Olive Oil

After an early breakfast we took one last walk along the shore of Lake Iseo in the morning haze. This will be a travel day, with lots of time on the bus. So we wanted to walk a bit before starting.

One last photo of Lake Iseo

Lake Iseo was in the rear view mirror today as we headed southeast toward Lake Garda, the largest of Italy's northern lakes. Along the way, we stopped in the very touristic town of Desenzano, on Lake Garda's southern shore.

In Desenzano, we stopped at a small bar and were served a mid-morning shot of limoncello, a very high octane liqueur made from the peelings of the lemons grown in this area. The shopkeeper came out to our sidewalk tables to explain the process of creating the drink, with Luca translating.

Monument to the end of fascism

We then had a bit of a walk along the lakeshore, and some free time to look around the town. We visited the duomo (cathedral) and found it quite plain. 

A duomo so plain it almost looks Protestant

Then we walked to the castle (or what's left of it) which offered some nice views, but little else. Then we were back on the bus, heading north along the western shore of Garda.

View from the castle

Our next stop was Frantoio Manestrini. In Italian, a frantoio is an olive press. And Manestrini is the family name of a father and daughter who own the company. The father is long retired, but we met the daughter.

We had a young woman as a company guide to take us out into the olive trees and then through the pressing and bottling areas. She began by telling us it was her first tour, so please be kind to her. We thought it was a joke, but as the tour continued I began to believe that she really WAS inexperienced.

Fortunately, the tour didn't last long. We went into the shop, where tables had been set. We had a tasting of five different olive oils. Some tasted differences, but to me they all just tasted like olive oil. We did, however, get a very nice lunch after the tasting, including bread with olive spread, olives, meats, cheeses, wine, and a couple different salads.

Back on the bus, we retraced our route going south again, then around the lake and up the east side, The Autostrada (motorway, like our interstate highways) did not go near the lake. But we traveled across a flat plain that was very agricultural. It could have been Illinois, except that instead of cornstalks, there were grapevines as far as the eye could see. Field after field of grapes, off to the horizon!

As we traveled farther north, the plain gave way to hills and low mountains. We arrived in Trento, a very nice and prosperous city that is only about 100 km (60 miles) from the Austrian border -- about 100 miles south of Innsbruck.

Trento was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I, and the germanic influence is very visible here. So are the German-speaking tourists who were crowding the streets this Saturday afternoon.

Our hotel here is very nice and very centrally located. We walked the neighborhood only briefly, as we'll get a full tour tomorrow. Because we had such a nice lunch, we shopped a nearby supermarket and snacked for dinner. We also learned that, even if you buy a very cheap bottle of wine in a grocery store, the nice man at the hotel bar will be happy -- not to loan you a corkscrew -- but to open the bottle for you!