We had a decision to make last night about where to go next. We had pretty much wrapped up the places we wanted to see in Italy. A quick calculation showed that we had about 12 more days to check things out before we want to be back in Amsterdam. We spent a couple of hours looking at itineraries and weather forecasts and landed on Lake Bled in Slovenia as our next stop. It by many accounts has the best fall colors in Europe so we are excited.
That meant a roughly 700 kilometer dash in shaky weather. There is a big front passing thru Europe for the next three days and while it looked like we could get a long drive in today before it hit, we may end up stuck for a couple of days after that.
We picked a place a little less than half way to Lake Bled because it had great reviews on Park4night our go to app. The drive went off smoothly but right before we exited the freeway Ton realized this might be our last shopping day in Italy so I promised I would stop if we saw a grocery. Right after we paid our toll there was a COOP super center so we went in there. Ton and I spent the next hour scooping up some of our favorite Italian foods to consume and a few things to take home with us. The end result was the biggest grocery bill since Costco in Paris, and a fridge stuffed with food.
The campground had incredible reviews but it turns out to be basically someones really nice backyard with a view of the Po River. The owner is really nice and the other two couples staying here seem to be enjoying themselves fishing in the rain. So even if we are stuck because of the weather we will have a nice view.
Today was a day of Funiculars and Churches. We visited Todi and Orvieto which are two towns perched on top of steep hills and full of churches.
The town square of Todi with a very modern sculpture in the middle of it.
At our wine tasting last night we sat with an Australian couple who spoke highly of Todi and really recommended we visit it. Ton and I talked about it on the walk back to François but had decided to pass. But when I looked at the route from Montefalco to Orvieto it turned out it passed thru Todi so it became a no brainer to stop for a couple of hours.
The stain glass rose in the Cathedral in Todi.
The hill Todi is located on is quite steep and it began with an 18 degree climb for about 2 kilometers where I used all of the gears François has including first for the last 100 meters or so. It was the first time he has ever struggled so much taking on a hill. Once we parked in the lot we still had to take a Funicular up another 300 feet or so to the main part of town.
The altar of the Church of Nunziatina.
If the weather had cooperated the views would be stunning, but it was fogged in. At the end we caught a little break and Ton got a picture of the valley below the town thru the fog which is at the top of the article.
The Church of Nunziation.
The main square in town was nice as was the cathedral. The town was pretty quiet and with the gray skies and the gray stone of the towns buildings we were looking for a little color. The Church of Nunziation filled that void with its interior. It is a beautiful church. After the church we decided to head back down to François and over to Orvieto.
Looking down from Orvieto, while still gray at least there was no fog in the valley.
After settling into our air we walked over to take the funicular about 500 feet up from the train station to the platform at the base of the town. Our first stop was the Duomo or Cathedral. It took over 300 years to complete and there have been multiple renovations that have resulted in new art being added to the exterior.
The front of the Cathedral with art work mainly from the 1700’s , as well as stone bas-reliefs from the 1300’s lower down.
It is one of the larger cathedrals we have visited and it is considered one of the most beautiful Gothic Cathedrals. The combination of art work and stone bas -reliefs is quite impressive.
The side of the cathedral with the distinctive gray and white stripes the Cathedral is known for.
The main hall of the interior is sparsely decorated except for a series of large sculptures of Saints that run down either side of the worship area. The columns are quite large and geometrically aligned so that they give the impression of a forest.
The large columns supporting the roof were one of my favorite features.
While the main hall is sparsely decorated the two chapels that form the cross in the design of the cathedral are spectacularly decorated by many of the masters of Italian art.
This is a painting of the dead Christ with two local saints in attendance. The painter used his two sons as the models for the saints.
A lot of time now we make a quick pass thru a Cathedral and move on. But the chapels in the Orvieto Cathedral grabbed our attention.
This painting depicts people being sent to hell.
Each panel was fascinating. They were painted by several masters of Italian art including Michelangelo’s teacher. The art in the Orvieto Cathedral was said to be the inspiration for Michelangelo’s work on the Sistine chapel.
More art work from the Cathedral.
We spent so much time looking at the paintings that we both walked out of the Cathedral with sore necks from looking up. Ton had a hard time selecting the pictures to send me from the many she had taken. I think she was also getting a little revenge on the Assisi Cathedral for forbidding photos.
Because the art work was from several different centuries there was a great deal of variety in the styles and the use of colors.
We spent another hour or so taking in more sites in Orvieto. It is a much larger city than I expected. But the architecture was much like that of other cities we have visited lately.
A palace in Orvieto which does not appear to be in use at this time.
We returned to our Sosta (aire) by the rail station for the evening to try to figure our next stop. Last night we were in a quiet Sosta next to vineyards, tonight we are parked about 200 yards from a high speed rail track between Rome and Milan with bullet trains going by at 130mph every 10 minutes or so. Not quite as charming.
Today we visited two small Italian towns famous for their wine and olive oil, though that is a claim made by many Italian towns. The first stop was Bevagna which Ton said was known as a relatively flat town to walk as it is located in the valley.
A very cute street in Bevagna.
We spent about an hour giving Bevagna a pass thru. It was a nice town and worth a walk. We then moved on to our destination for the day Montefalco. It is known for a red wine that is only produced in a very small area between Montefalco and Bevagna. Sagratino grapes are not widely grown because it produces relatively little fruit.
A field of Sagratino growing next to the Sosta we are staying in tonight.
We found the very nice municipal Sosta in Montefalco at the base of the town. It was a throwback to our early days traveling in Europe as it only cost €5.75 for a night including electricity. Towns often provide these facilities to attract tourists to stay in the town hoping they will spend some money. In our case they were right as we ended up spending well over €100 between lunch and our visit to a winery.
The town hall in Montefalco from our seat in a cafe.
Ton had found a winery near town that offered tours in English with a light snack. We headed over there to see if they had any space, and luckily they did. We had a couple of hours to kill before the tour so we headed towards the town center to see if we could find a place for lunch. There was a nice cafe right on the main square so we ordered a lasagna and a cold plate of local meats with bread. We intended it to be a light lunch but we forgot about Italian portions.
The main street in Montefalco.
After our light lunch we returned to François to rest before heading over for our winery tour. I almost fell asleep, but at 3:15 we set out for our tour.
The cellar at Montioni winery.
Montioni winery is a new winery having gone into business in 1987. They started out as an olive oil producer in the late 1970’s. They produce mostly red wine, and of course specialize in Sagratino wines. The tour was pretty brief before we sat down for our wine and light snack.
