Ticino and Lake Como...ahhhhh...

Our first overnight adventure in Italy took us to northern Italy (Lake Como) and to the Italian-speaking region in southern Switzerland (Ticino). We rented a car in Zurich and together with Daniel (who returned from Germany and stayed with us in Zurich for a few days), drove south via Lucerne and dropped him at the Como train station for his trip to Rome. After checking into our B&B in Griante, along Lake Como, we then drove back, about 45 minutes to the train station in Lugano Switzlerland to pick up our Israeli friends, Judith and Anthony Luder, who were coming in from Nice, France.

Lake Lugano on our first day--the weather was nice!

The next day, we drove to Bellinzona (back in Switzerland) to see the 3 11th-12th C. castles which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I expected to see King Arthur (or his Swiss equivalent) marching down the hill at any moment. Here are some pix of 2 of the 3 castles.

Castelgrande

Castello di Montebello

Judith, Anthony and us waiting for King Arthur

We then drove to Val Verzasca, the smallest of the valleys lying north of Locarno on Lake Maggiore. After a picnic lunch along the road, we stopped at a gigantic dam near the mouth of the valley where they do bungy jumping. This is definitely NOT for the faint of heart! The bungy jump was 220 meters (660 ft.) into a rock gorge. We saw people doing this and their screams while leaping from the ledge could be heard across the valley. (To get an idea of what this is like, go to YouTube and look for the opening scene of the James Bond film "Goldeneye". This is where it was filmed and although Pierce Bronson didn't scream, it looks pretty daunting to me. )

Aggggghhhhh!!! (See the bungy ledge at the top?)

Our next stop in the valley was River Verzasca. Near Lavertezzo, the river is spanned by the Ponte dei Salti, a medieval double-arched bridge. The rushing river was emerald-green and reminded us of New Zealand rivers. The rocks along the sides were massive and dramatic. Sooooo beautiful!

Ponte dei Salti

From the bridge we hiked along the forest path and were really taken with the beauty of the green-green trees. Although the weather was cool and rainy, spring is emerging and the leaves were fresh and crisp.

Anthony, Jude and me admiring the trees

Continuing along the valley road, we passed quaint towns with stone houses.

Stone houses in Sonogno, basically the end of the road along the valley

Still snow in the mountains near Sonogno

Next stop: the charming small fishing village of Ascona along Lake Maggiore. We wandered around the Old Town and along the lake side and took in the views.

Ascona water front

We were really amused to see a very unusual duck with head feathers split as if combed left and right--reminded us of Mickey Mouse.

(Click on the picture to get a close-up of the head feathers)

Day 3 was clear and we hiked from our B&B in Griante along Lake Como up to a chapel on the hill.

The chapel is that white speck 1/2 way up the cliff--it took us about an hour to hike up from our B&B

View from the chapel of Griante and Bellagio in the middle of Lake Como


We knew my brother Doug and sister-in-law Gwen were in the Lake Como area and were planning on meeting them in the evening. What a surprise to bump into them while wandering around Bellagio


Arrivederci, Lago di Lugano!