A Day Off in Levico Terme

A classic rest day...

•Big leisurely breakfast

•Wash clothes

•Walk around park, which is laid out according to a formula used by English spa towns in the late C19

•Essential coffee breaks

•Research on buses for tomorrow - sadly there are none, and a taxi will cost us €40 for the journey up to Vetriolo Terme. The jury's out! Shall we find a way of avoiding walking 1000 metres up to Vetriolo at the start of an already long day?

•Lunch with hordes of holidaymakers beside Lago di Levico, with goodies from a supermarket

•Quality time spent with Gino (Giovanni) the 86 year old owner of Hotel Ideal, and his wife. Gino's iron and steel sculptures, each with its touch of humour, have won many awards and characterise the whole premises. Gino (pictured with Sue) took us to his house to show us his display, which includes life size sculptures of him and his wife, his brother (with a mule's head) and Jesus, with carefully laced boots. Then he showed us his workshop - full of assorted bits of metal and a collection of well used metalwork machinery and equipment. Later, he told us we could stay in the apartment attached to his house if we came back. I think he's taken a shine to Sue, who is enjoying practising her Italian on him, as he speaks slowly

•A visit to the church (pictured), which although relatively new (1872-77) is the largest church in the Trentino area, and tomorrow's mass will apparently be televised

•Another audience with Gino - who this time told us they get lots of visitors from The Vatican and sometimes hold masses in the garden! Was he teasing us?...

•Dinner at the hotel. Our room is very cheap, and a lot of that cost will go to Booking.com, so the least we can do for these friendly folk is buy their food and drink

•An evening visit to the town centre, where today's 'concert' comprised a 'Gran ballo asburgico' ie a Hapsburg ball in fancy dress - very entertaining, but not as informative as the botanical display that we passed on the way

Comments:

Gayle - good to hear from you. Welcome home! I'm sure you'll be happy to slosh around in a bit of rain - surely you missed our temperate climate...

Anonymous (not a truck geek) - well done! Can you now explain why 'Benetti' was written on the back of the truck? What bit of it might they have made? That's it, I have no more hidden information. I do recall on a visit to Tuscany in the 1970s that the marble quarry lorries were right hand drive. At the time we thought it was to give the drivers a better view of the sheer drops on the mountain tracks, but I can't recall the logic behind that theory! I hope you found some good boots btw; the Asolo Fugitives and the very similar Scarpa Infinities have served me well, and I can at last report on a Hi-Tec product, the Rainer, being durable.

Patrick - when we came to the 'path 219 closed' sign we nearly took your route, but we were fed up of the road. Val di Centa turned out to be a splendid place. I've commented on Hotel Ideal above - it doesn't seem to have changed since you were here. Apart from Gino there's a friendly French manager who speaks fast Italian with a French accent, and the rest of the staff are delightful.

Jules - we'll miss your comments. Have a great time in Tuscany.

Data:
7 July 2012
Maybe 5km of wandering around Levico Terme
Other E5 walkers - none in evidence
Flower of the Day Off - Edelweiss, seen on Days 4 and 5, upstaged on both of those days but worthy of its status, and we may not see any more for a while.

Itinerary - http://www.topwalks.com/E5%20Route.html

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