I would have happily spent the rest fo the trip in Lugano, eating dinner at the fabulous restaurant with the terrace overlooking the lake and feasting on a ten jammer breakfast every morning. It was such a great experience. However, I have waited two years to cycle to Italy, and so off we went.
Our gorgeous old, but beautifully renovated hotel. The Continental Park Hotel.
The beginning of our ride was a bit of a surprise to both of us. We were both expecting a flat cruise along the lake and instead found ourselves faced with a climb. The bridge, when we got there was a pleasant surprise. It had a fantastic bike lane and we were perfectly safe. It was a great ride across.
Trains, cars, trucks and a lane just for us. Thank you Switzerland.
We were soon at the Swiss Miniature World that Karin had told us about. We didn't go in, but could see some of the miniatures through the fence and it looked very intriguing. It was swarming with families because this is the second week of the Swiss school holidays, so we left them to it and carried on.
We had a combination of dedicated bike lane on the secondary road and completely off the road dedicated bike lane. It was a beautiful ride. We stopped to look at a lovely old church and had lunch there in the surrounding grounds. We then dropped down through Swiss vineyards and into Chiasso, Switzerland. A lovely spot.
Shortly after that we crossed the border. This was the first formal border crossing we have seen all trip. Not that there was anything formal about the crossing...they waved us through, but I stopped because I wanted a picture. Not allowed we were told. I pleaded with the fellow that he was so good looking, but it got me nowhere except we all had a good laugh and I think he was pleased.
Border crossing. A casual wave through was all it involved.
The moment we crossed the border three things happened. A big climb, the bike lane disappeared and the road surface deteriorated. At one point I was going to jump the sidewalk, but it was even worse than the road. The difference wasn't necessarily something you would notice in a car (for one thing you would probably be on the autostrada) but it was dramatic on a bike. We did find the drivers continued to be reasonably respectful. We had one more climb into Como and then it was down, down to the lake.
Como is beautiful. We had planned to take the boat up the lake to Bellagio but were told it was at the Captain's discretion whether we could board with the bikes, and rather than wait an hour to find out, we decided to stay here and enjoy. We have had a wonderful explore of the town and the Duomo and a fabulous dinner. The ride to Bellagio is, depending on who you talk to, either wonderful or impossible on a bike. Lots of blind corners and climbing evidently. There have been more in the impossible camp than the wonderful camp, so as I write this we have no idea what we are doing tomorrow. Pictures won't load either, so I will hopefully be able to add them in the morning. Buona notte!
Lunch tomorrow is going to be great. A roadside stand.
The unexpected sight of the day. The Abu Dhabi team boat. I don't even know what you call these things. It was quite amusing to watch them try and manoeuvre through here.
