Lake Garda

View from Lazise

Lake Garda is a really huge fresh water lake, and is surrounded by quaint little towns full of shops and restaurants and alleyways.

Our hotel in Garda was only a two minute walk from the lake, and all the lake towns could easily be traveled to by foot, bike, bus, or ferry boat.

April 14th
There is a traveling open air market, and on Wednesdays it is at Lazise, a 15 minute bus ride from Garda.
The town is built around a huge old castle and surrounded by walls. The market spanned the length of the water front and was similar to that of Florence, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

Castle walls around the town

I finally bought some stuff!!!

The Desigual Skirt
Desigual is a Spanish clothing company known for making apparel that is like no other. They use bold patterns and bright colors and make some really nice clothes. Really expenisve too. Nothing I could ever afford, even if we pretended the prices were in dollars and not euros.

I was not surprised when I saw lots of skirts and dresses in the market that were clearly Desigual knock-offs. Not that they weren't cute, but you could tell the fabric was thin and cheap and I wasn't interested.

Then I spotted this skirt. 

The tags and branding looked authentic. The material was thick and soft, and of yes, the skirt was adorable! Only €32 (okay, so it wasn't like they were giving it away, but hey).


Now that I've had a chance to check out their website, I found this in the spring collection. A bit shorter and with tricolor stitching on the bottom, but essentially my skirt.
So I'm not quite sure how this one came to be. Factory reject or high end knockoff, I don't know, but it's authentic enough for me.


Then I found this olive dress with a cool hemline, that I would describe as the asymmetrical bubble hem. It was €15 and I only had 14 so I tried to haggle and was unsuccessful so I had to go and borrow a euro! Everyone told me I could haggle at the markets, but the merchants never seemed to accept my offers.


The grey fedora was €12 and the yellow scarf was €6. I also couldn't find any country of origin on the fedora, which is suspicious. Generally when something is made in Italy they make it nice and obvious. A tremendous number of things in the market were made in China and India, I had to check absolutely everything, because really, why go to Italy and buy stuff made in China?!


I also got this straw hat for only €5 (photographic evidence of 'made in italy')


Day outfit
Taken in the mirror of a cool little shop;
Striped shirt Gap - Mustard cords Gap - Denim military jacket NY&Co. - Floral scarf Avon - Bag Avon - Shoes (oops, can't see them!) Black converse

Evening Outfit
Lake Garda
Striped shirt Gap - Floral Skirt TJMaxx - Black blazer Khol's - Black flats Steve Madden - Black bag Bandolino - Yellow Scarf Market in Italy

Hot guy of the day

Cute couple of the day
(they really were adorable, they begged at tables for food like dogs!)
Cute couple of the day in Lazise

18 comments

  1. jealous of all your travels and how amazingly chic you look!

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  2. I love your finds - and how cool is it that when people as, you can say "I got it in Europe" ahh!

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  3. Beautiful sartorial souvenirs! (I'm also in love with the ducks!)

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  4. haha those ducks! You look very nice with both outfit and I love that bubble dress, the skirt looks great too, I had never heard of that brand! I love the way you are doing the posts on your vacation, Lyddie are you hispanic? Just curious =D

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  5. Amazing finds and the lake and towns sound incredibly beautiful. : )

    I'm dying over the bubble hem dress!

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  6. The skirt almost looks identical to the original. :D And I agree with you, why go to Italy and buy something made in China.:D

    Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures with us. Really appreciate it.:D

    http://allthingsmarie.blogspot.com/
    BEAUTY. FASHION. DESIGN.
    ...and everything girly under the sun!

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  7. Such great shopping finds! And that lake looks so prettttyyy!

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  8. Wow, I definitely thought they were the same skirt, great find!

    www.sonyasark.blogspot.com

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  9. Hot guy of the day...you are too cute. Fabulous market scores lady!

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  10. awesome photos!!!!

    and i think mine are working now - some issues with photobucket :(
    let me know!
    xx

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  11. fantastic photos! i am in love with yor fedora - i am looking for a perfect one as well!

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  12. what a gorgeous trip you are on!

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  13. Wow - that first picture is amazing! Did you take that?

    Cute top, can't wait to see it in action!

    A.Co @ A.Co est. 1984

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  14. Cute yellow scarf:)

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  15. I love all your pictures! Esp the hot guy of the day and couple of the day :D:D

    THese are great buys and I esp can't wait to see that olive dress on you!

    Enter to win a professional flat iron!
    clothed much, a modest fashion blog

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  16. you look so cute! love the yellow jeans...im a huge fan of colored jeans

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  17. I lurrrrve market shopping on holiday, it's great isn't it? I usually leave the haggling to my boyfriend as I'm pretty useless, but he can get 50% off most things...somehow! Those ducks are so cute...much better than annoying pigeons at outside cafes :D

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