Today we travelled by ferry to a little island in the middle of Lake Iseo. It was a quick ferry ride, maybe 15mins and we arrived on the island. As always parking the car, paying for parking was tedious but we managed eventually. I had to go into the bank to ask someone where to buy parking voucher but that worked out ok. There were no cars allowed on the island, the only form of transport were bicycles, scooters, a bus and walking. We had intended hiring bikes to do a lap of the island and then head up to the church at the top, unfortunately the cycle hire place was closed so we had no choice but to walk or catch the bus. As the bus would not give that much flexibility we went with walking. That meant our afternoon hike was canned. Oh well. Poor Db’s plans have been re-written so many times this holiday.

With a total area of 12.8 square kilometres, Monte Isola is the largest lake island in Italy. The single-nave church of San Michele in Peschiera Maraglio was consecrated in 1648. This baroque church is notable for the many frescoes on the walls and on the ceiling and for its wooden carvings. The shrine of Madonna della Ceriola stands 600 metres above sea level, the highest spot on the island.

The fortress Martinengo was built in the 15th century, it has been renovated in an elegant residence and foiled DB’s trail as it is now private property. Added a bit of extra time to our walk as we couldn’t go through the grounds to the planned track.

The island was very typically Italian village style. Cobblestones, narrow streets and terrace type housing. I really love the little villages. We walked around the entire island and to all it’s Points of Interest, churches and castles. We also watched them harvest some olives. They just spread netting under the tree and use a tool that shakes the branches and I assume the ripe olives fall to the ground onto the netting.

It was a pleasant day with many pretty spots along the way.