Our light snack at Montioni winery.
The wine was very good. We were joined on the tour by an Australian couple and a young man from Germany. We were all on extended vacations and enjoyed talking about our experience in Italy. We asked where the German guy was staying and he said the name of a village. The Australians asked him if it was nice, and we all laughed at his answer, he said it was charming but after two weeks of charming Italian villages they were all starting to feel the same to him. The reason we all laughed is both the Australians and Ton and I had had the same thoughts in the last few days but didn’t want to say it because we were not Europeans. So it was good to hear it from a European.
Another charming Italian village.
After the visit we headed back to François for a relaxing evening in another charming Italian village.
After a lot of walking yesterday, we decided today would be a day for logistics. We were up bright and early to get our laundry done, but despite arriving to the washers at 8am someone had beat us to the punch. We went back to François and took care of some other cleaning and sipped our coffee. By 8:30 we had our load in the washer which was a Maytag complete with American English labels on the buttons to push. Right after we put our load in two other people showed up with dirty clothes so we were not the only ones who decided today was laundry day.
By 9:15 the washing was complete, but we were now waiting for the dryer to be freed up. Unlike the Maytag washer the dryer was Italian and European dryers take a much more leisurely approach to drying clothes. This one didn’t even have a display to show how much time was left so we had no idea how long the wait was going to be or how long it would take to dry our load. I spent the next hour waiting for the peoples clothes in front of us to finish and helping a Belgian woman understand the workings of the Maytag including explaining the American term Permanent press to her.
Finally the dryer stopped and we gave the person whose clothes were in it a 10 minute grace period to turn up. When they didn’t I went to open the door but could not get it open. The original button or handle had broken off and it was jury rigged with a cord to pull on. But I was pulling pretty forcefully and could not get it open. I tried pulling straight, up and straight down to no avail. So stymied by the door I trudged off to the office for advice. When I explained the problem to the maintenance guy there and told him I was afraid I would break the latch, he just laughed and gave the most Italian answer, Pull very hard, and if you break the latch it will be good so that we can finally get the door fixed.
So back at the dryer we pulled very hard and the door popped open. We unloaded the clothes, and loaded ours. While Ton was loading the clothes I cleaned the lint filter, and replaced it. When I closed the door to start the dryer it would not latch, so I thought I had actually broken the latch, so now I trudged off muttering bad words about Italian appliances. When I got to the office they gave me another token for some reason, and said they would send help. While I was doing that a German guy wandered by and saw Ton trying to close the door, he quickly figured out that I had replaced the lint filter the wrong way and it was preventing the door from latching, so by the time the maintenance guy and I arrived the dryer was going. It was now about 11:00 am.
I started checking the dryer every 1/2 hour and at 12:30 it was still spinning away. I opened the door and checked and the clothes were pretty dry, but not up to Tons standard of dryness. So I continued the dryer watch.
We were under some time pressure because the restaurant at the campsite has been tempting us since we arrived. It has been very full for every meal, and the menu and prices looked good. It is open for lunch from 12:30 to 2:30 and I was beginning to wonder if we would make it.
Finally about 1:15 Ton pronounced the clothes dry. After folding the clothes and putting them away we headed to the restaurant at 1:45. It took approximately 5 hours and 45 minutes to wash and dry one medium sized load of wash. I hate laundry days.
The restaurant specializes in grilled foods and features this giant wood fired grill in the dining room. They were cleaning it after lunch.
The lunch was as good as advertised, we each had a first course with me picking a Polenta with sausage, and Ton having spaghetti. Our second course was a plate of sausages that we shared. My Polenta dish was huge as was Tons spaghetti, so it took a while to finish up the grilled sausages when they came. We were done with our lunch about 3:30. The nice thing about Italian restaurants is they will never push you as meals are for socializing and enjoying the food.
My Polenta with sausage Ragu. It was delicious.
We finished cleaning up François and relaxed after our laundry ordeal.
We slept in this morning and woke up to the good news that the Oregon Ducks had won a thriller against Ohio State, so the day began on a happy note. After a hearty breakfast and a good cup of coffee we headed down the hill to Assisi to go to the St. Francis of Assisi Basilica.
The front of the Basilica with a statue of St. Francis on horseback.
We had thought of going to the Basilica tomorrow as the weather was supposed to be better for pictures, but when we checked the website for the Basilica it said they were closed for a special event. It turns out that Assisi is hosting a meeting of the G7 committee for disability on Monday. As a result the security at the Basilica was extremely high with every type of police officer in Italy present from the local police to the national police called the Carabineri represented, even the Finance Police and the Italian Army had a couple of representatives on hand.
A monument to four religions, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The kids loved ringing the bell of peace.
We arrived at the end of the last mass of the day so we had to wait until it was over before entering the church. We spent some time wandering the grounds, and came across a garden attached to the Basilica that had some nice artwork in it.
We weren’t the only ones killing time, this group was having lunch and a chat while waiting.
The Basilica is divided into two churches, the lower one contains the remains of St. Francis who is the male patron saint of Italy. You usually have to pay to enter but we were lucky that it was free today.
The entrance to the lower church that contains St. Francis remains.
Ton was very frustrated by their no photo policy. She thinks that most people will have only one chance to visit a place like this and as long as they are respectful and do not use flash what is the harm in allowing them to preserve the memory. The lower church has really beautiful art work by some of the greatest masters of Italian art. It is quite beautiful, but you will have to take our word for it.
Going from the lower church to the upper church you pass thru the Friary of St. Francis which hosts the brothers of the order who work at the Basilica.
The upper church is larger than the lower church and is used to hold the masses on site. The art work is not as impressive as the lower church, partially because the upper church was heavily damaged during the earth quake of 1997 when the main dome collapsed.
The complex of the Basilica including the two churches and the Friary.
Assisi is built on a very steep hill and you are either walking downhill or uphill. So after our visit to the Basilica we found a place advertising €5 panini’s. We shared a table with two women from Peru who convinced us to try a glass of the local wine (it did not take much convincing), we enjoyed our conversation in Spanglish about Italy and Assisi.
A modern day Friar Tuck.
We spent some time people watching on the streets of Assisi. Today we heard much more Italian being spoken, though American English was a close second.
This is either art, or an object for a bonfire in an upcoming Festival.
Finally after stalling as long as we could we decided to make the long climb back to our campground. Today we probably climbed the equivalent of 1000 feet as well as 15,000 steps. So when we made it back to François we were ready for a rest.
Today we shifted south about 150 kilometers into Umbria. We had discussed staying in Tuscany a bit longer but decided we would probably have an opportunity for another day or two as we headed north towards Amsterdam at the end of the trip.
