To the Airport: We had a one day gap between the ocean post-cruise and the river pre-cruise. I rented a car for a day to drive to our 3 night pre-cruise at Lake Como, with an overnight at Lake Garda, which is half way between the two, about 4 hours total. We picked up the car at the Marco Polo (Venice) Airport, which is next to the lagoon, and were to drop it off in Como. I had expected to pay for a water taxi to the airport. However, Viking arranged for us to take a Marriott boat to the airport, a ride we shared with another couple from our cruise who were flying home. Something totally unexpected, was that a Viking representative went with us and walked us to the Avis counter in the airport. Thanks, Viking!

This was my first time driving in Italy. I got my international driving permit at AAA before we left and reviewed the Italian driving rules and road signs. At least they drive on the right. The car we rented was a compact SUV, a VW T-Roc, essentially a tall Golf hatchback with a 6 speed manual transmission. I’ve driven about a million miles so far, with about ¾ of that with a manual transmission and currently (as always) have a car with one, so I was happy with the manual in the rental car. I had not activated the international plan on my phone, but printed detailed directions from Google Maps before we left, both from the airport to Sirmione at Lake Garda and from there to our hotel in Moltrasio on Lake Como. Things were going OK until we missed the Sirmione exit from the A4 Autostrada (a toll road that we figured out how to enter and exit pretty quickly) and got part of the way to Milan. I exited the autostrada and drove about 3 miles until I pulled into a gas station. The attendant didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Italian. We were able to figure out that I could continue on the same road or go back to the autostrada for a quicker trip, which I did. We found the exit and made it to the parking lot in Sirmione outside of the Scaliger Castle and got a ride to our hotel in a “giant golf cart.”

This post marks the half-way point of my posts. My previous post can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-805002-1.html, while the first post of this series (that includes a map of all of the places where we stopped) can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801137-1.html

Next up: Lake Garda