The vacation of great vistas -
Switzerland and the Italian Lakes
Switzerland and the Italian Lakes
Lake Orta
Day 11 – Menaggio to Orta San Giulio
It isn't easy to tear yourself away from Lago di Como, especially when you
know that the vacation is soon coming to an end.
We backed the car out of the hotel parking lot -- the first time we'd used it
since we arrived. It is very easy to get around the lake without a car. After so
much great scenery already on this trip, we decided to take the fast, less
scenic route to Stresa in hopes that we would have sufficient time to
explore the islands of Lago Maggiore. We quickly figured out the signs on
the autostrada and were on our way.
We arrived in Stresa by late morning and navigated our way into a large car
park near the dock where boats depart for the Borromean Islands. We
were quickly approached by a man who was collecting a combined parking
fee/boat ticket. We hemmed and hawed, and decided to go for it without
much haggling. We were more in the mood for convenience, and it
seemed like a relatively safe place to park our craft, which was loaded with
all of our luggage.
We decided to go first to Isola Pescatori, the fishermen's island. It is not a
large island, but it was relatively quiet. A short diversion off the main street
will take you into quiet, residential passageways. Allie had long since
finished all the books she'd brought for this trip; most more than once. So
when we passed a book shop, we decided to stop in even though we
certainly didn't expect to find anything in English. Wrong. There was a small
revolving rack of English-language books, most looking a little old. We
picked out a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries, and she quickly dove into
one of the them. We had an excellent lunch at the restaurant of the island's
lone hotel, the Hotel Verbania, with a nice lake-side seat in the hotel's
garden.
It was time to move on to Isola Bella to see the palace and garden, which
were quite a contrast from the Isola Pescatori. But first, we had to line up at
the dock to catch a boat across. We were in line behind another American
couple, and some others joined behind us. Just as the boat was emptying
its load of passengers, a man pushed by with a small group of German
tourists behind him, claiming that the boat was theirs. Needless to say,
this did not sit well with the American man in front of us. Some expletives,
national slurs, and even a little shoving ensued. Not pretty. The Germans
took off in the boat. The rest of us had to wait another half hour to make the
crossing. We toured the palace and gardens, which were crowded --
almost too much so. Allie enjoyed chasing the white peacocks in the
garden. When we had our fill, we took a boat back over to Stresa. We still
needed to make our way to Orta San Giulio.
The drive there took about an hour and was relatively boring. Allie slept. As
we turned in toward Orta San Giulio, we were surprised to see many cars
coming and going, and cars parked along the sides of the road for quite a
long way. The closer we got, the more congested it became. We finally
reached a large parking area -- the end of the road. Of course, it was
packed to the gills. We needed to get to the Albergo Orta on the main
square. This didn't look like it would be easy, particularly in a Mercedes
station wagon. We tried to ask for help from a police officer, who didn't
speak a word of English. He did grudgingly let us continue on to the very
end of the parking lot, where we were able to park long enough to enable
Chris to run down some stairs into the town center in search of the hotel.
After what seemed like an eternity, he returned with some scribbles on a
map. We would need to head all the way back out, then take a different
road heading into the town center from the opposite side of town.
With Marisa now at the wheel, we set off, carefully navigating through
crowds of people. We found the right road and started down it, at one point
passing around a gate that seemed to be blocking the road. As we got
closer into town, the road became narrower and narrower -- barely wide
enough for the car. And what to do about all of those people who were
walking in the street, looking at us like we were nuts. After scraping one of
the side mirrors against a wall, Marisa officially had her meltdown; afraid of
1) what she would do if another car came in the opposite direction, 2) how
she could continue on with so many people in the street, and 3) getting the
car stuck if the street became any narrower. After a deep breath, she
continued on until finally, light at the end of the tunnel -- literally, the town
square emerging from the narrow corridor in which we had been driving.
Big sigh of relief.
We quickly emptied our luggage and checked in. Chris got to drive out of
the square and back to the main parking lot, which by now, was starting to
empty out a bit. Come to learn, people from Milan and all around converge
on towns like Orta San Giulio on Sundays during the summer. Boy do they!