Departing this morning there was some fog in the area to go with the golden leaves in the vineyards.
We had an easy and relatively quick drive down and though we were a little slow in getting going this morning we still arrived in Assisi around 1 pm. After a little adventure with an unexpected very narrow archway on the road near the campground that required pulling in the side mirrors and sucking in our breath as we just squeezed thru with inches on either side we were settled into a nice campground near the city.
The town of Assisi our campground is on the top of the hill just to the right of the city.
Today was about the nicest day we have had since we have arrived in Italy so after getting everything set up we decided to head into town. It was about a 1 mile walk into town on a nice trail that paralleled the road into the campground. As we were walking along the trail we saw a small VW RV coming towards us. Ton said I didn’t know this was a road, and I said it isn’t its a walking trail, I’m not the only one who blindly follows his GPS even when it leads him to places he shouldn’t be. As they pulled even with us I smiled and pointed back up the trail and said the campground is in another 200 meters and I think you will fit, I got a look of relief from the wife and a thanks.
Assisi is another hill top town where you are either walking up hill or down hill.
Assisi is an important town to Italian Catholics as it is the home town of St.Frances of Assisi. There are 11 churches in the town and it is a place of study for Catholic Clergy who are very prominent walking around the city.
One of the 11 churches in town.
We visited two of the churches today and we noticed that there were several tour groups in each church. Apparently it is a popular stop for Catholic tours. It is only a couple of hours north of Rome so it is an easy day trip.
The interior of the Cathedral.
The town survived WWII mostly intact as the German garrison commander was a devout Catholic and declared the city an open city as the allies advanced on it, so it was taken by the British without a fight. But in 1997 the town suffered severe damage when it was hit by a large earth quake.
The town fountain.
The town is divided into a lower town and an upper town. The lower town is the more modern and open, while the upper town is full of the narrow steep allies of a typical medieval city. A couple of hundred feet above the upper town is a major castle that we decided could wait until tomorrow.
Ton was really proud of this street scene from the upper town.
We gave the town a good once over and were thinking about the walk back to the campground. But I knew we had to climb two or three hundred feet on our way back so I suggested we fortify ourselves with some wine and cheese before we took off.
Some nice Umbrian wine before we set off on the trail back to the campground.
We stopped at our second Michelin starred place for the wine. The wine was good, but the service was not great. This is the second time we have splurged for a Michelin place and the second time we were disappointed. Next time we will stick with unpretentious.
We probably should have had our wine here.
The walk back was all uphill but quite pretty. For the first time on the trip François was actually a little hot on the inside and we had to open up all of the windows. We are not complaining and hopefully we will get a few more days like this.
After our walk yesterday and seeing San Gimignano from afar we were looking forward to visiting it today. The town is known for its towers and its white wine. It is a small town but has become a focal point for day trips from both Florence and Sienna so we were a little worried about the crowds.
The town Cathedral with the town hall next to it.
When we arrived at the gate of the town on the local bus we were startled by the crowds. There were at least ten tour busses unloading next to the gate and a couple of hundred people milling around with headphones on listening to guides.
The busy main street in San Gimignano.
We walked up the main street listening to mostly American voices all around us. But the town was charming, and there looked to be a bunch of interesting restaurants and wine bars so we got over our initial disappointment.
Once we got off the main street it was much quieter and the charm of the town began to work its magic on us.
One of the things we have learned if a town is very crowded with tourists is to move away from the main street and look for side streets to explore. San Gimignano was a great town to explore this way.
Looking out on Tuscany from the walls of the town.
We began by walking the walls of the town and enjoying the views. In all directions were olive orchards, and vineyards, but also undeveloped forest. A lot of the stores on the main street in town had stuffed wild boars in their front doors, we guessed they came from those forests.
It was laundry day on one of the side streets we explored.
From the walls we saw a tall hill in the center of town with three large trees. It looked like the highest point of the town so I decided to head us towards it. It was a pretty good climb, but there were plenty of things to look at as we went up so we had plenty of excuses to stop and get our wind.
This gentleman was reciting from Dante’s divine comedy in the courtyard of the highest point in town. He seemed to be quite good, but unfortunately we could only go off of the emotion as we don’t speak Italian.
At the top beside the three trees was a small building inside a courtyard. There was a tower there that gave us an incredible 360 degree view of the area. It was worth the effort.
The view from the watch tower at the top of the town.
After the climb we decided we had earned a lunch. We returned to one of the places we had seen in our exploration of the town. The area around San Gimignano is said to produce the best white wines in Italy and we wanted to give it a taste. Ton was feeling a little adventurous so she ordered a wild boar pasta, while I went with a regular pig pasta. We each picked a different producer of Vernaccia wine to go with pasta and enjoyed them both.
Looking in another direction from the watch tower.
After lunch we continued our exploration of the town focusing on the towers the town is famous for. 14 towers remain in place. The tallest one is the Torre Grosso which belongs to the church. Later one of the merchants in town wanted to build a tower taller than the Torre Grosso, but the church intervened. So instead he built two towers side by side whose height added together exceeded the Torre Grosso.
The twin towers of San Gimignano.
The designer of the World Trade Center in New York was inspired by these two towers. If you look at them you can see the influence on the World Trade Center. By the way these towers did not serve any particular purpose, they were mostly built by rich people and the church to show off their wealth.
Some of the 14 towers in San Gimignano.
We are not big ice cream eaters, but at different times on this trip we have both craved a gelato. There are two competing gelato shops on the main square, one is supposed to be the best in the world, and the other the most famous. We learned the famous one once had Michelle Obama as a customer. We made our decision between best and famous by getting in the shorter of the two substantial lines.
Our Gelato from the best ice cream shop in the world, according to the owner. It was very good.
Just as we thought the crowds were beginning to thin out another wave of tour busses rolled into town. We poked around in a few souvenir shops for gifts and then decided to head back to the campground for the evening.
The afternoon crowd enjoying their gelato on the steps of the town well.
We enjoyed our stay in Emilia-Romagno but it was time to move south. Today was our longest drive since we have arrived in Italy at 250 kilometers. We had checked the weather for Parma last night and it showed cloudy so we were caught off guard when it started raining steadily around Bologna. But fortunately we were on good roads the whole way, and we passed thru several long tunnels which gave us breaks from the rain.
