Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
I plan to write a full trip report, but this gets the highlites down at least. 
We stayed primarily in Lugano, which is in the Italian portion of Switzerland. And, really, it feels much more like Italy than it does Switzerland. Very neat, and I really didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I took a short break up to the Alps above Interlaken as well, which I *knew* I'd love and I was right.
Easy plane flight, even if between both legs it was about 12 hours.
DH wasn't too happy... his luggage didn't make it to Milan with him.
It did find him the next day in Lugano, at least.
Stayed in the Hotel Lugano Dante, which is in the old part of town. Really neat old hotel, even if the rooms were small.
Lugano was beautiful. Not quite what I expected, I sure didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The pictures I'd seen really didn't capture the beauty of the place.
First day we just looked around town, then I hooked up with the husband of one of the other conference employees and went sight-seeing. That guy likes to take pictures as much as I do.
DH didn't want to leave because of waiting for his luggage, our friend / DH's coworker didn't want to leave because he wasn't feeling well, and our other friend and DH's coworker's fiance didn't want to leave her husband-to-be.
So this guy and I (with the blessings of both of our spouses) went to see Gandria, which is a neat old fishing village just covered in beautiful flowers. Only one road through town, the rest is stairs and narrow passageways. It was really fascinating.
Next day (Sunday) that guy and I went to the Verzasca Valley and visited Lavertezzo, where there's a neat "Roman" bridge (it's not really Roman, but people keep calling it Roman) over some of the most beautiful turquoise water I've ever seen, with really fascinating all-stone villages where even the shingles are made of stone. They look like fortresses with flowers growing in them. Beautiful valley. And the only time we wished we had a car. There was so much more to see in the valley, but all we were able to see by bus was one village. That, and look out the window at the others and at the dam that was used to film the beginning of Goldeneye.
Monday started out with me taking the city's free walking tour of old-town Lugano, which was really fascinating. Especially the two old churches. I found out that the hotel we were staying in was in the oldest section of town, too. Monday afternoon I took a tour to two old villages (Carona and Mercote) and to one of the "famous" parks in the area, the Park San Grato. The villages were cute (especially Mercote, where I found some absolutely gorgeous embroidery) and the park was okay, but the park was a bit of a disappointment since none of the flowers were in bloom really and we were kinda rushed through it. The view was gorgeous, though.
Tuesday morning I slept in, and in the afternoon I took a tour to the Brissago Island botanical garden northwest of Lugano (for anyone familiar with that part of the country, it's beyond Bellinzona and near Locarno and Ascona). Despite the poor weather, the garden was *fantastic*. Color everywhere and an unbelievable selection of flowers, and even baby ducks and a baby peacock. And even though the skies were horribly overcast, the clouds added a bit of atmosphere and the water of the lake was so smooth it looked like you could walk on it. Not quite glass-like and not the best of reflections, but pretty close. Then the tour went to the small village of Ascona where we were given just a short time to run and explore the shops. This time I found some great pastry-type chocolates that were fantastic and actually not too expensive (unlike in other stores where they were very pricey).
Wednesday I was up *really* early (before 6am) so we could catch the train to the Alps. This is where I met up with the other photographer whose boyfriend worked the conferences and she and I took off for a day of exploring on our own. Let me say, if you're ever in Lugano and you want a quick day-trip out to see the Alps, even just riding the train to Interlaken and back is worth the price and will give you some *fantastic* views. It's nearly 6 hours to Interlaken, so it would be an all-day thing to go all the way there and back, but it's worth it!
But this lady and I made 2 days out of it. We left Lugano at 6:54 and rode the train to Lucern, where we had just enough time to go out the train station and the one block to the famous wooden bridge and water tower. Then we caught the train from Lucern to Interlaken "Ost" (East) where we switched trains to the Lauterbrunnen valley. That took us up into a beautiful valley in the middle of the Berner Oberland Alps.
From there, we caught a bus to Trummelbach Falls, which is a series of 10 glacier waterfalls (same source, it just touches down 10 times) *inside* a narrow crevasse (almost a cave) in the mountains. I know there are more powerful and impressive waterfalls out there, but I haven't seen them. WELL worth the stop.
