Garden Touring with Hardy Plant

HPSO Members Touring

Thu Jan 1 1998

Thursday 1 January 1998: HPSO Members Touring

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Rapallo - A Holiday from a Holiday

Sun May 4 2003

Sunday 4 May 2003: Rapallo - A Holiday from a Holiday

Published in Garden Touring with Hardy Plant

Tivoli Gardens

Sun May 10 2009

Sunday 10 May 2009: Tivoli is short drive into the hills east of Rome, where natural springs attracted the Romans to build baths and where Hadrian built his expansive villa. The main attraction is a smaller villa, the Villa d'Este, whose terraced water gardens are a UNESCO world heritage site. A pinnacle of High Renaissance garden design, Villa D'Este tumbles down the hillside near the center of the town. The sounds of rushing, splashing, spraying water fill the air, muffling the birdsong, as first one fountain, then another, comes into view.

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Vatican Gardens

Thu May 1 2008

Thursday 1 May 2008: Vatican Gardens

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Vico Equense

Sat Mar 1 2008

Saturday 1 March 2008: Vico Equense, clinging perilously to the cliffs, is an unspoilt small town with fine views of the Bay. Picturesque narrow streets, interesting churches, and walks through the olive groves and perfumed Mediterranean scrub in the hills above town make it a lovely place to stay. The history of Vico goes back to the Etruscans. Early inhabitants settled near the sea but were driven, by nature and pirates, to move towards higher, safer areas, where they settled among the hills. A pre-Roman necropolis was discovered here in the 1960s. Vico has its own station on the Circumvesuviana Railway, giving easy access to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples and Sorrento.

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Trentino - Alto Adige

Mon May 17 2004

Monday 17 May 2004: Bus from Riva del Garda to Trento, then train to Bolzano, where a funivia will whisk you right up from the center of Bolzano, 3000 feet to Soprabolzano on the Altopiano del Renon. A half-hour west of Bolzano by train is Merano, a charming old resort and spa.

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Corsica

Mon May 23 2005

Monday 23 May 2005: Corsica

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Mantua

Thu May 20 2004

Thursday 20 May 2004: Mantua! A small city, midway between Venice and Milan, surrounded on three sides by lagoons which are covered by flowering lotus in the summer, a funny sort of place where they eat donkey ragout and pumpkin ravioli and drink fizzy wine. Italians go there for the art and the lakes, but tourists from other countries haven't discovered it yet. Oh, and the art! Astonishing, amazing Renaissance art and some of the best erotic art in Europe, whole rooms covered from floor to ceiling and across ceiling and back down to floor again.

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Lago di Garda

Sat May 15 2004

Saturday 15 May 2004: The north Italian lakes are very picturesque, and Riva del Garda must hold the crown of being the most well kept, cleanest lakeside town of all. Set as it is at the northern tip of Lake Garda, thrusting into the foothills of the former Austrian Alps, the views in early morning sunlight are of mountains in layers of increasing height, some still with snow on the peaks. The lake, disappearing into morning haze, has steeper cliffs on the western side, the tops being like smoothly worn teeth. At certain places on the side of the mountains cling little churches or dwellings appearing to be totally inaccessible, and in fact many of the lakeside villages were only accessible by boat until the new road was chiseled and blasted through at the base of the cliffs. As the towns at the southern end of the lake fill with people, Riva remains calm and peaceful. Nearby is the serenely beautiful Lago di Ledro.

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