Saturday, September 19, 2009

Remember that time we accidentally went to Switzerland?

Today we accidentally wandered into Switzerland. We took the train to Porto Ceresio, which is on lake Lugano. We knew next to nothing about the lake and environs. I was under the assumption that the lake was quite small. There is a beautiful looking city called Morcote located a mere 300 meters across the lake from Porto Ceresio. From the town you can see lovily old buildings, a couple of churches and even a castle located halfway up a mountain. I had the brilliant idea that we could walk around the lake and get to Morcote in under an hour.

We embarked on a pathway along the lake. About a kilometer later, the pathway ends and we picked up our route along a nearby road. We rounded a bend...and were confronted by a security check point and a bunch of guards. Looking like dazed and lost tourists we wandered over to a friendly looking man in a gray uniform and inquired if we could pass. Si, si, of course. Is it still Italy over there? No, no, it's Switzerland. Woah. What could we do except keep going?

We continued until we came to a very conviently placed map next to the road. Oh, it looks like there is a ferry that goes all over the lake. Let's go down to the next ferry stop and see if we can get to Morcote! Brilliant. What do you think funivia means? Let's look it up. Oh, funicular. Up the mountain maybe? Cool, let's go see. A little while later, we find both the ferry stop and the funicular station. The ferry costs $25 for a day pass, which is a little steep. Plus the times were inconvenient for us. And did I mention that this lake is actually really large??? Then we looked up the funicular, which ran every half hour and cost $16. Why the hell not?

At the top is a place called Serpiano, which we gathered is some kind of hotel and resort. We bought over priced espressos and sat for an hour to admire the incredible view off the balcony. I took a bunch of pictures, but am too tired tonight to resize them. Hopefully we will have a convenient internet connection at the next farm we are going to and I will load them soon.

We walked around the woods a bit and then took the 1:00pm car down. The town we were in was called Brusino Arsizio. We wandered around for a bit looking for a cheap place to have lunch and failed miserably. Switzerland, it turns out, is an incredibly expensive place. So we hightailed it back to Italy to find a pizzaria, were we ate for 6 euros each. And that, dear friends, was our adventure in Switzerland.

Tomorrow we are leaving the wonderful La Monda and heading to a hazelnut farm near Asti. Hopefully we will be able to update you all on our progress soon. Ciao for now!

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