After that brief stop (took about an hour I'd say), we caught the bus the rest of the way to Stechelberg, where we were able to catch a cablecar up to Gimmelwald. And that was a big deal for me, because I have a huge fear of cable cars (and elevators). But I made it just fine and the view was worth it. Gimmelwald is very cute.
From there we hiked 1/3 of the Kilchbalm trail (in the rain, of course That was about 1.5 to 2 miles round trip -- we didn't make the full 5-mile round-trip walk) before deciding to turn back to Gimmelwald. Spent the night in the youth hostel in Gimmelwald (a first for both of us, and fun experience for one night).
Thursday morning, we caught the cable car back down to Stechelberg, the bus back to Interlaken, then my friend caught the train back to Lucern then Lugano while I said goodbye for the day and went to Brienz, just east (I think?? I kept getting horribly turned around) of Interlaken.
After checking into a bed and breakfast in Brienz, I caught a bus to the open air museum of Ballenberg, which is a lot like old-town Williamsburg here in the states. An excellent way to experience the Swiss culture of the past in only one afternoon. And they make some excellent gelato and chocolate!
Friday morning I returned to Lugano, stopping off in Lucern for 2.5 hours which was long enough to see the Lion Memorial (a carved sleeping lion that was wounded in battle, commemorating the Swiss soldiers lost in battle), walk along the old city wall, and stop in at the Franciscan church to see the BEAUTIFUL artwork and sculptures inside. Then another train ride back to Lugano, getting back just in time to go to the special event dinner at the Castle Grande in Bellinzona.
Saturday I almost slept through my tour to the Castles of Bellinzona (yes, we did spend a little time back in the castle I'd just been in the night before) and some time in the Saturday market in Bellinzona. Back to Lugano for a nap, then when DH and our friends finally finished the conference about 4, we went up to the top of Mount San Salvatore, where you can climb up to a lookout tower on top of a church and have an unhindered 360-degree view (except for a radio tower) of the surrounding area. On a clear day, they say you can see all the way to Zermatt (the Matterhorn area). This wasn't a clear day, but the view was still worth the funiculare ride (cross between a train, elevator, and cable-car) and hike.
Sunday we checked out, had our adventure getting home, and had a long 10 hour flight from Amsterdam back to Houston.
We stayed primarily in Lugano, which is in the Italian portion of Switzerland. And, really, it feels much more like Italy than it does Switzerland. Very neat, and I really didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I took a short break up to the Alps above Interlaken as well, which I *knew* I'd love and I was right.
Easy plane flight, even if between both legs it was about 12 hours.
DH wasn't too happy... his luggage didn't make it to Milan with him.
It did find him the next day in Lugano, at least.Stayed in the Hotel Lugano Dante, which is in the old part of town. Really neat old hotel, even if the rooms were small.
Lugano was beautiful. Not quite what I expected, I sure didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The pictures I'd seen really didn't capture the beauty of the place.
First day we just looked around town, then I hooked up with the husband of one of the other conference employees and went sight-seeing. That guy likes to take pictures as much as I do.
DH didn't want to leave because of waiting for his luggage, our friend / DH's coworker didn't want to leave because he wasn't feeling well, and our other friend and DH's coworker's fiance didn't want to leave her husband-to-be.So this guy and I (with the blessings of both of our spouses) went to see Gandria, which is a neat old fishing village just covered in beautiful flowers. Only one road through town, the rest is stairs and narrow passageways. It was really fascinating.
Next day (Sunday) that guy and I went to the Verzasca Valley and visited Lavertezzo, where there's a neat "Roman" bridge (it's not really Roman, but people keep calling it Roman) over some of the most beautiful turquoise water I've ever seen, with really fascinating all-stone villages where even the shingles are made of stone. They look like fortresses with flowers growing in them. Beautiful valley. And the only time we wished we had a car. There was so much more to see in the valley, but all we were able to see by bus was one village. That, and look out the window at the others and at the dam that was used to film the beginning of Goldeneye.
Monday started out with me taking the city's free walking tour of old-town Lugano, which was really fascinating. Especially the two old churches. I found out that the hotel we were staying in was in the oldest section of town, too.
