site updated 30 August 2019 © PictureLakeGarda.com 2008-2019
Pictures of Limone on Lake Garda in Italy
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Limone on Lake Garda at night
The church is San Benedetto
Night at Limone on Lake Garda. Piazza Garibaldi is at the right and La Chiesa di San Benedetto can be seen at the left
Limone on Lake Garda
with the mountains behind
Hillside at Limone with olive groves and other trees. Malcesine can be seen in the distance across the waters of Lake Garda
Part of Hotel Royal Village with Lake Garda in the background
Evening restaurant in the narrow streets of the old town
Lemons in the Limonaia del Castel. The lemon industry collapsed before 1930 but this lemon house has been restored
The fountain in Piazza Garibaldi at night
Limone at night. The Hotel All’Azzuro is on the right with the Hotel Le Palme beyond
Quayside by the imbarcadero or pier. The restaurant of Hotel all’Azzuro is on the right and the restaurant of Le Palme beyond
A Limonaia or lemon house on the side of the hill in Limone. I think this may be the Limonaia del Castel but I’m not sure
Porto Vecchio at night, looking across Lake Garda. Porto Vecchio means old port. It can only take about a dozen boats
Pleasure boats at night by the Hotel Le Palme in the old town
Night lights shimmering across Lake Garda from Limone. The waterfront road is called the Lungolago Marconi
In summer, unless it’s been raining hard, it’s difficult to match this stream to it’s name, the Torrente San Giovanni
Classic Fiat Cinquecento (Fiat 500) at Desenzano at the bottom of Lake Garda
Vibrant window boxes brighten the evening
View from our balcony at the Hotel Royal Village. The olive trees and palms grow over part of the building
Boat stop at the end of the pier, the imbarcadero
Lake Garda in the evening looking down over Limone. The tower of the Chiesa di San Benedetto is visible at the bottom of the picture
Hillside villa above Limone sul Garda
Evening. Tall houses in narrow streets
The mill of the olive co-
Olive tree shrine to Saint Daniele Comboni
The Ape, pronounced appay and meaning “Bee”, workhorse of mountain villages in Italy
Garden at the Comboni Mission
Lemons on a wall in Limone
The Garden of the Comboni Mission on the hill
Door of the tiny chapel at the Comboni Mission
Walnuts growing on a hillside with mountains beyond. Lake Garda lies this side of the dark mountain in the picture
Limone seen from Lake Garda
Afternoon at the pool of Hotel Royal Village in Limone
Olive blossom was everywhere in May
Hotel Sole on the Lungolago Marconi promenade. The tiny marina called Porto Nuovo lies in front
San Benedetto church tower in the evening
The gate leads to the Limonaia del Castel
Waterside restaurant terrace on the edge of the lake
We saw lots of these beautiful little lizards. If you know the species name please email us
The sparrows are able to tell the time, arriving on the terrace at mealtimes. They amuse the hotel guests
Rooftops in the evening looking down from the Limonaia del Castel to Lake Garda
Lemons growing in the restored lemon house, Limonaia del Castel
Porto Vecchio, the old port, in the evening
Evening at Piazza Garibaldi on the edge of Lake Garda
The Hotel Monte Baldo on Via Porto at Porto Vecchio. Porto Vecchio, the “old port” is tiny and picturesque, here with a single swan
Shop windows in the town in the late evening. Limone old town is lovely and feels different as the light changes. I love the evening
Porto Vecchio, the "old port" in the late evening. There's barely room for a dozen small boats
Sleeping goose, at San Benedetto's Vicarage
Painting above the doors of the Church of San Benedetto. The painting shows Daniele Comboni with Limone and Lake Garda
The Municipio or town hall. The villa, originally called La Casetta (The Little House) and now called Villa Boghi, has an interesting past
Piazza Garibaldi. The photo makes it look bigger than it is
Late May you can smell jasmine all over the town
Built into the side of the hill, Limone has narrow alleys
More rooftops with the tower of La Chiesa di San Benedetto in the distance
The View from the old lemon house at the Daniele Comboni Mission. Malcesine is visible across Lake Garda
Just before dark at the side of one of the pools at Hotel Royal Village
Hungry chaffinch at the Hotel Royal Village
Bar Terrace at Hotel Royal Village
The walk down from the Hotel Royal Village to Lake Garda takes you through the beautiful narrow
streets of the old town
The earlier part of this story can be found on the Home page
... The 3:30 bus to Gargnano arrived on time and I showed the driver the first of our large bags. He indicated to bring it into the bus. He looked a little surprised when it was followed by 3 more but the bus was almost empty.