This is our second time in Tuscany as we visited Florence, Lucca and Sienna during our first trip thru Italy in 2019 and enjoyed them all. This time we are focusing on smaller towns. Our campground is a couple of kilometers outside of what looks like a beautiful town called San Gimignano. We thought about going into town when we first arrived, but just as we settled in the skies opened up and it rained hard for the next couple of hours. Finally around 4pm the clouds blew thru and we had a beautiful blue sky.
San Gimigagno on the next hill over from our campground.
I convinced Ton to go on a short walk after dinner. I didn’t expect her to go far as evening walks are something she usually does for me, not her. But the Tuscan hills worked their magic on her. Before I knew it she had walked nearly to town admiring the vineyards, olive orchards and homes when I reminded her that it was getting late, and she reluctantly turned around.
The view out the front window of François.
While our campground is surrounded by beautiful hills on 3 sides, the fourth side is the town soccer stadium where there has been a series of practices going on for the last several hours. Its a good thing I am a soccer fan, and have found the practices mildly entertaining if a little noisy.
Every trip there is a place that surprises us. We may have vaguely heard of it, or not heard of it at all, but at the end of the day we return to François and realize that we have just experienced something great and unexpected. Parma is one of those places for us.
A beautiful quiet street in Parma.
As is usual when we visit an European city to have google route us from where we are staying to the center of town I put in the cathedral as our destination as it always in the center of the old town. After a short bus ride in a very busy bus we got off at a stop next to the river. It was market day so the walk to the main square was thru bustling streets as people were out looking for bargains. But there are two types of bustling streets, one we like which is when the people who live in the city are out doing daily activities. It is fun to see how life in the city works, and the people of the city go about their lives. Trying not to sound like travel snobs, the other type of bustling we do not like is places full of tour groups being hustled from point to point on three hour tours. We know we are tourists also and from a locals perspective probably just as big a nuisance as the tour groups, but we tend to stay in towns longer, shop in the local groceries as well as eat in the restaurants, and try to see the city we are visiting in more than three hour increments.
The Baptisery of Parma, a very unique Romanesque building.
The first building that began to make Parma a special stop for us was the Baptisery located next to the Cathedral. As large and imposing as the Cathedral is, as soon as we entered the square both of our eyes were drawn to the Baptisery. It is a six sided tower made of pink marble. As the name implies it was built as the place for baptisms to occur. We have seen a couple of other stand alone baptisteries in other cities, but not one as interesting as this one.
Above each door of the Baptisery there were bas reliefs carved in the pink marble.
We both circled the exterior of the Baptistery a couple of times before turning to the main building on the square the Cathedral. From the outside the Cathedral was typical Romanesque architecture. While imposing it was not particularly interesting.
The interior of the Cathedral was a real treat.
But the inside was beautiful. Parma was a center of arts during the middle ages and the art work and frescoes inside were stunning to us. Usually we stay together when we go thru these big religious buildings, but today we tended to be drawn to different pieces of art. We both found different things to focus on, and came away awed by what we saw.
One of the large and beautiful frescoes in the Parma Cathedral.
We were truly impressed by the Cathedral and the Baptistery but that was not the highlight of our day. Our next stop was the Farnesene palace or as it is called now the Pilotta Palace. The Farnesene family ruled the Duchy of Parma for about 200 years. Once again the exterior of the palace while quite large is nothing spectacular visually. But what we found inside was spectacular.
The Farnesene palace in the background with a monument to Italian anti-fascist partisans in the foreground. An interesting note, Parma was liberated from the Germans by a joint force of Italian Partisans, and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force that fought under US command in WWII.
There are three distinct places to visit in the palace, a theater that has been in place since 1618, a library and a museum of art. The primary draw is the theater and it was what motivated us to pay the admission fee to see all three.
This structure is built entirely of wood and set up in a large hall in the palace.
We started in the theater and it is an incredible room. A huge hall in the original palace was converted into a theater by building a large wooden stand inside the building. In addition to the main stand of wooden benches ther are two levels of boxes each with ornate wood carved arches. It is an amazing place. We would love to see a concert here, but had to settle for a video concert being projected on a screen on the stage. But even though the music wasn’t live we were engrossed. When the video ended we left the hall and entered the area backstage.
One of the paintings from the Italian art museum in the Farnese Palace.
When we entered the backstage area we though we would loop around the back and come back out in the theater. But instead, we ended up on a magical two hour tour of Italian art from the 1100’s to modern time.
Church art from the Romanesque period. Early in our tour of Italian art.
The tour included over a thousand beautiful paintings, and in addition to just exposing us to great art, it explained to us the different periods of art, and the prominent artists in the region. It was focused on art in the region around Parma, but included art from other parts of Italy. Even for complete novices like us it was a fascinating trip. We were exposed to hundreds of beautiful pieces of art in a way that both educated us on the differences in style and what caused them to come about.
This was one of Ton and my favorite paintings. The style and form seemed quite modern to us, but this painting is from the 1600’s. It was not popular at the time, but it has aged well.
We have been to quite a few museums in our travels to Europe but this one is my personal favorite. It also helped that there was plenty of time to stand in front of a piece of art and enjoy it without the pressure of large crowds of people.
Head of a Women called La Scapaliata by Leonardo Da Vinci.
We came across a beautiful portrait by DaVinci that we both loved. Unlike the Mona Lisa we had never heard of this piece of art, but it was fascinating. Also, unlike when we tried to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre we had the painting to ourselves for the entire time we admired it. So after admiring the La Scapaliata by ourselves we had a much better understanding of Da Vinci’s genius than we did trying to glimpse the Mona Lisa thru a crowd of tourists all trying to get a selfie with the painting.
A cabinet for priests clothes, paintings were not the only beautiful art on display.
After we finished with the art museum we moved to the library in the palace. It was another fascinating room. The library is about 100 yards long and is lined with old books its entire length.
The beautiful library in the palace.
A large part of the palace was destroyed during WWII by allied bombing. But they were able to preserve a significant portion of the books.
A small selection of the books preserved in the library.
The Pilotta Palace was one of the best museums we have ever visited in Europe. We were truly awed by we had just seen, but we were hungry so lunch was in order. Both places on Tons list were closed and after walking thru the palace and around the streets to the closed restaurants, we were by now really hungry, so as we were walking down the street we saw a Pizza Place and decided that was good. The Pizza while not spectacular did the job.
Another theater in Parma. Parma is a real cultural center for this part of Italy.
The day had turned a bit gray while we were in the theater and seeking out lunch, so we decided to head back to the campground. But as we were riding the bus we noticed a Supercenter market for one of the big Italian grocery chains Esselunga. So the end of our day was spent doing some grocery tourism. Ton was quite happy.
