Enchanted, bewitched... by Lake Lugano!
Enchanted, bewitched...by Lake Lugano!
In May last year, we stayed in the town of Lugano for one night, but managed to see only the embankment. After returning home, a rough plan was sketched out for visiting these places in the spring of 2014. And my plans were Napoleonic, which were destined to come true only in part. About a month and a half before the trip, the son expressed a desire, because he had the opportunity to keep us company. I had to cancel 4 hotels, cross out 2 lakes. It was a bit of a pity to redraw plans, but the opportunity to go somewhere with the whole family has not been given often lately, and I am always very happy about these rare cases when they happen.
So, Lugano - Melide - Morcote - Carona - Verzasca.
So the first place we go to is Lugano.
Hotel Dischma 3*
For the first time in my travel experience, I booked the same hotel twice. This is the Discma hotel. I wrote a review about this hotel last time:
http://www.turpravda.com/ch/lugano/Dischma-h40111-r94445.html
Booking description here: http://www. booking. com/hotel/ch/dischma-lugano-paradiso. de.html? aid=202008; id=9... "
What I would like to add, a month and a half before the trip, and even on the Easter holidays, little could be found at a suitable price. And this hotel offered a fairly reasonable price, and indeed, we liked it since the last time. There was one problem, their reception is open until 22:00, well, we couldn’t come until that time. Wrote them a letter, if they can accept us between 23:00 and 24:00 at night. They answered that they would wait, but it would not be bad if we called them around 10 pm and told them where we were and how much more was left to go.
Great, of course, we'll call. On the day of departure, my husband still managed to leave work 3 hours early, but I was not happy ahead of time that we would arrive at the hotel not too late, because in Switzerland there is a very nice Gotthard tunnel, at the entrance to which we stood this year more than 2 hours.
Move at a snail's pace, it's not worse, it's better to make a detour of 100 km.
Of course, we called the hotel, as promised, because we arrived there as I expected, half past eleven at night. This time we booked a triple room, not particularly large in size, but in order to spend the night, it is quite suitable.
We quickly settled in and slept. Almost nothing has changed in the hotel compared to last year, except for the unfolding construction in front of the main entrance. But no one worked in the evening, and no one worked in the morning, besides, there were holidays, so this circumstance was not an obstacle for us.
Breakfast excellent as always, staff attentive as always. This time I paid attention to the paintings hanging in the corridor on the 5th floor, something was familiar to me in them. It turned out that these are (not all) Canaletto's paintings, well, of course, not the originals, but masterfully executed copies. Pleasantly decorate the corridor and rooms.
I highly recommend for a short stay in Lugano.
Lugano. Funicolare Monte San Salvatore.
Checked out of the hotel, the first thing we went to this funicular. It should be noted that there are two funiculars in Lugano: Monte Bre and Monte San Salvatore. There was no time for Monte Bre.
http://www. Montebre. ch/
The funicular is located 200 meters from the hotel, and a 5-minute walk from the railway station, there is a private parking, paid or not, I don’t know, because we parked in the evening, so we didn’t take the car until we went down the mountain down.
http://montesansalvatore. ch/de/home/? type=rss here information about the lift.
Funicolare Lugano-Paradiso - Monte San Salvatore SA
Casella Postale 442
Via delle Scuole 7
CH-6902 Lugano-Paradiso
The ticket costs 24.00 francs/person. /ascent/descent. We rise in 2 stages, approximately in the middle of the way, transfer to exactly the same trailer that lifts up. Get lost, get out in the wrong place, sit in the wrong place...it's impossible.
The trailers take us to a height of 912 meters, here, on Monte San Salvatore, very well located almost in the center of the lake, there are toilets, a small playground for children, the Vetta San Salvatore restaurant, with beautiful views of the lake where I landed for the next almost an hour.
For 3 weeks of travel, I was operated on my knee, so my mode of movement was gentle, going up and down stairs was not for me. All the beauty, where I could not go myself, I saw only in the photographs taken by my men.
So I stayed downstairs and they went upstairs to the church.
On the mountain there are not only observation platforms, but also various hiking trails: to Carona, Pazzalo, Paradiso. Some bought tickets only for the ascent, and descended on their own. Everywhere there are signs, route maps.
It is impossible in any way to convey all the beauty, the grandeur of those places that open before our eyes.
Even if the day is cloudy, and there is haze over the lake, all the same, the landscapes are indescribably beautiful.
We go down in the trailer splendidly alone, because the bulk of the tourists are just going upstairs. There is no struggle for a place at the windshield, so the entire panorama of the city of Lugano is just for us.
Swissminiatur in Melide.
From Lugano we go to Melide to the park Switzerland in miniature,
http://www. swissminiatur. ch/? fuseaction=m3.19&lan=de
where all the main sights of the country are presented: cathedrals, temples, waterfalls, cable cars, monuments, houses of famous personalities ...I like such parks, and we also liked this one, this one is already the second in a row. It is not possible to have time to visit everywhere in the world, but you want to see a lot, so at least in miniature.
There are many paid parking lots nearby, I don’t even know how much the places cost, my son was engaged in this business, the only caveat was that in the parking meter it was necessary to enter not only the time, but also the parking number. And the entrance ticket to the park itself costs 19.00 francs.
