School Tour to Italy:
The school tour this year took place over May bank holiday weekend from the 2nd to the 5th of May. The destination was the Lake Garda region taking in Venice and Verona. On Friday the travelling party of 45 students and 5 teachers departed Dublin airport at 7am and arrived in Linate airport Milan shortly afterwards. Here the travelling party met with their coach driver and headed to Verona and were given a guided tour of the beautiful city on a lovely day with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius. The two main highlights were the amphitheatre and the Romeo and Juliet building with the balcony and the statue of Juliet. From there we travelled by coach to Sirmione a very scenic town on Lake Garda and the group took a boat trip across Lake Garda taking in the breathtaking views. Lake Garda is Italy’s largest freshwater lake and its shores are studded with villages and small towns. Our final destination then was back to Park Hotel Jolanda where everyone got some well-earned rest.
Day two was spent in Venice arriving on the outskirts of the city and taking a vaporetto ride (water bus) into the central part of the city. Situated in a lagoon in north-eastern Italy and criss-crossed by more than 200 canals and 400 bridges, Venice serves as capital of Veneto – one of Italy’s wealthiest regions. Our meeting point for the day was St. Marks Square which was crowded with tourists. We got a guided tour of the city making our way through the narrow streets and seeing first hand how the gondolas make their way through the canals. The gondoliers row in a standing position, looking forward as one does when walking. After the tour of the city students had time to get something to eat or for some shopping before heading back to the hotel. Each night students were able to avail of the swimming pool facilities which allowed them to relax and have some fun after the long day.
On day three we visited Gardaland which is very much the equivalent of Emerald Park in Ireland and great fun was had by everyone. Finally, before we headed to Bergamo airport on Monday afternoon we took the Monte Baldo cable car ride. The Malcesline Monte Baldo cable car consists of three different stations. The bottom one is in Malcesine located in Navene Vecchia road 12. The middle one is San Michele at about 580 meters of height. The top one is on Monte Baldo, located in Tratto Spino at 1780 meters of height. While everyone was a little nervous at the start everyone enjoyed the wonderful views of Lake Garda and the surrounding area. We all then headed to Bergamo and took the flight back to Dublin arriving back in Enniscorthy at 9:30pm. It was a very enjoyable trip and as usual students were well behaved throughout with special thanks to all the teachers who assisted Ms. Aine Sheeran, Mr. Nathan Byrne, Ms. Bridin Kelly, Ms. Aileen Walsh and Mr. Iain Wickham.