I spent a few days with Mum and Dad at Lago Maggiore. I arrived late on Monday after a FlixBus mission from Lindau to Bellinzona and bus to Locarno. Mum and Dad picked me up in the rental from there.
On Tuesday we went for a walk around the little town to the North of our holiday house along the lake. The town as named Cannero and it was quite pretty. We swam in the lake and walked around the little streets. We then drove further along the lake to Cannobio and up a valley. We found a nice river and a church to look at. The sun came out a bit briefly before it returned to being grey.
Above: We stayed in a home exchange house across the road from Lago Maggiore.
Above left: The weather was good and there were stars in the evenings.
Above right: We went for a walk down at the next town named Cannero a little way up the lake towards Switzerland. Dad and I went swimming in the lake. The water was warm.
Above: We found this guy swimming around in the lake.
Above left: The streets were narrow and picturesque.
Above right: We went for a walk up the valley from the town Cannobio and found this church.
On Wednesday we drove South to Intra and took a ferry to the B-something islands. We stopped at Isola Madre first although our ticket didn’t officially allow it. It seemed like a big tourist trap as we had to pay to enter the island. I was not impressed with this or the crowds but we found a spot on the island to have our picnic lunch and the crowds seemed to reduce a little and it was a bit better. We jumped back on the ferry and headed to Isola Superiore. This island had no entry free. It instead had quite a nice old town. It was teaming with tourists again but we found a spot to swim, walked around a bit and then got something to eat and drink at a restaurant at the edge of the lake.
Above left: We visited Isola Madre with the hordes of tourists.
Above middle: There was some exotic wild life on the island.
Above right: We continued onwards to Isola Superiore. The island was not private like Isola Madre. This meant we could wander around the old town and go for a swim in the warm water.
Above left: The old town was quite interesting with lots of little alley ways.
Above middle: I got a bit hungry so we stopped at one of the restaurants and had something to eat.
Above right: More narrow streets with local wildlife.
Above: More narrow streets with local wildlife.
Above left: The palace gardens were amazing and it was a very nice evening for walking around them.
Above middle: The gardens had all sorts of ornamental statues and interesting things to look at.
Above right: We took the boat back in the evening.
Above: Moon on the water of Lago Maggiore.
We didn’t leave for our third island until around 5 pm. It was named Isola Bella and was very pretty. The sun was lower in the sky now and all the cloud had gone. So had some of the people. We had paid huge sums of money for combination entry ticket to the first and third island although it wasn’t strictly necessary on the third island. It did mean we could enter the palace and gardens, which turned out to be very very nice, the gardens in particular.
On Thursday we went for a drive up the valley from Cannobio and visited a small town named Falmenta. The valley would be great for road cycling. If I’m ever back there I’ll have to try it out. You could do a loop up the valley then back down into Switzerland to Locarno then back along the lake. I guess Leonie would like it too. We walked around the town a bit had lunch and then returned to our Air BnB.
I took the bus back to Lindau on Friday morning and Mum and Dad flew to Florence.
Above left: We drove up the valley from Cannobio and stopped to look at a deep river before visiting the old town of Falmenta.
Above right: Falmenta is built on the side of a hill and is full of the typical little narrow streets that you find in a European old town.