It was supposed to rain heavily today about noon so we were up early to move down the road to Parma. It took less than a hour to arrive at an Aire next to a busy highway. The good news the aire was less than 50 yards from a Lidl. So we got a good shop in before the rain started. This time weather.com was right and right about noon the heavy rain kicked in for the rest of the afternoon. So our day was spent relaxing and watching movies. Tomorrow we will visit the city.
We shifted our base about 50 kilometers today to Modena. Modena is probably most famous these days for being the home of Pavarotti. Ferrari’s headquarters and plant is located about 10 miles from Modena in a small town called Maranello, so there are a lot of things Ferrari in the area also.
Our first view of Modena. A lot more bicycles than Ferrari’s.
Ton had prepared a list of places to visit so we headed to the first one on her list, the indoor market. The market was a nice mix of shops with everything from fruit and vegetable stalls to fish and meat. It was clearly set up to cater primarily to locals and not tourists. This is the kind of market we like.
The market had this nice fountain of a woman shopping right in the middle.
We made a pass thru the market and spotted a couple of items we were interested in, but decided to come back after lunch. The region is known for its Balsamic vinegar and there were a couple of stalls featuring that as well as a particular bread unique to the region that we wanted to buy.
The balsamic vinegar stall, one of the few in the market dedicated to tourists.
Ton had read about a restaurant across from the market so we decided to go there for lunch. Yesterday our giant charcuterie plate had blocked us from trying two local specialties we were interested in. So when we sat down we were very pleased to see they had both Lasagna Verde, and Ragu Tagliatelle on the menu. We ordered one of each as well as a meat dish prepared with Balsalmic Vinegar. With one order we had covered three of the most famous foods in the region. The Ragu was memorable and one of the better pasta dishes we have ordered, but the lasagna was incredible. It had a creaminess in the sauce that we had never experienced before. The pasta is dyed green by adding spinach to it as it is produced, the bechamel sauce used in the lasagna was originally French and gives it the creamy texture. We both agreed it was the best lasagna we have ever had.
It may not look special but this was the best lasagna we have ever had.
We returned to the market after our long and delicious 90 minute lunch, but all of the shops we intended to buy from before lunch had closed down. So we left without our bread and vinegar.
The interior of the Modena Cathedral.
When we first entered the cathedral it was very dark and did not make much of an impression on us. But as our eyes adjusted to the light Ton said this place is beautiful. This is the second church we have seen in northern Italy where there is a wall right behind the alter that divides the church. In this case there are stairs that you can climb to stand on the wall behind the alter and look down on the congregation. This is our first experience seeing this design feature in a cathedral particularly the stairs and balcony above the altar.
This stone carving was one of the many beautiful pieces of art in the cathedral.
The cathedral also has a crypt with the patron saint of the city in it which is open to the public. We have seen a lot of churches and cathedrals in our travels but this one broke the mode a bit in its design and lighting, we enjoyed it.
I don’t know if he owns this bar, but he is the current most famous son of Modena.
Ton also wanted to visit St. Augustine church to look at the ceiling and a sculpture. It took us two attempts to get in. The exterior is not that interesting, in fact I was hard pressed to recognize it as a church when google told me I had arrived, it looked just like any other building in town. We couldn’t find the doors in, because it turns out they were locked until 4pm.
The main square near our postal bank.
We used the time we had to find an ATM to get some cash. We first went to a commercial bank, but they wanted to charge us a 5% transaction fee. I then remembered that the post offices in Europe often offer a banking service and their ATM’s don’t charge transaction fees. A quick search of google showed a postal bank only 200 meters away and our cash problem was solved.
The roof of St. Augustine Church.
We headed back down to St. Augustine and we arrived just as they were opening the doors to the public. While the exterior of the church is nothing special. The interior was very ornate and beautiful. While the cathedral was Romanesque in style, the church was from the Renaissance. These two churches 500 yards apart were a good education for me on the differences between the austerity of Romanesque buildings, and the elaborate features of the Renaissance.
After we finished with the church it was time to head back to the campground. I would like to say that I have mastered Italian bus schedules and the trip back was smooth, but I would be lying. Despite my best efforts we ended up on the wrong bus (I took bus 3, and I should have took bus 3A, I think…) so we ended up walking an unplanned mile to get back to the campground. Ton wasn’t too happy with me.
Well it took a while but Bologna finally won us over. We were up bright and early so that we could take the 9am bus into town. The bus runs from the campground every two hours, and we thought 11 was a little too late to start the day. Also, we were nervous after the strike yesterday and wanted to make sure we had time to find an alternatvie way if the bus didn’t show.
Some of the interesting architecture on the streets of Bologna.
After yesterdays drama with the transit strike we were relieved when the bus rolled up to the stop 10 minutes before nine. The campground is the beginning of the route so we knew we had 10 minutes to wait. 6 of us got on the bus and took out seats. Unfortunately, the drama with busses in Bologna wasn’t over. The busses in most of Europe work on an honor system, no one checks your ticket when you get on the bus, they do periodic sweeps where they get on a bus and check everyone’s ticket, the fine is substantial if you do not produce a ticket. On this trip we have only been checked once. One guy got on the bus with a dog and clearly didn’t have a ticket as you have to time stamp it when you get on. Then he sat down and immediately began to blast crappy techno music from his phone. Everyone was tolerating this behavior until he began to shout at the driver of the bus to get going even though it wasn’t 9am yet. The bus driver told him to shut up and turn his phone down, he then got in a shouting match with the driver until the driver opened the doors of the bus and told him to get off, he continued to shout at the driver and refused to get off. I then noticed the driver pushing a button on a computer panel in front of him, probably indicating he had a problem. 9am came and went and we were in a standoff between this jerk and the bus driver. He finally turned the music off on his phone, just as the bus driver got a radio call from dispatch, but while the driver spoke to dispatch and closed the doors in anticipation of leaving, the jerk got a call on his phone which resulted in him getting in a shouting match at the top of his lungs with whoever was on the other side of the call. This was too much for the driver who again opened the door, shut down the bus, and stood up and told the guy to get off the bus, this prompted another tirade from the jerk. I don’t speak Italian but I got the gist of the next part from the driver which was you don’t have a ticket, the dog doesn’t have a ticket and you are causing a disruption so if you don’t get off the bus I am calling the police. At this point the jerk got off and we began a tense drive into Bologna.
The Little Venice of Bologna. No gondolas here.
