We awoke to All Saints' Day, a national holiday in Italy. Aside from that, a lot of things are generally not open on Sundays anyway. Luckily, Cosmos had a plan to keep us entertained. An optional tour was offered into nearby Switzerland, an invitation that we readily accepted.
The bus skirted Lake Maggiore and then followed Lake Como north to the Swiss border, where thankfully we were not held up by any sort of inspection. A little ways into Switzerland, we stopped at the city of Lugano, nestled amongst the Alps on Lake Lugano, where we were given the opportunity to wander for a little while.
The city was clean and beautiful, and quiet on a Sunday morning. Besides the lake and mountains, there were many lovely parks, gardens and squares. Hungry after a less-than-satisfying breakfast at Hotel Dino, certainly NOT congruent with the hotel's otherwise grand nature, we ate a second breakfast at the world's nicest McDonald's.
Back aboard the bus, we drove out of town to Monte Tamaro, a nearby mountain recreational area. From there we took a 4-person cable car some 1500m up the side of the mountain, up up and away into the clouds. The view that greeted us at the top was simply stunning, alpine mountain peaks jutting above the clouds on a crisp and sunny morning.
Beyond gaping at the view, we also watched crazy mountain bikers fly down the hills....and even more crazy hang-gliders jump OFF the hill. Encouraged by the daring behaviour, we went 800m even further up the mountain and braved the 2-person bobseld track down the big hill in the open air before enjoying a cafe lunch at the mountain-top lodge. The excursion finished with a quick tour of the cliff-top church, which won its architect an award for building it right into the mountain.
Another jaw-dropping cable-car ride saw us down the mountain and back onto the bus for the ride back to Italy. Nearly one week into the trip, we took the opportunity to do some laundry at a local laundromat, whiling away the time walking the quaint streets and alleys of Baveno. Meeting up again with John and Julie, we enjoyed pasta and Dolcetto at a local establishment before returning to Hotel Dino for another night in the lap of luxury.
Lugano, Switzerland
Above the clouds on Monte Tamaro
The Cable Car up the Mountain
Bobsled Run down the mountain
View FROM the cable car - going down???
On Top of the World
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2 comments:
Okay, I'll bite. Why was it the world's best MacDonald's?
Marble floors, crazy chandelier, open air dining....it looked more like the lobby of some grand hotel than a McDonald's. Mind you, the food was pretty much the usual McDonald's.
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