Our next stopping point was Lake Iseo. We stayed right across the street from the lake in Sale Marasino. On our first full day there, we took a boat ride out and around part of the lake. It was not an entirely clear and sunny day, but it was much better than Lake Como. But like Lake Como, it was a large lake surrounded by high mountains, so some haze in the air as you can see below. Lake Iseo also has many picturesque towns around it.

There are multiple islands in Lake Iseo and they were a primary feature of our boat trip around the lake. The first island we passed was Loreto Island. It looks a little bit like something out of a fairy-tale. It has a history going back to the 15th century when the nuns of Santa Chiara built a convent here. It passed into the hands of several wealthy families after that and is still in private hands.

Our guide said that the castle was built in 1910. Our boat driver said that George Clooney tried to buy the island but was told that it was not for sale. I can see why George might want to buy it; the place seems enchanted.

The largest island in the lake is Monte Isola. It rises steeply from the lake and is the largest inhabited lake island in Europe. It is made up of small fishing villages and has chestnut woods and olive groves on its slopes. It is connected to the mainland and various other towns by ferries.

The third lake island we passed by was San Paolo Island. It too has a long history as some Friars erected a monastery there around 1490. I'm not sure about the appeal of these islands to friars and nuns but so be it.

Today, our guide said that the island has just one home. The island is owned by the Beretta family, famous as one of the world's oldest active firearm manufacturing companies.

We ended our lake boat tour by getting off on San Paolo Island. Below is a better photo of the whole island. It was quite a place to visit.

One highlight of the last two islands, and two photos above was that they were part of a Christo art project. Christo created "The Floating Piers" art project here between June 18 and July 3, 2016. It consisted of floating polythene cubes covered in a saffron colored fabric. The project went from the village of Sulzano to San Paolo and Monte Isola.

Our guide said that Christo paid Italy, or this area of Italy, $30 million euros for fees to do it, but only made back $18 million euros. The locals considered it a huge success. You can see a photo of a photo below. I understand that millions of people visited it and walked around the lake on it.