will be perfect! One week by the beach and the Adriatic sea, a few days in Gardaland (a large amusement park), and a few days in a lazy, Italian, small town called Benzone. I can’t wait!

(The photo was stolen from maps.google and is from Brenzone)