Lugano
Again the rain cleared the skies and the morning was beautiful. After breakfast and the previous night experience we booked a hotel on the Internet to make sure that we don’t run again crazy in the night. However around our next destination, St. Moritz were almost no hotels with 3-4 beds available so we decided for a hotel in Chiesa del Valmolenco, Italy, a two hours drive from Lugano but a perfect location that was placing us just 30 minutes from Bernina Pass.
We left the luggage in the car parked at the hotel and we started a stroll in Lugano, on the shores of Lake Lugano and the old town. Being Monday the museums were closed, including an interesting photo exhibit by Wim Wenders, so our out doors visit took about 3 hours. The old town is quite interesting and the stroll on the lake’s shore and in the park is a charm.
Locarno
After that we picked up the car and drove to Locarno, for an even shorter visit. Piazza Grande was cleared after the previous night concert that I guessed happened in pouring rain, and we strolled a little in the Cita Vecchia and on the shores of Lake Maggiore.
After about an hour and a half we left, trying to get to Ascona that is only 4 km away and latter to Vale de Verzaca to see some traditional houses but we decided to skip boith in the end because lack of time. So we drove directly to Belinnzona, to visit its famous three castles.
First we drove to Caso Sxxxx on top of the hill where the museum was closed because an exhibition that ended yesterday was taken away. But even with no inside visit the views over the city and over the other two other castles are spectacular. From there we drove down to the middle castle, Montebelo, that houses a Civic Museum and is one of the most interesting castles I ever saw, with two sets of circular walls each with its own gate, everything being so well restored ….like everything in Switzerland.
Belinnzona
The third castle, Castelgrande, is in the city center so we had to park to get to it. The civic museum was opened but I skipped it being too late in the evening. The views are great over the two top castles, but the castle is less interesting and attractive than the previous ones. It was quite late when we finished the visit and the 37C temperature drove us in the AC of the car. We started to drive to Lugano and towards Chiesa de Valmelenco. From From Lugano the road goes to Gandria, the border town to Italy, but the construction on the road delayed us a lot. All the construction area on the road that closed one lane are controlled by traffic lights. Few cars pass to give access to the other sense so it may take a while during rush hour to go over that specific spot. We ended up crossing the border into Italy around 7 pm and drove on an extremely narrow road, where trucks and busses were waiting for incoming traffic causing more even delays. However, in spite of the very narrow road the Italian drivers were showing their Latin spirit on the beautiful curves of Lake Lugano. We continued on this marrow road till Meggio where the road connects to a wider one that goes for more than an hour on the shore of Lake Como to Sondrio. Meggio was quite a surprise. Tucked away from the well-known spots is a charming town with a beautiful plaza on Lake Como full of restaurant where we stopped for dinner. When to order we realized that we don’t have any Euros and they don’t take credit cards, but eventually the problem was solved and we paid by Amex in the hotel. When we ordered we wanted to make sure that they bring us tap water, which they did but they still charged us Euro1.1/glass!!!!! Italians….. So, no tip! But in spite of this we could not have noticed the large differences between the prices in Switzerland and the ones in Italy, or any other Euro zone country. The difference is so large when you cross in the Euro zone, that you feel like when you cross the border into an undeveloped country. The same dish can be 2 or even 3 times cheaper in Euro zone than in Switzerland.
Sondrio
We left around 9 pm from the restaurant and drove on the beautiful shore of the lake for an hour. From there we left the shore and drove in a very boring town landscape to Sondrio. In Sondrio we missed the exit, returned and found the way to Chiesa and we started to climb the 13 km road to the town. Right before 11 pm we reached the village, where a lonely guy pointed us how to get to the hotel. The hotel had our reservation and after some confusion with the number of beds in the room we got a nice suite. The sign in the bathroom said “no shower between 10 pm-8am”(!!!!) and we are not in Switzerland but in Italy…. All the hotels have wi-fi access and checking the emails turned out that I had to make a call in New York before going to bed.
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