We got off at the train station and I went to the front of the bus and thanked the driver before heading into the city. Our first stop was the little Venice. Bologna used to have a series of canals that ran thru the city, most of them have been paved for roads, but one canal remains. We were told to get there early before the tours arrived which was part of the reason for our early start. We found it on a pretty nondescript street. You view the canal thru a window cut in a wall we probably would have missed it except there was a tour taking turns peering thru the window. When we looked thru we almost laughed, the canal was completely dry, talk about a tourist trap.
One of our first sites in Bologna was this market of farmers from a region near here.
We found the main street and just before we got to the main square we saw a series of stalls for an agricultural cooperative near the city. We walked over to see what they were selling and it was a mix of different products the region was famous for. What we didn’t catch until the end was that these farmers were here as part of a campaign to help a bunch of farms that have been subject to two serious floods in the last year. One was about 9 months ago which was described as a 100 year flood, and just as they were recovering from that one, they were flooded out again 2 weeks ago. On our to do list today was to pick up some Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese that this region is famous for. Ton noticed that for a €15 donation you received a nice block of the cheese. When I asked the guy if they took a credit card he apologized but said no. We had a nice conversation with him and he explained about the floods. As the conversation wrapped up he asked if we would mind being interviewed for their website. A couple of minutes later their social media guy showed up and I did a couple of minute interview, though I doubt it made the cut on the final edition. While I was being interviewed Ton talked to a nice gentleman who worked for the Co-op who had visited Portland when he was in high school because Portland is a sister city of Bologna, something neither one of us knew. So now we know why Ton was drawn to Bologna it is our sister city.
The cathedral in Bologna is called the unfinished cathedral, because they ran out of money to do it all in marble, so they completed it in brick.
The cathedral in Bologna is striking because it is unusual. The lower half is done in marble, but the upper half is done in brick. It makes for an interesting exterior that is to me more striking than the standard cathedral.
The interior of the cathedral does not show any economies and is quite beautiful and large.
The interior of the cathedral is as rich in appearance as any we have seen, though it feels a little less ornate than many of the Italian cathedrals. It appears this was an artistic choice, not an economic one. The interior is huge, one of the biggest we have visited, the story is that the Pope demanded that the original plans be scaled down as it was going to be bigger than St. Peters in Rome. In fact I was startled to find they were having a mass at the front of the cathedral while visitors were still allowed to visit the back of the cathedral. It is big enough to allow that to happen as they are usually closed to the public during mass.
This painting of heaven and hell was inspired by Dantes Inferno.
The cathedral has a large fresco depicting Dantes vision of heaven and hell. It is incredibly detailed and quite large and really stands out in the otherwise relatively sparsely decorated cathedral.
There are 68 kilometers, about 40 miles of these Portico covered walkways in the city.
Bologna’s significant architectural feature is the Portico covered walkways of the city. They have the most covered streets in Europe and the Porticoes are now featured as a UNESCO site for the city. They are really nice, and practical as you are separated from vehicle traffic, you are covered from the rain and when it is hot you have a shaded place to walk. We really appreciated them as we navigated the town.
Another Portico complete with a high end restaurant.
The other reason we were looking forward to Bologna was to try the pasta sauce they are world famous for Bolognese Sauce. Every American is familiar with this sauce as it is the most common Italian Pasta Sauce in the US. In Bologna this sauce is referred to as Ragu, which of course is the brand name of one of the biggest producers of Bolognese in the US. They are also famous for a green Lasangne. So we spent the better part of an hour wandering from restaurant to restaurant looking for the perfect one. We had several on the maybe list when we came across the one we wanted to try. Unfortunately, they required reservations.
We came across this window of pasta during our search for the perfect restaurant.
So we decided to head back to the very first one we came across. After doubling back a good distance we had walked enough to allow us a good sized lunch.
The exterior of our restaurant.
By the time we returned the place was packed with customers, but we found a nice table on the inside where we could watch the food being prepared. Simoni is famous for its charcuterie plate so we ordered one intending it to be our appetizer. When the plate arrived we knew that we would not be ordering much more food.
Our charcuterie plate with a basket of bread.
The restaurant was a well oiled machine so in addition to enjoying our excellent plate of meat and cheese we got to watch an efficient kitchen and wait staff at work. Also our table was on the path to the bathroom so the people watching was quite fun. We did order a small bowl of meatballs with Ragu sauce so we did complete our quest. The green lasagne will have to wait for another day.
The trident on this statue of Neptune inspired the logo of the Masserati Corporation.
Our last stop for the day was the university. Bologna University is the oldest continuously operating University in the world dating back to 1088. The campus is located in the center of the city. The university district is full of charming Porticos and imposing buildings. We had hoped to visit the library as it is quite beautiful but it was closed on Sunday.
Part of the Bologna University.
By now the town was really busy. It turns out this weekend is the Saint of the cities weekend so it is a local holiday, so the locals were out in force along with the tourists. It was getting a little too crowded for us so we headed back to the campground on a pleasantly unremarkable bus ride.
The crowds were building as the day went on.
So Bologna won us over after a rough start. I can tell Ton likes a place by the volume of pictures she sends me to consider for the blog. She liked Bologna as I got a large number of pictures after she spent over an hour considering which ones to forward. It had everything we like in a city. Good food, interesting and unique buildings, a very walkable downtown core, and (mostly) good and charming people. On top of that it is the sister city of our hometown, a sister we didn’t know existed until today.
Ton has been looking forward to Bologna since we decided to re-route to Italy. She has a long list of places she wants to see and foods she wants to try while we are here. When we checked the weather last night the weather was supposed to be ok today for our visit.
It’s a good thing that we have visited Italy multiple times because the last week has been disappointing. If this was our first trip to Italy I think by now we would be wondering what we have gotten ourselves in for. Everyday the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow and when tomorrow comes it is raining again. (Some of the blame belongs to weather.com for not being able to predict the weather accurately even 24 hours out.) So as you can gather by my rant when we arrived at Bologna today it was raining steadily.
The driveway of our very wet campground.
After we checked in we decided to put on our rain gear and grab our umbrella and head into town to check things out. Our campground is a little remote from the city but it has a bus that comes by every 2 hours.
So a little before its scheduled arrival at 1 pm we joined 3 German couples at the bus stop. When 1 came there was no bus, but busses run late. At 1:05 still no bus, but with bad weather maybe it had run into some traffic. At 1:15 no bus, but I thought oh well this is Italy. It was raining hard so by 1:15 we were all huddled under the awning in front of the reception. At 1:20 one of the receptionists came out and asked what we were doing. I told her we were waiting for the bus to which she replied it should of come at 1! We all agreed, but informed her it had not. At 1:30 the receptionist came out and informed us that the bus drivers were on strike so some of the busses were not running.
