Two Visits To Isola Maggiore

 There is nothing like a boat ride on the lake when the weather is fine. We took advantage twice this past visit to Umbria. So lucky to have some gorgeous warm days in late March, and again in May.

  Isola Maggiore is one of three small islands in Lago Trasimeno. We still need to visit the other two... To get to the island, you have to catch a boat in Castiglione del Lago, or elsewhere on the lake. For us, this was the easiest place to start from. 

  There is a cute boathouse, complete with bar/cafe to while away the time waiting for the next boat. We each ordered a morning cappucino, bought our tickets and hung out watching the clouds go by.

Johnny watching out for the next boat. He's geared up to paint, too.

    The boat bumps on up to the dock, and on we march. Being it's such a lovely day, we sit outside to enjoy the views and fresh air. Both times on the lake we were happy to be sitting outside. It's fun.

Fresh, breezy air...(or is it hair?)

Johnny looking very happy about it all (before off-ing the facial hair...).

  Once on the island, we took a good hike around the small town, and up into the wilder areas. Johnny looked for a place to set up and paint, I looked for a place to sit down and eat. What can I say. We each have our own priorities...

  While he's painting, I like to just walk around, seeing the sights on offer. In this tiny town, I really enjoyed the aged houses on the main street and also all the little garden plots along the banks of the lake. 

  The town is known for it's intricate lace making, and there are still a handful of elderly women who set up small tables in the warm sun and sit and stich. I never feel comfortable taking pictures in theses situations, but am now sorry I didn't. I did buy a very sweet little piece of lace. Perfect to put a small vase on at home. 

 On the opposite end of the main street, I found Mr. Apodaca painting away...

Painting in the shade.

Close to being done.

  On this day, we walked back down the way to the lovely Ristorante L'Oso (the translation I found is "The Dare..." not sure what this is all about...), a place I had seen from the water as we came into the dock area. They have outdoor seating and it was so nice out.

Outdoors at L'Oso. Beautiful.

A pretty view from our table.

  As is our nature, we had to order the "bruschette miste", all veggie for us, grazie..

Oh, Yum. Oily, salty and scrumptious, too.

  Johnny is always looking around for something to doodle, it seems, and here was no different. He was soon distracted by pasta, though...

Working in the notebooks we keep for our selves...

We each ordered the tagliatelle caccia e pepe which was perfect.
Hand cut pasta with cheese and tons of black pepper...ooh.

Always must have grilled veggies...love the addition
of the radicchio here.

Mixed salad, "insalada mista" is ok, especially dressed with the great balsamic they offered.

  I keep saying in this bloggy of mine the following...

 "...we hardly ever order dessert, but just couldn't resist..blah, blah blah..."

  I guess I should just resign myself to the fact that we often order dessert, and always enjoy it. 

  There. I feel so much better now that I've admitted it. For both of us.

  We each ordered something different, and shared, of course. With espresso, natch. 

  I loved this lunch, unfortunately, there isn't a website to share here, but they may like it that way. Hey, I understand.

Apricot torte with pine nuts, caramel and creme. What a shame...

Chocolate torte with pear wasn't too shabby, either.

See?

After a short walk back through town, we head back home at just the right time of day, late afternoon. A wonderful time to be boating along on the lake...

This looks so fab now, but moments later I got slightly drenched by a rogue wave! Hehehe...
I think I'm so cool, and then I'm just so wet...

Why we like to go out to the islands....

 The next trip out to Isola Maggiore was several weeks later, and another sunny, warm day. We just had to go back again. This time, we really got an early start, hiked the entire island, and then had another great lunch.  

  Johnny did several paintings, and I walked and hiked all over the place on my own. Some of the shots on an earlier post, Yellow and Green All Over, were taken on the second time out to the island. The pictures of the fennel forests were from this day. 

Johnny working hard. Nice yellow banksia rose, too.

The finished painting from the shot above.

  So, we were hungry. We had hiked around for a couple of hours, and it was time to "mangia". As I was on my own, I had made a reservation at Da Sauro, a hotel and restaurant I came across. I wanted the table right there, with the lake just beyond...

So glad I got us this table...

...with this view.

A nice cheese plate to start with..

And we each had the days special, wild asparagus lasagna....

The lasagna had lots of very thin, silky layers of pasta, and a light béchamel.
The asparagus really came through...

  The lunch on our second visit to the island was awesome...I believe we had some grilled veg, or at least a salad with the pasta, but somehow I don't have photos. Could it be I was enjoying my meal so much, I just put the camera aside? Could be. Could be I ran out of battery life...who knows?
  I do know that the asparagus lasagna was so good, I wanted to order another plate.
  It was a wonderful way to end a nice day out on Lago Trasimeno. Don't even hesitate, just treat yourself to a boat ride out, a walk around, a slowdown for lunch...you won't regret a moment.

 For more on Lago Trasimeno, visit  Ciao Trasimeno, our friend Katia's wonderful website.
 For more of Johnny's 2012 Umbria paintings, visit The Green Heart Paintings.