We had a little time to explore. Orta San Giulio is not a big town. You can
walk from one end to the other and up and down a few side streets in less
than 30 minutes. Drinks were in order after the drive, so we found a nice
bar with some outdoor seats to chill out a bit before dinner. We'd
purchased the half board, so dinner would be at the hotel. Surprising,
given all the people who'd been in town earlier, the dining room was
relatively quiet. Dinner was nice. Excellent service and a nice dessert buffet.
Day 12 - Orta San Giulio
This was our last full day of vacation, and we decided to take it a little slow.
No driving -- not after yesterday. The weather was marginal, cloudy for the
most part, with rain at times.
We stopped to feed the parking meter, then walked up the hill in the
direction of the Sacro Monte. Turns out we were approaching it from the
back side and we entered through an unlocked gate. There was no one
else around, making us unsure whether it was open and whether we were
even supposed to be here. The Sacro Monte is one of the most fascinating
things we've seen on this or any trip. It is a collection of about 20 individual
shrines depicting the life of St. Francis. What makes them fascinating is
that the oldest ones are some 500 years old, and the life-sized terracotta
figurines and fresco backgrounds are remarkably well preserved. Each
shrine is a different size and shape. We spent several hours here, enjoying
both the shrines and the relative solitude of the hilltop.
We descended to the dock and took the short boat ride across to the Isola
San Giulio. The island is very small and dominated by the Basilica San
Giulio, which includes some relics dating to the fourth century. It was
raining as we took the boat back to town, enough so that we quickly looked
for a place to settle in for lunch.
Marisa couldn't leave Orta San Giulio without a little ceramic shopping, and
there was just the place right in the town square of Orta San Giulio. After
much looking, she settled on a large floor vase, which the proprietor was
all too happy to package up and ship to Chicago. It arrived in less than two
weeks, all snug and secure with loads of packing material. It is gracing our
entrance foyer with a lovely arrangement of dried flowers. We think of Orta
San Giulio and our wonderful vacation every time we look at it.
Dinner was at the hotel again, a nice if not quiet end to the trip. We took
one last evening stroll through town, and then packed for the trip home.
Day 13 -- Going home
Chris drove the car into the square this time. On this early Tuesday
morning, it was a piece of cake.
We called United to check on our flights. "Yes, it's on time," said the nice
agent at the Premier Executive desk. So we headed off for Malpensa. It is
not a long drive -- maybe 45 minutes to an hour -- and not a particularly
scenic drive. We found the rental car return with no problem and left the car
keys at the desk. No one seemed to want to take a look at the car
(remember, we were holding our breath over the cracked reflectors on the
side mirrors).
Walking to the United counter at Malpensa was quite an experience. This
being less than a year after September 11, security was high. United and
several other airlines were located at a far end of the terminal along with El
Al. We had to pass a security checkpoint, at which an agent flanked by
automatic-weapon toting guards checked our tickets. We had another
similar check before reaching the counters, which were patrolled from
above by more machine-gun armed guards. And an armoured vehicle
blocked the outside entrance. By now, we know our flight was nowhere
near on time. The plane would be at least two hours late arriving into Milan.
We were just hoping the whole experience was not this oppressive.
Once we cleared the check-in counter, things lightened up quite a bit. Our
upgrades had cleared, and as business class passengers we were
allowed to use the SAS lounge. We killed a few ours there with some
snacks and drinks. A little duty free shopping to kill our last Euro, and we
were on our way.
What was supposed to be a leisurely connection at Dulles obviously
became a sprint. Fortunately, United has its own immigration/customs
facility at Dulles, and ours was the only plane arriving at that point.
Everything worked like clockwork. We parked ourselves in our seats for the
flight back to Chicago, only to find out that flight would be delayed a bit for a
mechanical problem. The megaphone bracket had come loose, and it was
an FAA violation to fly without it in place. A minor annoyance, and we were
on our way soon enough.
All in all, a great vacation; one we still talk about frequently. The vacation of
great vistas.
Next -- Logistics
See all of our trip photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
Day 11 – Menaggio to Orta San Giulio
It isn't easy to tear yourself away from Lago di Como, especially when you
know that the vacation is soon coming to an end.