She offered to call a taxi to take us downtown and suggested that we group up in fours. The two older German couples immediately pared up. We asked the younger German couple if they wanted to pair up, but they hesitated and had a long conversation in German so we waited for them to make a decision. The campground has a system with the cab company where they call the cab on line and get a paper response, kind of like the paper from a credit card machine. The first request for a cab was denied, but the receptionist said this is normal. The second request was confirmed and she gave the paper to the two couples. The younger couple finally said they would go with us, so another request for a taxi was submitted but denied. The second request was also denied, which led the younger couple to decide to take their scooter into town. Now it was just Ton and me for a €20 taxi but we decided to go ahead. While we were waiting for the response to the third request Ton said if it was denied we would just head back to François for the day. The third request was denied probably due to high demand for taxis because of the bus strike. So we called it a day and trudged back to François in the rain.
This completed a rather lackluster first week in Italy. Good thing we really like Italy or we might be looking to head over to France for good weather and functioning transit systems.
It was raining when we took off to visit Verona. It looked like we may get a couple of dry hours mixed in with scattered showers. The city came under Roman rule in 300 BC and there are still Roman buildings in use today.
The Colosseum on the main square in the city is still used as a concert venue today.
The arena as it called was built in 30 AD and is the third largest in Italy. The facade you see today is the interior structure. Originally there was a taller outer wall around it. There is only a small remnant of the outer wall remaining today. The interior is the best preserved in Italy and hosts concerts and other events on a regular basis.
The remnant of the outer wall that used to go all around the arena.
Our next stop was the Ponte Catelvecchio a 14th century bridge. It is not an elegant bridge but looks powerful and utilitarian. The bridge today is a reconstruction of the original bridge which was destroyed by the Germans at the very end of WWII.
The Castelvecchio Bridge leads into the old palace and is fortified.
The bridge is tied into the palace of the ruler of Verona at the time. It is said to have been built and fortified to allow the rulers to have a back way out of the city in case of rebellion.
The bridge leading into the palace. At the time of its construction the arch in the bridge was the biggest in the world.
As the day wore on the weather slowly began to improve from steady light rain, to mostly cloudy with just a few very light showers. Verona is another beautiful Italian city with nice squares and interesting buildings from many different eras.
Italy is great for many different styles of architecture. The tower is from the 14th century the building in the center next to the tower is Roman.
Despite the bad weather and it being shoulder season the town was pretty crowded with multiple tour groups. Verona is not a particularly famous Italian city but still draws a lot of people.
The market square was particularly crowded despite the weather.
Verona is most famous as the setting of two of Shakespeare’s plays. Probably his most famous play is Romeo and Juliet which takes place in Verona. While there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever visited Verona the story of a tragic couple caught between feuding families had been a subject of a poem by an Italian that was translated into English. That is probably the basis for the play.
The balcony that is supposed to be the one from the famous scene in Romeo and Juliet.
While the two families in the play had an on going feud for decades in real life there is no evidence that there was a Romeo or a Juliet in the families. However, given the popularity of the play there is now a home referred to as Juliet’s complete with a balcony replicating the famous scene in the play. It was the most crowded place in the city.
Dante lived here near the end of his life after having been exiled from Florence due to his writing.
We tried to stay off the main shopping streets. When we are in a town that is teeming with other tourists we often look for streets going in the same direction but a block or two over. A lot of time these streets are more interesting to us as the stores on these streets tend to cater to local needs and are more interesting.
These are the kind of stores we enjoy.
There was one more bridge on our stop the Ponte Pietra is a Roman bridge built around 100 AD. It is not a spectacular bridge but a typical Roman bridge on a major road. It was also destroyed at the end of WWII but rebuilt after the war using the original materials.
The Ponte Pietra (Stone Bridge) with an angry Adige River running under it.
Having put in a good amount of exercise taking in the sites we decided to reward ourselves with a lunch. We went to a restaurant recommended by the campground that served typical local food. Ton asked the waiter for a recommendation and he replied that the region was famous for Donkey Stew and theirs was excellent. Ton made an incredible face that I thought was hilarious but took the waiter off guard as he was being serious. After I laughed at her reaction he starting laughing and said the face you made was incredible, I will not forget it. Ton opted for another local specialty duck pasta. I had a beef stew with excellent polenta as I also could not bring myself to try the Donkey stew. We also discovered a local red wine that we really liked called Bardolino.
At the base of the hill behind the red bus is the remnants of an old Roman theater.
After lunch it was raining again so we decided to head back for the night. But first we stopped in at a local grocery for some bread and a bottle of Bardolino.
Well the rain we took a day off to stay out of showed up in force today. There is a large storm going thru Italy and extending to Slovenia and Croatia so there was nothing to do but suck it up and get going in the rain.
The drive over to Verona of Romeo and Juliet fame was uneventful. We arrived at a brand new if slightly pricey campground. On the way thru town we noticed the Adige River was at the top of its channel so the warnings about flooding seemed to be correct.
Going into town was not in the cards so we hunkered down in François for another lazy day when Ton decided to it would be a good day to wash the sheets. Unfortunately, that was the high light of our day so there are no pictures.
It was supposed to rain heavily today and when we woke up it was. So we decided to stay here one more day and wait out the bad weather. By 10am the rain had stopped and we debated whether we should head on down the road, but the weather app said it was going to rain so we stayed. It did not rain again and by 2pm the sun was out. Now it is supposed to rain heavily tomorrow according to weather.com.
The good news is that we used the down time to draw up a plan for the rest of our trip. We also made another trip to Lidl to get some groceries. As I was looking at the wine display one of the employees handed me a bottle of wine and in English told me it was a steal and he was buying 4 bottles himself. I appreciated the tip, but was a little bothered that without me speaking he looked at me and decided I was a foreigner and not Italian.
After our day of rest yesterday we were both up early and ready to get going into town. Our campground is conveniently located about 100 yards from a tram stop that took us right to the center of town. But our destination for the day was the Citta Alta for Bergamo.
One of the gates to the Citta Alta with a stone passageway from the lower city leading into it.
From the train station we took a bus up the hill towards the Citta Alta or high city. The high city is the old town in Bergamo and as described is built on an imposing hill overlooking the valley all the way to Milan. The lower city is mostly a product of the early 20th century.
Looking down on the lower city from the Citta Alta.
Bergamo is also a university town as we quickly learned as the bus we were on quickly filled with millennials heading to the University on the hill. Some of the buildings we saw are quite old, but they must have other purposes in the past because the university was founded in 1968.