You can pay in euros everywhere in Switzerland, but they give you change if you like: in euros and francs.
The park is located on the shores of the same Lake Lugano, not particularly large, it contains only 120 models, we spent a little more than two hours on it, we wanted to look at each "miniature". On the territory there is a cafe, and a souvenir shop, and toilets, and children are rolled along the rails around the park by a small, like a toy, train. Some adults also rode there.
I really liked some "temples" and "fortresses", I wrote down these places in my plans for the future.
We say goodbye to this "toy" town and head to Morcote. This pretty place, located between the lake and the mountains, in the southern part of the Arbostora peninsula, on the cape itself, I hardly saw, because after walking around the park of miniatures, my fate was now to sit on a bench and admire the lake.
Morcote is called the "pearl" of Lugano, but it was difficult to appreciate it from the shore, the best views, as they say, open from the water, and we did not ride a boat there.
We were interested in 2 points here: the 15th century church of Santa Maria del Sasso and the views of the lake from that height. More than 400 steps lead to the church, so only the male part of our company goes there, who were strictly ordered to film everything around.
You can read more about the church here:
http://www. virtualtourist. com/travel/Europe/Switzerland/Morcote-691060/Things_To... ”
When they went up there, they were slightly disappointed, the church was closed. It's a pity, a pity, because I saw photos on the Internet, according to which the interior decoration seemed to me very beautiful. They went further, climbed even higher, there is a sculptural image of St. Mary.
carona. Parco San Grato.
9 km from Morcote there is a place called Carona, so we are heading there.
The road is uphill, slightly serpentine, sometimes picturesque, in places very narrow, in one car, a couple of times I had to back away. But all this would be fine, but the absence of any kind of fences in places was a little annoying.
On one of the turns stands the church La chiesa dei Santi Fedele e Simone, 15th century. We stopped, not only because of the church, we also wanted to look at the lake from this height.
Some people were standing near the church, no one entered it, no one left. We approached, pulled the handle, closed. People looked at us very attentively. We asked purely in Russian: the church is not working, is it closed? The answer was in some kind of peculiar dialect: no, it doesn’t work, and they shook their heads in denial. They asked again in German, the answer was still in the same dialect. Even if they told us how long the church would open, we still wouldn't wait. I've searched the internet for information about it, and there's almost nothing.
We captured the lake again and drove on.
And our goal was the botanical park Parco San Grato. It is located between the mountains of San Salvatore and Monte Arbostora, at an altitude of about 700 meters. Admission is free, there is free parking on the mountain itself, behind the restaurant. Once upon a time, this place was a pasture for horses, owned by the lawyer Martin Winterhalter. In 1957, the first coniferous trees and various varieties of azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons were planted here. In 1997, this private property was donated to the city of Lugano. The park is very large, located in terraces on the slope, as well as on the mountain itself. The most beautiful place! ! ! I have never seen anything like it before: a lake, mountains and a flowering garden!
The best time to visit it is April and May when everything is in bloom. The paths are both paved and earthen paths. Many cars were left somewhere below and climbed up on foot. For those who love gardens and parks, this is a paradise.
And the air, this mountain-pine air, slightly filled with the aromas of flowering, it is not possible for them to breathe.
3 hours for such a wonderful park is negligible. If time allowed, we could spend the whole day here. Just take a walk for yourself, not in a hurry, admire the unique views of the lake, opening literally from every turn of the paths, and breathe, breathe, breathe this amazing air.
And time does not stand still, it's already more than 6 pm, it's time to move to Tremezzo on Lake Como. We have an apartment booked there for the next few days.
We descend from the mountain by another road, we pass through Lugano and continue along the lakeshore. We stop a couple of times to take photos.
We also visited another amazing place, though on a different day. It does not apply to Lake Lugano, not to Lake Como, it is located near Locarno, this is the Verzasca Gorge.
Gordola. Verzasca.
The serpentine leads further and higher from Lake Maggiore. The gorge has the same name as the river that flows through the valley of the same name and which flows into Lake Maggiore. First we drive up to the Verzasca dam, which has a height of 220 meters. Looking down is still breathtaking. This dam/dam is most famous because of the filming of the film "Agent 007" - "Golden Eye". Since then, lovers of jumping in extreme conditions began to come there. Accordingly, a company has already been formed, which is engaged in this business.
While we were wandering there, no one was jumping anywhere, there were some preparations, either for jumping, or just checking the equipment.
So without waiting for any jumps, having bought water and souvenirs, we go further, to Lavertezzo, where the "old Roman bridge" is located. This valley has a very mild climate, there are almost no winds and fogs, and it is a favorite place for camping.
Although the road is serpentine, it is very smooth, new landscapes are constantly opening up ...and not long, only 25 km, but we only get to Lavertezzo, where this two-arched bridge and absolutely fantastic rock formations formed by nature are located, well, just unique. The water in the river is an unusual emerald color, crystal clear. You can constantly stop along the way, the views of the surrounding mountains, forests and deep down the flowing river are mesmerizing.
Of course, I didn’t have to jump over the stones, I admired only from the shore, but it was just great.
We continue to Lake Como. . .