Desenzano is a much more elegant town than I had remembered, and larger, and it’s easy to see why so many people love Lake Garda. All the villages the bus travels through are beautiful, Padenghe, Moniga, Manerba, Raffa and Le Zette. The town of Salò is particularly impressive, lying in a bay on the west side of the Lake. I’d like to stay in Salò. Passing through Fasano, Toscolano and Bogliaco the bus took about an hour to reach Gargnano where it terminated before going back to Desenzano. So now we were looking for a taxi to Limone.
Like several of the towns around Lake Garda, Gargnano is tiny, scarcely ½ a mile long. There was a taxi sign by the bus shelter but no taxis. In the bus shelter there’s a payphone with a prominent phone number for a taxi firm so, embarrassed or not, we had to try it. One euro later, and having left an answerphone message in broken Italian saying we were looking for a taxi for Limone from the bus station in Gargnano, we waited a bit but no taxi arrived. Time again to be brave.
Leaving Jac and the girls at the bus shelter I went looking and, finding no taxis, had to find someone to ask. I saw two men in a shop, working on some small electrical equipment, maybe mobile phones. The shop looked closed for business but the door was partly open and I pushed in.
“Scusi, parla inglese per favore?”
“No.” Simple answer if shorter than I’d hoped. No English then. I tried German. “Tedesco? Deutsch?”
“No.” So no German either.
“Taxi?” I asked. That translates pretty well everywhere.
The boss’s reply wasn’t difficult to understand. “Taxi? There are no taxis. Where do you want a taxi to?
“Limone” I told him. He didn’t hide his surprise.
“Limone? That’s 25 kilometres. They’d want 1 euro per kilometre there and back. Cinquanta euros!” He looked outside at a battered old Audi. “Audi?” he asked. “Cinquanta euros.” I needed to be sure about the number. I didn’t want to confuse cinquanta (50) and cinquecento (500). I guess he thought I was haggling.
“Quaranta euros” he said and wrote it on a paper bag on the counter, “40”.
“OK” I said. I managed to convey that there were 4 of us and lots of bags but he didn’t seem bothered. Now I needed to see Jac’s face. I needn’t have worried. As far a Jac was concerned any transport to Limone was better than none and the girls weren’t arguing. The boss gave the car keys to the other man, much older, and they removed the junk from the back of the car. Somehow our big bags all fitted in the boot and we climbed into the car with our hand baggage. I had the front seat. I wrote the address of the hotel in Limone on a piece of paper to show the driver but he seemed to have trouble reading it. Whether he needed glasses to read or had problems with my writing I don't know. I read it out to him and he noted the street name and we set off. It only occurred to me afterwards that he might not be able to read.
In the back, Jac and Bry and Cat seemed blithely unaware of how rough the engine sounded, nor did they notice the fuel light which came on almost immediately.
Until the 1930's many of the villages and small towns on the West side of Lake Garda were not accessible by road. The road that was built to connect them is called the Gardesana Occidentale. Beautifully scenic and masterpiece of engineering in its time, it was not built for 21st Century traffic. The road passes through tunnels cut out of the rock, wide enough for two cars to pass but not two buses.
This will be continued shortly...
One of the pools at Hotel Royal Village in the evening twilight
One of the pools at the Hotel Royal Village in the late afternoon
Lots of little lizards round Lake Garda. This one was well camouflaged
Hotel Cristina. Great walking in the hills above the hotel but you need to be fit.
La Milanesa above Limone. La Milanesa is marked on the map but, as far as we could see, this is it. Pub with rooms. Great location.
Torrente San Giovanni. Quiet now but it’s not called torrente for nothing!
Beautiful walking above Limone but not for the fainthearted. Some of it is very steep
Classic Italian cypress tree at the Hotel Royal Village
Cypress trees. Lake Garda is in the distance
The mountains above are as steep as they look
Really beautiful countryside above the town
Limone in the distance on the edge of Lake Garda
The national park on the western side of Lake Garda includes the foothills of the Dolomites
Harebells? I think they’re harebells but email me if I’m wrong
The Mantova, one of the passenger boats on Lake Garda, at the imbarcadero (embarkation quay)
Malcesine on the far shore of Lake Garda seen from Hotel Royal Village
Olive groves on a hill above the town. Across Lake Garda you can see Malcesine in the distance
It’s not just lemons in Limone. These oranges are growing at the lemon house Limonaia del Castel
Palm on the terrace at Hotel Royal Village
The ticket office on the pier. Look for the blue leaflet with the promotions card before you buy. It will save you 20%
Torrente San Giovanni. Torrent only after heavy rain
Above Limone you enter the beautiful national park
Shrine at La Milanesa
Olive trees, palm trees and mountains
View from our balcony at Hotel Royal Village
Many streets are too narrow for cars but scooters pass
We love Lake Garda in Italy. When we get the chance we're hoping to explore more, towns like Desenzano, Padenghe, Moniga, Manerba, San Felice del Benaco, Salo, Gardone Riviera, Toscolano-Maderno, Gargnano, Torbole and Sirmione.
