A Little Slice of ItalyThe Italian influenced village of Lugano was a delightful stop on our tour - a slow-paced and relaxing vacation-within-a-vacation. Our funicular ride to the top of Monte San Salvatore and the strenuous climb to the top of the church afforded us a spectacular view of the pastel painted city. The afternoon trek we made along the Olive Tree Trail proved to be more of an adventure than was planned. It was extremely difficult to find the trail and once we were on it, we found it almost impossible to find an olive tree! Although a bit rigorous, the walk had beautiful scenery and a wonderful view of the lake. The highlight of our trip to Lugano was our Ticino cooking class at Grotto San Rocco and the resulting “family dinner” was superb.
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About LuganoLanguage: Italian Population: 63,500 Elevation: 896 feet Region: Ticino, near the southern border with Italy Nearest Mountain: San Salvatore, 2,992 feet Claim to Fame: Largest city in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, home to palm trees and olive groves |
Risotto and More!The highlight of our stop in Lugano was our Ticino cooking class. A scenic boat ride across the lake took us to Grotto San Rocco for our risotto cooking class. Upon our arrival, the wine poured freely and the scrumptious hors d'oeuvres came in rapid succession. Our mellow mood soon switched gears into a fierce competition to determine which team could make the tastiest risotto. The team of Rick, Fabian and Justin was given the nickname "The Heckler, The German and The Chef." Justin the Chef seemed to do 90% of the cooking. German-born Fabian kept a constant stream of refined conversation going about history or science. And Rick the Heckler flitted from table to table verbally challenging tour members to a cooking showdown, while doing almost no actual cooking. We never reached a decision on which team made the best risotto, but the overall result was a delightful dinner of tender beef, tasty vegetables, and creamy cheese-laden risotto.
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Early Morning on Mt. San SalvatoreOne of our most consistent Switzerland tour experiences was rising early in the morning to ride or hike to mountain peaks to take in the view. The mountaintops tend to be clearest in the morning with clouds arriving in the afternoon to obscure the views of those daring enough to sleep in. So, in the early morning on our second day in Lugano, we leapt out of bed, downed a few espressos, and rode a funicular to the top of San Salvatore to take in the views before forecasted rains could arrive. San Salvatore is topped by a stuccoed, very Italian-looking church with narrow, winding stairs that lead to its roof. From there, we had spectacular views of Lake Lugano with the city stretching along its shoreline, smaller houses and villages clinging to the side of more mountainous terrain, and in the distance, the tiny city of Milan, Italy barely visible on the horizon.
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A Few More Views of Lovely Lake Lugano
The Elusive Olive TrailThe Sentiero dell'Olivo, or Olive Tree Trail, between Gandria and Castagnola winds along Lake Lugano through restored olive groves. Our journey on the trail started with a challenge, using our minimal knowledge of the Italian language to ask bus drivers to point the way to the start of the trail. Once we found the trail, there were so many beautiful vistas along this walk. We saw churches, cliff-hugging houses, hotels with beaches, and even some palm trees. In Switzerland, trail signs don't list distances from one point to another in miles or kilometers, but rather in the number of minutes it would take an average Swiss grandma to walk the distance. These are some fast Swiss grannies, and we were just happy to be able to keep pace with them as we hiked up and down the mountainside along Lake Lugano. Our Olive Trail journey ended in another fun and uniquely Swiss experience, riding back to Lugano on a PostBus - a small bus driven by Switzerland's mail carriers to connect remote villages to city centers.
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