Holidays on Lake Trasimeno

After the beautiful and expensive trip to the United States, we'd decided to stay home for a while, but how do you do it??? Thanks to Tina's cousins, who poor things are still working and can only take holidays in August, we were forced, much against our will (so to speak), to join them on Lake Trasimeno at Castiglione del Lago. Settled at the Listro campsite (Via Lungolago) in Castiglione, nice, on the lake shore; the only drawback: the facilities left a bit to be desired, but at 12 euro a day in August you can't expect more. If you wanted, there was a free camper parking area, also on the lake shore, near the jetty, very nice, very green with plants, but without any facilities; not far away a single little fountain for water supply but no waste disposal.

During the week a friend of cousin Massimo acted as our cicerone and took us to visit the Ducal Palace, also known as "della Corgna"; every room is frescoed with valuable paintings; after a narrow walkway along the walls you can visit a medieval fortress at the centre of which are the remains of a small Byzantine church. We all had lunch together, in a little restaurant with tables on the street in an alley of the town centre; ate well and spent the right amount. Another important day was the boat trip on the lake, departing from the Castiglione water sports centre, with two boats similar to dinghies but much more comfortable; the departure was delayed by bad weather, the wind had ruffled the water and made it unsafe for the boats to go out.

Once the wind calmed, we set off towards Polvese island, where, after docking, we visited the scientific-educational Park, which in addition to its teaching activity can host students at a residential centre with accommodation and a restaurant. Also on the island there's a castle, ruined but with still powerful walls. On the way back we witnessed a magnificent sunset, in view of Castiglione, its castle outlined against the red sky was very spectacular. It was a short holiday but very pleasant, and thanks go to the cousins Ugo and Emilia, to Massimo and Laura and to the dynamic grandmother Ceci, who hosted us and made our stay happier.