Leaving Italy: Lake Como & Tirano

We began our train adventure on a Sunday, leaving Milan on a mid-morning train north to Tirano, Italy, in the alps on the border of Italy and Switzerland.  I had researched the train options extensively as it can be confusing for an Americwn not accustomed to European train travel. In this case I had purchased our tickets online from home before starting the trip to minimize any possible confusion on the travel day.  This also allowed us to skip the ticket machines where gypsies and pick pockets can hang out looking for victims. We did not see any this day, but the plan was to avoid them.  We were very excited to start the train phase of our trip.

This was the first of many trains we would use in the coming days and it turned out to be one of the most scenic.  The route from Milan to Tirano runs along the eastern shore of Lake Como for miles and miles, providing unbelievable views along the way.  Lake Como is the third largest lake in Italy and is one of the deepest in Europe.  It runs north into the alps and the combination of a large lake and surrounding mountains is spectacular.  Below are some sample photos, but there are many more beautiful photos in the album for this post.

We were surprised to find a lot of people boarding the train in Milan that morning.  Most were not carrying or pulling suitcases, but seemed to have small day bags.  In multiple cases we noticed women who appeared to be wearing swimsuits with a cover up.  The train traveled for about 30 minutes before we started seeing the lake, and then as we made some stops at stations along the lake, the day travelers started exiting the train. It became clear that this was an easy weekend day trip for people in Milan to spend the day at the lake, probably on a beach, and enjoy a break from the city and the heat. What a fabulous getaway for a day!

Our other observation was that we saw very few boats running on the lake, and none pulling skiers or wake boarders.  Perhaps it was too early in the day, but it seemed odd.  We had noticed the same thing earlier at Lake Garda.  Whether water sports are less popular in Italy, or perhaps the water is really cold (it is a mountain lake fed by mountain streams and snow melt), we could not be sure.  Our one regret was that we had not planned time to put our feet in the water here.  

Finally arriving in Tirano, we had a couple of hours to kill so we found a cafe and had one last meal in Italy.  From here we boarded a Swiss train at a different train station (just across the town square) for our scenic trip over the alps.

Driving in Italy

One of the questions going into the trip was how we would survive driving in Italy.  Everything we had read and heard pointed toward crazy drivers, frequent accidents, and generally chaotic conditions on the road.  What we found was quite the opposite.  On the motorway, their toll roads, speed limits were generally 130 kph (about 85 mph) and we found that the driving rules were much more sensible and everyone followed them strictly. Most notable is the European rule of never passing on the right side.  The fastest cars stay in the left lane and everyone yields to any car coming up faster from behind. No one pokes along in the left lane.  This eliminates the weave and erratic lane changes you see in the U.S. and is much safer.  So, even though many are driving fast than in the States, it's all more disciplined and orderly.

We also drove a lot on the secondary, two lane country roads and found them to be easy and fun as well. The roundabouts were confusing at times, but nothing we could not handle. We used Apple maps on my iPhone for all navigation and it was great with directions.  The roundabouts are very practical and keep traffic moving.  

Lastly, we had a great car that was fun to drive. It was a Fiat Bravia, 6 speed manual shift, diesel, but very fast and very sporty.  I had a blast driving it.  There will b no hesitation next time with driving in Italy and other countries as well.

Milan & Milano Centrale

The drive to Milan from the resort was about 3 hours on the motorway.  The rental car drop-off was downtown very near to the Milano Centrale train station and our hotel.  Milan is quite a busy city and many of the streets are narrow and crowded.  It was a little challenging at times, but we managed fine and were able to drop off our luggage at the hotel first before turning in the car.

The Milano Centrale train station is a magnificent building with wonderful architecture inside and out.  I could not take enough photos of it.  Below are some inside photos that show the soaring ceiling and the expansive entry on one side.  It was also interesting that there was a wine shop in one entry where you could buy wine, chilled and room temperature, to take with you on the train.  In Italy it is perfectly acceptable to take your own food and wine on the train, and many do.  The photo clips below are a bit compressed so I encourage you to view the photos in the album with this post.

The outside of the building is equally impressive but difficult to capture it all in one photo.  The building is massive!  So I focused on capturing interesting shots of the water flowing out of one of the lion's heads. In the right hand shot below is our hotel in th background, which offered another surprise.

When we went to breakfast the next morning we were pleasantly surprised to find the breakfast setup on the top floor of the hotel with a spectacular view of the train station. I took and kept too many photos, all in the album with this post, but it was spectacular in the morning light.

We enjoyed our last dinner in Italy that evening and celebrated with our final gelato as well.  The week had been fun and we enjoyed every day, but it was time for the next phase of our trip and our adventure with trains.

Leaving Radisson Blu

As our week in Italy came to a close we checked out of the resort to drive to Milan.  But we had to make a quick stop along a picturesque canal that we had driven along several times during the week. It doesn't seem to be a village or town and there was no name on the map.  But I liked the canal and the buildings around it and the bridges as well.  While Linda explored a couple of shops there, I took photos and then suddenly there was a young couple hugging and kissing in a doorway along the street.  They looked like many other young Italian couples in love that we had seen all week and I had to snap a candid photo.  If you like these photos, check out the rest in the album with this post.

After a short stop here we were on to the motorway and Milan.  Time for the next phase of our trip.

