Lago d’Iseo – last

Amoroso is the name of a small boutique hotel in the oldtown of Iseo. It is the only one of two hotels there, right on the lakeshore and man / woman, it is gorgeous! We only stayed there for one night, but I wouldn’t mind spending many more nights in this gem.

Parking is somewhat tricky: first you’ll have to find nearby parking in the restricted area, go to the hotel, get a parking validation, then find your car again, re-park into a blue marked spot or – as we were – just put that validation into your car because you’re already on a blue spot. Right on the waterfront.

Iseo is beautiful, great shopping, lovely restaurants, friendly people and – OMG – no American tourists, because they hang out on Lake Clooney, I mean Lake Como! And no German tourists either, who we left behind on Lago di Garda! Funny is that all the lakes are called Lago thisandthat, but Como is Lake Como, so the Americans have one word less to learn 😇.

From Iseo we drove west to Sarnico to visit a boat supplier (who happens to sell Riva merchandise), but Siesta made us take a break in Paratico (both towns are connected by a bridge), where we found this adorable flower shop / cafe in an old railroad station. I just love the way they set it up, their merchandise, the cafe was super cute and I took a ton of photos – couldn’t help it! This business should be in a textbook for my “visual merchandise and display” class!

This was the shopping moment Ted had waited so patiently for

I definitely want to go back there next time we are in Italy!

The Art of Siesta

All around the Mediterranean the art of siesta is a daily routine most visitors are irritated by. It is annoying if you have lunch somewhere and want to go shopping, because all stores are closed. “Chiuso” Tourists have the urge to spend their hard earned money and lunch provides the perfect amount of energy to do so. But no way Jose, it is siesta and siesta is a holy break that nobody should question!

Getting used to it takes a while. Step 1: oh shit, everything is closed, what a nuisance, don’t they want my money kind of attitude Step 2: let’s run our errands and get some lunch before they have siesta. “They!” Step 3: We wake up in the morning, plan what we’d like to do that day, errands in the morning, lunch and then our siesta! “Our!” And we take it serious! Every day we take a nap; and I mean a NAP! Mansize as Ted would say. Long, in bed (not at a sofa or anything), with nothing planned afterwards except dinner. Late dinner. Dinner when it gets dark.

After 4 weeks in Italy, we are fully submerged in this art form. We take it serious and we love it!