We backed the car out of the hotel parking lot -- the first time we'd used it
since we arrived. It is very easy to get around the lake without a car. After so
much great scenery already on this trip, we decided to take the fast, less
scenic route to Stresa in hopes that we would have sufficient time to
explore the islands of Lago Maggiore. We quickly figured out the signs on
the autostrada and were on our way.
We arrived in Stresa by late morning and navigated our way into a large car
park near the dock where boats depart for the Borromean Islands. We
were quickly approached by a man who was collecting a combined parking
fee/boat ticket. We hemmed and hawed, and decided to go for it without
much haggling. We were more in the mood for convenience, and it
seemed like a relatively safe place to park our craft, which was loaded with
all of our luggage.
We decided to go first to Isola Pescatori, the fishermen's island. It is not a
large island, but it was relatively quiet. A short diversion off the main street
will take you into quiet, residential passageways. Allie had long since
finished all the books she'd brought for this trip; most more than once. So
when we passed a book shop, we decided to stop in even though we
certainly didn't expect to find anything in English. Wrong. There was a small
revolving rack of English-language books, most looking a little old. We
picked out a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries, and she quickly dove into
one of the them. We had an excellent lunch at the restaurant of the island's
lone hotel, the Hotel Verbania, with a nice lake-side seat in the hotel's
garden.
It was time to move on to Isola Bella to see the palace and garden, which
were quite a contrast from the Isola Pescatori. But first, we had to line up at
the dock to catch a boat across. We were in line behind another American
couple, and some others joined behind us. Just as the boat was emptying
its load of passengers, a man pushed by with a small group of German
tourists behind him, claiming that the boat was theirs. Needless to say,
this did not sit well with the American man in front of us. Some expletives,
national slurs, and even a little shoving ensued. Not pretty. The Germans
took off in the boat. The rest of us had to wait another half hour to make the
crossing. We toured the palace and gardens, which were crowded --
almost too much so. Allie enjoyed chasing the white peacocks in the
garden. When we had our fill, we took a boat back over to Stresa. We still
needed to make our way to Orta San Giulio.
The drive there took about an hour and was relatively boring. Allie slept. As
we turned in toward Orta San Giulio, we were surprised to see many cars
coming and going, and cars parked along the sides of the road for quite a
long way. The closer we got, the more congested it became. We finally
reached a large parking area -- the end of the road. Of course, it was
packed to the gills. We needed to get to the Albergo Orta on the main
square. This didn't look like it would be easy, particularly in a Mercedes
station wagon. We tried to ask for help from a police officer, who didn't
speak a word of English. He did grudgingly let us continue on to the very
end of the parking lot, where we were able to park long enough to enable
Chris to run down some stairs into the town center in search of the hotel.
After what seemed like an eternity, he returned with some scribbles on a
map. We would need to head all the way back out, then take a different
road heading into the town center from the opposite side of town.
With Marisa now at the wheel, we set off, carefully navigating through
crowds of people. We found the right road and started down it, at one point
passing around a gate that seemed to be blocking the road. As we got
closer into town, the road became narrower and narrower -- barely wide
enough for the car. And what to do about all of those people who were
walking in the street, looking at us like we were nuts. After scraping one of
the side mirrors against a wall, Marisa officially had her meltdown; afraid of
1) what she would do if another car came in the opposite direction, 2) how
she could continue on with so many people in the street, and 3) getting the
car stuck if the street became any narrower. After a deep breath, she
continued on until finally, light at the end of the tunnel -- literally, the town
square emerging from the narrow corridor in which we had been driving.
Big sigh of relief.
We quickly emptied our luggage and checked in. Chris got to drive out of
the square and back to the main parking lot, which by now, was starting to
empty out a bit. Come to learn, people from Milan and all around converge
on towns like Orta San Giulio on Sundays during the summer. Boy do they!