Lake Garda & Desenzano

One of our best day trips in our week in Italy was the trip to Lake Garda and Desenzano.  We arranged to meet our friends from Vicenza, the Mabie's, there in the late afternoon for dinner.  Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy, located about halfway between Milan and Padua, and running mostly north and south and extending into the alps.  The lake is 32 miles long and 10 miles across at the widest.

Lake Garda is a popular vacation and resort destination for Italians and as we approached the lake its was clearly built out to support holiday visitors.  We drove north up the eastern shore for several miles and finally picked a spot where we could park the car and get out to walk along the water.  The lake was beautiful, there were boats of all types around, beautiful flowers were blooming, people were swimming, and it was HOT!  We should have taken out swim suits with us in retrospect.

We finally found a bar/cafe along the water where we could sit in the shade and have something cold to drink.  It was a great spot to watch the crowd and enjoy the view, but there was little breeze and we were still quite hot even sitting in the shade.  We relaxed there awhile then headed for the car.  Along the way we spotted a beautiful house with nice gardens that we stopped to enjoy.

Back in the car we drove around the southern shore of the lake toward Desenzano, which was quite a distance away.  We found a couple of other nice spots to stop and take some photos, and we generally enjoyed the drive and the scenery.  When we finally arrived in Desenzano and messaged our friends, we arranged a meeting place near the harbor and the lighthouse.  From our parking spot we had a small walk to the harbor area and spotted another beach.  Just like the earlier beach we saw this one was very rocky, but still full of people.  Neither beach was sandy, but that wasn't stopping the vacationers.  The beaches were full and busy.

We met up with our friends, walked around the town, explored the harbor and lighthouse, and took some nice photos.  Desenzano is a picturesque town with nice shops and pretty pedestrian streets, typical of many old towns in Italy but especially nice there.  But the harbor and lighthouse were especially nice and made a nice backdrop for some photos.  I captured some good shots of Sylvia and her daughter at the lighthouse.

Finally it was time for us to drive a short distance to dinner at a restaurant our friends had recommended that was hard to get tables.  She had made our reservations several days earlier. The view over the lake with the mountains in the background looked impressive, but it was very hazy that night and the photos were not so good.  But the food was wonderful and we especially enjoyed watching them make their speciality, "Mac and cheese", but Italian style.  They first cooked pasta, then brought it to the dinning room in a skillet with cream sauce.  Then putting a liquor in a cheese wheel, they lighted the liquor to make a flame over which the finished cooking the pasta.  The flames also melted a thin layer of the cheese wheel which they then scrapped up and mixed with the pasta before serving it.  It was interesting to watch and delicious to eat.

There are a lot of beautiful photos in the album for this post that are worth taking the time to view.  Desenzano and Lake Garda were both beautiful and both are places we would like to see again on another trip. In fact we could enjoy spending a few days around Lake Garda and enjoying the lake activities.  Maybe on another trip we can arrange that!

Unknown Walled City

As our week in Italy was winding down, our last major day trip was to Lake Garda and Desenzano.  We chose to drive cross country rather on the motorway, to see more of the countryside and small towns.  On the way we came across a small walled town that was completely intact all the way around.  We were able to drive around it easily and could see through the gates that it looked interesting inside.  But with our experience the previous day in Bologna and our limited time, we only took a few photos around the outside and bypassed a visit inside the walls.  We also failed to write down the name of the town and now have forgotten it.  It seemed unusual that is was so well preserved and intact, and that made it more interesting.  We passed it on to out friends in Vicenza and perhaps they can explore it one day.

Bologna

Our final destination for our day trip south was Bologna.  It turned out to be a larger city than we anticipated and presented large city challenges.  The larger towns and cities in Italy, especially those with old town areas, have instituted restricted zones in the central areas of the old town areas.  These are called ZTL's are are usually marked, but as we learned, not always very clearly.  We had been warned about the ZTL's but had not really seen them until Bologna. 

Driving into the city we were following the instructions from the map app on my iPhone and I proceeded to cruise right into the restricted area.  We did not know it for sure at the time, but Linda suspected we were in it.  I parked and we walked into the old town.

We found the Tourist Information office and soon learned that we had not only entered the restricted zone but had parked in it as well.  The fine in Bologna is 50 euros, or about $55!  However, we were told that we could purchase a day pass and nullify the fine if we hurried to the traffic control office several blocks away.  We did that and for 6 euros cleared the fine and fixed the problem.

The old town area of Bolgna is currently undergoing a large renovation project, so it was not that interesting nor accessible as it will be when the work is done.  We found a nice piazza as we walked into the city, and some nice architecture in a couple of places.  I took one of my favorite archway photos in Bologna (see below).  Otherwise, the ZTL experience was our most memorable moment in Bologna.

Ferrara

Continuing south from the pottery shop our first stop was Ferrara.  This was a walled city built in a flat area of the country so that bicycles are quite popular in Ferrara.  In fact we saw many more bicycles in Ferrara than we had seen in one location to that point.  I captured some nice bicycle photos here.

The castle and walled area of the old city is quite nice and there is a large, beautiful cathedral built in 1135.  Toward the end of the 13th century the cathedral was embellished in marble, giving the cathedral a unique appearance.  The old city contains beautiful archways and the castle still has a working drawbridge.  They also were promoting an upcoming festival that would probably be fun to attend if we had been around.  Our visit was short but enjoyable, and it was also quite hot that day and we were glad to be back in the A/C in the car and on to our next destination.