Places to visit: Sirmione - Lake Garda / Italy (Scaliger Castle / Grottoes of Catullus)

Today I came back from my little vacation in Italy and first I want to share some pictures from the most interesting trip I made - Sirmione / Lago di Garda. 

When you arrive by car, bus, bicyle or by foot you will recognise that the city is divided into two parts. One part is the historic peninsula and the other the more modern city of Sirmione with a lot of hotels and houses.

Of course the historic peninsula is the interesting part of the town. To enter the historic city of Sirmione you need to go through the portal of the old town wall. 

The old portal of the town.

After passing the portal you already see the Scaliger Castle which was built in 1277/1278. The Scaliger Castle was a military castle to secure the sovereignty of the southern part of Lake Garda.

For five Euro you can enter the castle. You will have a beautiful view over the Lake Garda, the town of Sirmione and the castle itself. 

View from the castle to the newer part of Sirmione. (parking spaces as far as you can see :D ) Only a few cars are allowed to drive through the historic town. 

The tour through the castle is quite interesting athough there is not much information. You only get a small brochure at the entrance. There you also can find some antic boats.

Huge walls secure the castle.

After visiting the Scaliger Castle you should go along the beach promenade to the north. 

If you have your swimwear with you you can jump into sulfuric water which comes out of the ground a few meters from the promenade. 

If you don't like sulfuric water you can walk to the end of the peninsula and jump into clear blue water. There are also the Grottoes of Cattulus, the most striking example of a Roman private edifice discovered in northern Italy. The edifice had a rectangular plan and measured 167 x 105 m. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirmione) It's said to be the biggest private house in the Antic.

If you like to take a drink or two I can recommend "Jamaica Beach", a small bar at the foot of Catullus' house. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamaica-Beach-Sirmione/)