We had a little time to explore. Orta San Giulio is not a big town. You can
walk from one end to the other and up and down a few side streets in less
than 30 minutes. Drinks were in order after the drive, so we found a nice
bar with some outdoor seats to chill out a bit before dinner. We'd
purchased the half board, so dinner would be at the hotel. Surprising,
given all the people who'd been in town earlier, the dining room was
relatively quiet. Dinner was nice. Excellent service and a nice dessert buffet.
Day 12 - Orta San Giulio
This was our last full day of vacation, and we decided to take it a little slow.
No driving -- not after yesterday. The weather was marginal, cloudy for the
most part, with rain at times.
We stopped to feed the parking meter, then walked up the hill in the
direction of the Sacro Monte. Turns out we were approaching it from the
back side and we entered through an unlocked gate. There was no one
else around, making us unsure whether it was open and whether we were
even supposed to be here. The Sacro Monte is one of the most fascinating
things we've seen on this or any trip. It is a collection of about 20 individual
shrines depicting the life of St. Francis. What makes them fascinating is
that the oldest ones are some 500 years old, and the life-sized terracotta
figurines and fresco backgrounds are remarkably well preserved. Each
shrine is a different size and shape. We spent several hours here, enjoying
both the shrines and the relative solitude of the hilltop.
We descended to the dock and took the short boat ride across to the Isola
San Giulio. The island is very small and dominated by the Basilica San
Giulio, which includes some relics dating to the fourth century. It was
raining as we took the boat back to town, enough so that we quickly looked
for a place to settle in for lunch.
Marisa couldn't leave Orta San Giulio without a little ceramic shopping, and
there was just the place right in the town square of Orta San Giulio. After
much looking, she settled on a large floor vase, which the proprietor was
all too happy to package up and ship to Chicago. It arrived in less than two
weeks, all snug and secure with loads of packing material. It is gracing our
entrance foyer with a lovely arrangement of dried flowers. We think of Orta
San Giulio and our wonderful vacation every time we look at it.
Dinner was at the hotel again, a nice if not quiet end to the trip. We took
one last evening stroll through town, and then packed for the trip home.
Day 13 -- Going home
Chris drove the car into the square this time. On this early Tuesday
morning, it was a piece of cake.
We called United to check on our flights. "Yes, it's on time," said the nice
agent at the Premier Executive desk. So we headed off for Malpensa. It is
not a long drive -- maybe 45 minutes to an hour -- and not a particularly
scenic drive. We found the rental car return with no problem and left the car
keys at the desk. No one seemed to want to take a look at the car
(remember, we were holding our breath over the cracked reflectors on the
side mirrors).
Walking to the United counter at Malpensa was quite an experience. This
being less than a year after September 11, security was high. United and
several other airlines were located at a far end of the terminal along with El
Al. We had to pass a security checkpoint, at which an agent flanked by
automatic-weapon toting guards checked our tickets. We had another
similar check before reaching the counters, which were patrolled from
above by more machine-gun armed guards. And an armoured vehicle
blocked the outside entrance. By now, we know our flight was nowhere
near on time. The plane would be at least two hours late arriving into Milan.
We were just hoping the whole experience was not this oppressive.
Once we cleared the check-in counter, things lightened up quite a bit. Our
upgrades had cleared, and as business class passengers we were
allowed to use the SAS lounge. We killed a few ours there with some
snacks and drinks. A little duty free shopping to kill our last Euro, and we
were on our way.
What was supposed to be a leisurely connection at Dulles obviously
became a sprint. Fortunately, United has its own immigration/customs
facility at Dulles, and ours was the only plane arriving at that point.
Everything worked like clockwork. We parked ourselves in our seats for the
flight back to Chicago, only to find out that flight would be delayed a bit for a
mechanical problem. The megaphone bracket had come loose, and it was
an FAA violation to fly without it in place. A minor annoyance, and we were
on our way soon enough.
All in all, a great vacation; one we still talk about frequently. The vacation of
great vistas.
Next -- Logistics
See all of our trip photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
Isola Pescatori, Lago Maggiore
Isola San Giulio
Orta San Giulio
Sacro Monte, Orta San Giulio
Sacro Monte, Orta San Giulio
Sacro Monte, Orta San Giulio
Orta San Giulio, town square
View from the Hotel Orta