This young man had just received his Doctorate in Business from the University. The recent graduates wear a crown of leaves with a red bow. Apparently the tradition is for the graduates to hand out a red candy to guests so Ton and I got a couple pieces of candy from him for congratulating him.
We did not have a plan for visiting Bergamo so when we got off the bus at the top of the hill we just wandered into the old town. We quickly found the main north-south street which dates back to the Romans and walked the length of it. Italy and France are two countries where you can gain weight just by walking by window displays, and we love just looking in the windows and drooling.
These Foccacia style pizzas were sold by the piece. At lunch this was the place of choice for several high school groups visiting town. I imagine the cookies were also popular.
After walking the length of the town we decided to treat ourselves to a coffee. We chose Bugan Coffee lab as Ton had read about it on line. They had won an award in 2023 as the best coffee roaster in Italy and the Italians take their coffee seriously so that is an accomplishment. The coffee was delicious, and we enjoyed a fun discussion with the barista and a customer about coffee and Italy.
The main square with the old town hall on the left and a building repurposed for the University on the right.
We spent quite a bit of time on the main square as there was quite a lot to see. The old town hall dates back to the 1400’s and the tower contains a large clock and the main bell for the city. In Europe you constantly here bells ringing but Bergamo takes the award. At 10 pm the bell on the town hall is rung 100 times. In the past it was to warn everyone that the gates to the city were closing, now it is just for fun.
Another large and ornate church.
We visited the church next to the cathedral as there was a mass going on in the cathedral. The church was massive and quite impressive itself. But for us what made it fun was the organist was practicing while we were looking around. In addition to looking at the art we spent the whole time trying to locate where they were playing from and never succeeded but we did enjoy the sound of the pipes.
The exterior of the Cathedral.
For the first time on this trip we enjoyed a meal in a restaurant. Northern Italian food is quite different than Southern Italian. Here there are more steaks and chops and often the side dishes are polenta or potatoes. Polenta is related to grits so being a southerner originally I opted for polenta as the side for my veal while Ton went for potatoes with her Beef. We did get local stuffed pasta called casoncelli a local ravioli from Bergamo. Once again Italian cooking did not let us down and we enjoyed ourselves.
This is a local dessert made from polenta. As good as it looked we passed as we were stuffed from our meal.
After lunch we decided to walk down the hill to the new town. The path down was steep and we were both happy with our decision to ride up the hill and then walk down.
The city walls at the top of the hill.
When we got back to our aire for the night we checked the weather forecast hoping it had improved. Unfortunately it had not and we look like we are in for 3 wet days. Since we need to do some planning we extended our stay here and will spend tomorrow which is supposed to be the wettest plotting our route thru Italy for the next 25 days.
Our grand tour of Switzerland is over. We really enjoyed Switzerland the natural beauty of the country is remarkable.
Today we shifted down to a small city near Milan called Bergamo. We arrived with an empty refrigerator and an empty gas tank. While Switzerland is beautiful it is also expensive. So we spent the last couple of days emptying the cupboards of canned goods we have been carrying around for a couple of years.
Our first stop when we got to Bergamo was a Lidl where we spent an hour filling a shopping basket. After we settled in to the aire here we decided to take the rest of the day off.
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.
Today was a brilliant sunny day so we headed to the place we were most excited about visiting. Morcote is a small village on the lake that is supposed to be the most beautiful in the area.
The town center in Morcote.
Our Tichino pass gives access to all public transport in the Canton. We took advantage of it today to get to Morcote. The trip involved 2 trains and a bus, and took about an hour and a half including waits at the transfers.
Part of our transit experience today, the little train to the top of the hill in Lugano.
The bus dropped us at the Piazza Grande in Morcote. We got a giggle when we saw the Grand Plaza as it was about 50 by 50 feet. Grand can be in the eye of the beholder.
Everything shares this road, pedestrians, bicycles, cars and full size city busses, and the traffic is in both directions for the vehicles. Patience is a virtue.
Our first stop was the church in town because the views were supposed to be spectacular. You got to the top by climbing a series of narrow staircases between buildings. It was only a few hundred yards to the church, but you gained about 400 feet in elevation so it was a good workout to get there.
One of the passages between buildings on the way to the church.
The climb was strenuous but the views from the church were worth it. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the views from the church for a few minutes before heading into the church itself.
The view from the church. There were several palm trees in the town. The local tourist authority likes to refer to Lake Lugano as the “Riviera” of Switzerland.
The interior of the church was nice. There were several older frescoes very similar in style to the ones we saw in Lugano yesterday.
The interior of the church in Morcote.
We took a different route down which was labeled a road, but was just a slightly more gentle trail, with less steps. On the way down we came upon a beautiful building with a great view of the lake, we were speculating about the building when we saw a sign that it was the elementary school for the town. The kids that go there probably don’t realize that they have to be attending one of the most beautiful schools in the world.
The elementary school in Morcote, not bad at all.
The trail entered an arch that passed under the elementary school. The arch led to a grotto like room that had a small chapel with a painting depicting purgatory. It was interesting art, but the location under the town elementary school had us perplexed a bit.
Purgatory under the elementary school.
When we got to the bottom we headed to a botanical garden in the town. After several false starts we eventually located the entrance to the gardens. The gardens worked themselves up the same hill the church was on so we got to re-climb the hill as we worked our way thru the plants. The gardens were very nice, but not spectacular.
This was the “Roman Fountain” in the gardens,.
After scaling the steep hill above Morcote twice we decided to head back to Lugano on the bus. When we arrived in Lugano we had to jump off the bus a couple of stops early as a race had just finished up along the main street of town.
The sun was out in force today in Lugano.
What a difference a day makes, the sun was out, and so were the people of Lugano. It is Saturday today and the race had just ended so the downtown was full of people. Ton had read about a little hole in the wall wine bar on a side street, so we headed there with a thought of purchasing a glass of wine, when we got there the “hole in the wall” Ton had read about was a giant cafe with about 30 tables so we passed once again on eating out.
The cathedral in Lugano on the way to the train.
This time we were able to find the little train which saved us another 300 foot elevation climb. On the way back to the campground we again did a little tourism grocery shopping.
Sunset from the beach at our campground.
While we were gone the campground had filled to near capacity. We went for a walk at sunset and were struck by how few non-Swiss are staying here. Besides our French plate, we saw a single German plate, and all of the rest were Swiss from all over the country. My guess is that all of the foreigners looking for an overnight stop drive the extra 1/2 hour to Italy to avoid Swiss prices.
