Italy

In April I traveled to Italy with my girlfriend, Lina Tran. It was an idyllic week of via ferrata's, rock climbing, hiking, wine drinking, pasta eating, and sight seeing. We spent the first part of the trip in the Dolomites, near Lake Garda - the biggest lake in Italy - in a little town called Arco.

Lake Garda, Riva del Garda, and Arco

It rained the first few days so we tackled some Via Ferrata's near the lake.

Then the weather cleared and we went rock climbing. The limestone climbing around Lake Garda is world famous. It was a unique cultural experience to climb somewhere where we couldn't figure out the ratings, and heard almost no english. Europeans flock to Lake Garda to climb and the mix of different languages and cultures was exciting.

Unknown European Climber

Lina

Yours Truly, Enjoying the Sun

The best part of climbing in Italy is that after long days of climbing in the sun you get to finish the day by eating pasta and drinking wine. Can life get any better?

Post Climbing Picnic and Vino

Post Climbing Dinner

Such a Beautiful Place to Climb

After a few days of climbing the rain returned and we hit the autostrada for a night in Venice.

Grand Canal

Bridge of Sighs 

Venice was extremely crowded and a bit of a shock after spending so many days in sleepy Arco. The next morning we were off for the Mediterranean coast and Cinque Terre.

The rain followed us and we spent a pretty wet night in the first of the coastal villages, Riomaggiore.

The next day the rain cleared, kind of, and we took off to see the rest of the villages. Most of the trails were closed but some sections were open. I finally broke out my big camera and got a few good shots along the way.

Manarola

Corniglia

 Monterosso

 Lunch Spot

Vernazza

We ended the day back in Riomaggiore grabbing some pasta and gelato before taking the train back to our car. A high speed drive to Milan ensued and then (unfortunately) the flight back home.