Monday afternoon I took a tour to two old villages (Carona and Mercote) and to one of the "famous" parks in the area, the Park San Grato. The villages were cute (especially Mercote, where I found some absolutely gorgeous embroidery) and the park was okay, but the park was a bit of a disappointment since none of the flowers were in bloom really and we were kinda rushed through it. The view was gorgeous, though.Tuesday morning I slept in, and in the afternoon I took a tour to the Brissago Island botanical garden northwest of Lugano (for anyone familiar with that part of the country, it's beyond Bellinzona and near Locarno and Ascona). Despite the poor weather, the garden was *fantastic*. Color everywhere and an unbelievable selection of flowers, and even baby ducks and a baby peacock. And even though the skies were horribly overcast, the clouds added a bit of atmosphere and the water of the lake was so smooth it looked like you could walk on it. Not quite glass-like and not the best of reflections, but pretty close. Then the tour went to the small village of Ascona where we were given just a short time to run and explore the shops. This time I found some great pastry-type chocolates that were fantastic and actually not too expensive (unlike in other stores where they were very pricey).
Wednesday I was up *really* early (before 6am) so we could catch the train to the Alps. This is where I met up with the other photographer whose boyfriend worked the conferences and she and I took off for a day of exploring on our own. Let me say, if you're ever in Lugano and you want a quick day-trip out to see the Alps, even just riding the train to Interlaken and back is worth the price and will give you some *fantastic* views. It's nearly 6 hours to Interlaken, so it would be an all-day thing to go all the way there and back, but it's worth it!
But this lady and I made 2 days out of it. We left Lugano at 6:54 and rode the train to Lucern, where we had just enough time to go out the train station and the one block to the famous wooden bridge and water tower. Then we caught the train from Lucern to Interlaken "Ost" (East) where we switched trains to the Lauterbrunnen valley. That took us up into a beautiful valley in the middle of the Berner Oberland Alps.
From there, we caught a bus to Trummelbach Falls, which is a series of 10 glacier waterfalls (same source, it just touches down 10 times) *inside* a narrow crevasse (almost a cave) in the mountains. I know there are more powerful and impressive waterfalls out there, but I haven't seen them. WELL worth the stop.
After that brief stop (took about an hour I'd say), we caught the bus the rest of the way to Stechelberg, where we were able to catch a cablecar up to Gimmelwald. And that was a big deal for me, because I have a huge fear of cable cars (and elevators). But I made it just fine and the view was worth it. Gimmelwald is very cute.
From there we hiked 1/3 of the Kilchbalm trail (in the rain, of course
That was about 1.5 to 2 miles round trip -- we didn't make the full 5-mile round-trip walk) before deciding to turn back to Gimmelwald. Spent the night in the youth hostel in Gimmelwald (a first for both of us, and fun experience for one night).Thursday morning, we caught the cable car back down to Stechelberg, the bus back to Interlaken, then my friend caught the train back to Lucern then Lugano while I said goodbye for the day and went to Brienz, just east (I think?? I kept getting horribly turned around) of Interlaken.
After checking into a bed and breakfast in Brienz, I caught a bus to the open air museum of Ballenberg, which is a lot like old-town Williamsburg here in the states. An excellent way to experience the Swiss culture of the past in only one afternoon. And they make some excellent gelato and chocolate!
Friday morning I returned to Lugano, stopping off in Lucern for 2.5 hours which was long enough to see the Lion Memorial (a carved sleeping lion that was wounded in battle, commemorating the Swiss soldiers lost in battle), walk along the old city wall, and stop in at the Franciscan church to see the BEAUTIFUL artwork and sculptures inside. Then another train ride back to Lugano, getting back just in time to go to the special event dinner at the Castle Grande in Bellinzona.
Saturday I almost slept through my tour to the Castles of Bellinzona (yes, we did spend a little time back in the castle I'd just been in the night before) and some time in the Saturday market in Bellinzona. Back to Lugano for a nap, then when DH and our friends finally finished the conference about 4, we went up to the top of Mount San Salvatore, where you can climb up to a lookout tower on top of a church and have an unhindered 360-degree view (except for a radio tower) of the surrounding area. On a clear day, they say you can see all the way to Zermatt (the Matterhorn area). This wasn't a clear day, but the view was still worth the funiculare ride (cross between a train, elevator, and cable-car) and hike.
Sunday we checked out, had our adventure getting home, and had a long 10 hour flight from Amsterdam back to Houston.
