lugano
Day 5 - Friday - June 3, 2016
This morning we boarded a bus and headed to Lugano, our destination for today. Along the way, we stopped for lunch in Bellinzona. After lunch, we stopped at a dam where a scene in a James Bond movie was filmed in addition to stopping for a picture of a neat bridge in Valle Verzasca. Finally, we visited a unique picture perfect town where the houses (walls and roofs) were all constructed of stone.
Our first stop of the day was Bellinzona where we toured the castle Castelgrande, one of three castles that have been UNESCO world heritage sites since 2000. The other two are castle Montebello and castle Sasso Corbaro. Bellinzona is the capital of the canton Ticino were 87% of the Swiss speak Italian. Of course we had an Italian lunch in Bellinzona. Take a look at some pictures of Castelgrande below.
After our lunch in Bellinzona, we continued up a valley to the Contra Dam. The opening sequence of the James Bond film Goldeneye was filmed in the Italian part of Switzerland, near Lugano. In the movie, James Bond jumps from the Contra Dam. The Contra Dam is commonly known as the Verzasca Dam. It was constructed between 1961 and 1965. Starting shortly after its reservoir was filled, a series of earthquakes related to its water load occurred until 1971. A couple of pictures are below.
Our next stop was an old picturesque bridge over a small stream. This was a very nice photo stop in the beautiful Valle Verzasca. Take a look at the pictures below.
We continued up the valley to a village where all homes and buildings where contructed of stone. This included the walls and roofs. It was a neat village where we spent some time exploring and trying to take that perfect picture as seen below.
We then headed to Lugano where we arrived later in the day. After arriving, we checked into our Hotel International au Lac for two nights. We then headed out to our group dinner after which we strolled around and soaked-in the beautiful sights in Lugano.
Day 6 - Saturday - June 4, 2016
Lugano is the main city of the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino. The population of Lugano is 60,000 and is surrounded on three sides by Italy. It is on the south side of the Swiss Alps and is the best place to enjoy palm trees in Switzerland. It is a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Lugano which are bordered by parks and promenades.
Today is our day to take a vacation from our vacation. It is a free day to do what we want.
Jan and I like hiking, so we decided that we would walk to Gandria, a popular cruise stop on the lake. It has some very romantic hotels and restaurants. After walking a couple of miles, we decided to turn back. Rather than walk, our suggestion is to take the cruise ship to Gandria as outlined in Rick's Switzerland book. It would be easier and more relaxing than walking. Some pictures of our walk are below.
After our aborted walk to Gandria, we took the funicular to the top of San Salvatore where we had some fine panoramic views. San Salvatore is 2,990 feet up from Paradiso, a suburb of Lugano. After reaching the top with the funicular, make sure you climb five more minutes to the actual summit and climb to the rooftop of the small church. This offers the best panoramic views. Here are some pictures from San Salvatore below.
Tomorrow we head for the highly anticipated Berner Oberland and our stay in Murren.