September 29, 2024 Bellinzona SU

Part of the fun of these travels is finding a city we have never heard of and having it wow us. Today we “found” Bellinzona and it has turned into our favorite town in Switzerland.

The old town of Bellinzona.

It is impertinent to say we found Bellinzona as there has been a town here since neolithic times, and forts here since the Romans. The city is located where three different mountain passes in the Alps converge, so control of the area around the town has always been important.

Our train ride to Bellinzona began with us in the children car of the Lugano to Zurich cross country train.

It’s funny how little things contribute to a town really wowing us. It began with the Ticino Pass. While Switzerland is the most expensive place we have ever traveled in the world we have been impressed with being allowed free access to the city public transit system. The Canton of Ticino takes it one step further and allows you access to all rail and bus systems in the entire Canton. So from our campground in Lugano we have been able to go anywhere within about a 100 kilometer radius. As Ton put it Swiss efficiency with Italian charm. Today when we got to the train station in Lugano Google told us to get on a train that was clearly a cross country train with its final destination in Zurich. I wasn’t sure it was eligible for our Ticino pass so I asked a conductor if it was ok, and he said sure as long as you get off in Bellinzona. So we got to enjoy a very nice, fast and smooth Swiss train for the 18 minutes it took to get from Lugano to Bellinzona.

The main square in Bellinzona.

Bellinzona is not a big town with a population of about 45,000, but it had a very nice main street to walk from the train station to the main square of town. It was very quiet today as the Swiss shut down all of the stores and even many of the restaurants on Sunday. But the street looked prosperous and the architecture of the buildings seemed to us to be a little more interesting than other cities. It may be the Italian influence, or it may have been something intangible.

The High School Concert Band performing in the atrium of the town hall.

A lot of the times in smaller cities I put the town hall in to google to get us to the center of the town. Today as we approached the town hall we could here live music. When we arrived we found a local high school band giving a concert in the beautiful three story atrium of the town hall. We arrived near the end of the concert but we were able to enjoy the last 20 minutes or so. They were quite good.

Part of the walls of the fortifications for the old town.

The main attraction that draws tourism to the city are the old fortifications built in the 1400’s by Milan. They are a UNESCO site. This area was fought over many times in the 1400’s as the Swiss tried to take it from Milan.

A tower dominating the old town.

The Milanese built an extensive series of walls connecting three main castles surrounding the city to try to deny the Swiss from gaining access to the valley that leads to Milan.

Walking along one of the sections of the city walls.

We have seen a lot of castles and fortifications in our travels in Europe. But I found the castle and the walls of Bellinzona to be some of the most interesting. Once the borders were settled between Milan (later Italy) and Switzerland around 1500 Bellinzona became a bit of a back water. So it is possible that these fortifications are largely unchanged since then which makes them seem timeless. Also the way the walls and fortifications incorporate the natural granite bluffs and hills is really picturesque.

Looking up at the main fortification above the town.

After climbing up and down the hill to the main fortification and climbing stairs within the towers we stopped and had a very nice lunch of peanut and butter and jelly for me, and an Ovaltine spread sandwich for Ton. Ton has discovered an Ovaltine spread in Switzerland that she really loves.

Another view of the town from our lunch spot.

After lunch we decided to head back to the campground in Lugano. Once again we enjoyed our high speed train ride of 18 minutes to Lugano. We had expected the campground to be pretty empty when we returned as it is Sunday, but it is still quite full with young families enjoying the early days of fall.

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