Friday 14th September.
Blue
skies and cooler mid 20’s temperature.
Despite
all our mad sight seeing we have still both managed to read two+ books and I
have had time to load, edit photos and keep up with the blog and facebook each
night. We have had television almost at every stop but haven’t watched any. We
found it “unusual” to see Midsummer Murders in Italian.
The
bed looked very hard but we both slept well. This was the only accommodation
where breakfast wasn’t included so again we were grateful to have our kettle
and cups for coffee in the morning along with the one remaining nectarine.We
packed the car again and set off back down the winding narrow streets praying
that there would be no cars coming around the next corner. As we had only a
short journey of about 120 kms, we stopped for coffee about half way. More
diesel then on our way. We arrived at Varese around midday and the challenge
again to find our accommodation which was about 4kms out of the main town.
There is nothing in the guide books about this place but we chose it because of
its location to the Lakes area and relative closeness to Malpensa airport
(Milan) We eventually found Relais Cá Dei Santi and were able to book in early
around midday.
Once
settled into our room, we were told that the Lindt Chocolate factory was 50
metres up the road. Well the plant was but the shop was a bit further on but
the walk was welcome and we did buy a small taste of chocolate.
We decided that
we would set off to drive around Lake Maggiore and our first stop was Luino
where we had lunch by the lake. We then continued around the lake, crossing the
Swiss border at the northern end of Lake Maggiore. We stopped at a Brissago
in Switzerland, bought a bottle of water and were surprised to find them still
using Swiss Francs, however they did the conversion to euros for us.
This
was not our best day and I think the stress of the driving and getting lost
& difficulty finding the accommodation had taken its toll. However we
pressed on! We have shared the driving pretty much 50-50. There has been a lot
of “back seat” driving from the passenger seat and at times much criticism of
driving tactics and interpretation of which way to go according to the GPS
instructions. The very windy, narrow hilly roads at times have been quite
scary. The local drivers speed around corners, some of the streets and lane
ways although two way traffic, there is only room for 1 ½ cars. You pray that there won't be a car coming in the opposite direction on a bend. Many areas have
one way streets or new roundabouts which the GPS doesn’t know about so that is
another thing that has been difficult at times. The biggest problem though is
cars just stopping in front of you, drivers double parking -getting out to go
into the shop, cutting in front of you with no warning, tooting the horn if
they think you are too slow or careful. Some just pull off the road to park the
car – no problem if everyone is parked parallel to the curb, if there is a
slight space drive in to park and leave the back half of the car sticking out
onto the road. There are so many cars on the roads and quite clearly not enough
roads for the volume of traffic. We have been in a lot of “non tourist” areas
so it’s not just the increased traffic from visitors however on the tourist
route, the trip home from Stresa, Lake Maggiore of 54 kms took over 2 hours.
Needless to say we were very pleased to be home safe. Had dinner at the
restaurant at the hotel and headed off to bed.
The
biggest problem we’ve had finding our accommodation has been the poor signage.
Some places have had no signs at all and some of the street numbers are not on
the fence/building. Some could not be found by the GPS. By and large the GPS
has been great, but there is a disclaimer when you press ‘start navigation’ saying
that the driver needs to use discretion. We have found it sending us very
narrow lane ways as a detour when that was completely unnecessary and many
times we’ve over ridden the instructions but occasionally we’ve been caught
out.
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Yes, really snow en route to Varese |
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Lake Maggiore at Luina |
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Lake Maggiore at Brissago - Switzerland |
Saturday 15th September
Blue
skies and anticipated top temperature of around 25
We
had a wonderful night’s sleep and woke later than usual and headed down to
breakfast after 9.30am. Anne Marie, the owner was on duty for breakfast this
morning. Graham was desperate to have a couple of shirts ironed to last the
next 3 days. ‘No problem – bring them down and I’ll get the maid to iron them
for you!’ Feeling a bit embarrassed but none the less, the shirts were really
scrunched up after their last wash, we handed them over, no idea what the cost
will be!! When we arrived home the shirts were ironed and hanging in the
wardrobe.
Anne
Marie suggested that today we drive to Levano, get the car ferry across to
Verbania, then drive on to Stresa and set off for Gignese, then up to Motterone (Mountain)for a spectacular view over all the lakes. We were then to go over the mountain
which is 1495 metres above sea level and drive home through Orta.
We
arrived in Verbania on the ferry after only about 15-20 minutes transit and
miraculously found a car park and then headed off to check this place out. We
found a huge market with fruit & veggies, Salami, cheeses as well as clothing,
leather bags, belts and wallets and much more. We bought salami & bread for
lunch and a couple of peaches as well. All washed down with another bottle of
water – Frizzante (with gas) This was enjoyed lakeside!
After
a couple of hours we continued on our way and reached Stresa and followed the
signs to Gignese. This meant a fairly steep climb and very narrow winding
roads. The fuel gauge was reducing it seemed with every corner. We saw a fuel
station just before Gignese but didn’t realize that it was a prepaid self
service, so continued up the hill for another couple of kilometers. We were
both concerned about the minimal fuel and no idea how far to the next
opportunity to fill up with diesel. By this stage we were probably 10 ms from
the top of the mountain and about 770 metres up. There was a toll to pay as the
road belongs to some Prince and I was able to ask the guys there about the
destination length and availability of fuel. They suggested going back to
Gignese for the “automatic” (prepaid self serve station). Graham was driving
and quite stressed by the ordeal so we decided to abandon the rest of the
ascent as we knew we would have enough fuel to get back to Stesa.
We parked in
Stresa (Stressa as Graham called it!) and walked along the lakeside enjoying the view and de stressing! We
decided to stay a bit longer, have an early dinner and drive home. Cheap eats tonight - we shared a pizza and a litre bottle of water. I drove home and to our
surprise, the 54 kms took almost as long as the previous night and we arrived
home around 8.30pm. We didn't have the added side trip to narrow streets tonight but very slow traffic for no apparent reason, hardly got into 3rd
gear for many kilometers at a time. Home safe & sound, coffee, catch up
& bed. There is a wedding at the venue tonight and we’d parked out on the street and
I suppose at some stage the noise will stop. Anne Marie has had a wedding
booked every weekend since May and now has no further forward bookings which
she is both surprised and concerned about! Evidently other places are in the
same situation too.
|
Levano - where we caught the ferry to Verbania |
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Verbania taken from the ferry |
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View of Lake Maggiore from the Stesa - Gignese Road |
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Foreshore Stresa |
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Rows of these Hotels along the main drag in Stresa - quite an unbelievable sight |
Anne
Marie, owns the complex and her husband is the chef. She was born in France and
her husband is from Orta. There are quite a few “French” touches here but we
were quite surprised to see the “maids” in uniform – black ¾ length dresses
with white aprons. The apartment is quite spacious and split level - upstairs for sleeping. There is tea/coffee
making facilities with cups and electric jug as well as a small fridge. The
first we’ve had all around Italy except for the self catering places. It is very comfortable and this is our last bed!