We discovered that, the 5-yearly Festa dei Fiori (Flower Festival) was taking place on the island of Monte Isola in Lake Iseo during our visit. Therefore, I booked the ferry from Iseo to Carzano. There is also Festa Di Santa Croce (Festival of the Holy Cross) taking place at the weekend.
When we arrived at the harbour in Iseo and locked up our bikes, there was already a long queue for the ferry. It seemed to take ages to squeeze every one onto the boat but, finally, we set off, hoping that it could hold our weight and wouldn’t capsize. There’s no way we’d have managed to get a life jacket!
The journey took about 20 minutes and I enjoyed standing in the breeze watching the lake and mountains go by as we approached Monte Isola. It was very noisy on board with so many Italians chattering constantly!
When we pulled up at Carzano, the village where the flower festival takes place, everyone piled out of the boat. The stream of people snaked through the narrow streets. It was difficult to stop and take photos, and easier to go with the flow.
The village was an explosion of colour, with the cobbled streets, doorways and windows… everything and everywhere… decorated with thousands of paper flowers, which had been handmade by the inhabitants of the island. Amazing and stunning and I felt lucky to see them.
As we reached the far end of the village, the crowd thinned out. Our ferry back to Iseo wasn’t for 5 hours, so we’d planned to walk up to the 13th century Sanctuary of Madonna della Ceriola, 600 metres high on Monte Isola, with great views over the lake.
Monte Isola is reportedly the largest inhabited lake island in Europe. Cars are not allowed on the island but mopeds (for residents only) and bikes are allowed, and small buses help villagers and visitors travel between the villages.
We set off on foot around the island, stopping in several of its charming villages for refreshments. It was so hot and sunny that we chose not to visit the top of the island, but we did take a detour to look at a castle. Rocca Oldofredi-Martinengo was built in the 14th century and is still privately owned.
The walk round the island is about 10 kilometres, and we enjoyed wonderful views of the lake, its islands, and the mountains beyond.
At our final stop, we had a paddle in the lake then another drink at a bar where the ladies also ran a cat sanctuary, before setting off back through a couple more villages to Carzano.
There was already a long queue for the ferry back to Iseo, so Jackie and I left Dan and John to save our places, while we dashed into Carzano to pick up some souvenir paper flowers.
When we joined them again the queue was moving and we just made it in time to catch the ferry, which ended up being earlier than the one we’d planned. This meant we were back at the campsite in plenty of time for dinner. Perfect!
Ramblings 
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