Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part VIIIb - Chiavenna

After our last glimpses of soaring alpine peaks

and tiny hamlets attached to steep hillsides,

we departed by bus for the border village of Chiavenna.  Chiavenna, the Roman Clavenna, is situated about 16 km north of Lake Como at an historically strategic point, located where it overlooks both the Splügen and Maloja passes between Italy and Switzerland. 

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Clavenna/Chiavenna marked the northern limit of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy.  Today it is reknowned for its historic center with restaurants, shops

and graceful villas.

There were occasional reminders of its medieval past

and the surrounding multicolored cliffs

formed a backdrop for the houses along the river flowing through it.

Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part VIIIa - Soglio and Alpine Panoramas

As we laboriously made our way up the boulder-strewn alpine trails which had from ages ago served as trading routes through the Alps,

it was clear that our prowess and slow progress did not impress some onlookers at all.  They'd seen it all before - hikers come and hikers go, after all.  And we were not toting huge and heavy packs such as those ancient traders had.

The scenery was spectacular.

And such vistas provided legitimate excuses to pause - frequently -

as we continued along the steep trail.

There were little mountain huts in areas where in June, the cows we had seen contentedly browsing further down would come to spend their summers, attended by those who would milk them and use some of that milk for making various fromages de montagne (mountain cheeses).

Some parts of the trail had natural step formations

while others, although narrow, had been fortified to prevent erosion.

The spray from occasional waterfalls would cool us.

At times, it seemed as if we would step off the trail into oblivion.

But at the last moment, more breathtaking scenery would be revealed.

At long last, Soglio, our destination, came into view.

The weary travellers headed into town

and some of us stopped at this little hotel restaurant for an excellent lunch!

Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part VIII - Val Bregaglia and Soglio

I'm slipping back into recounting our visit to Italy's Lake District after a more prolonged absence than I would have preferred, but these reminiscences are nearly finished.  It seems nearly impossible that more than a month has passed since our return and especially that I have accomplished so little since then.  I evidently took the Italian philosophy of dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing) too much to heart.  I may be much healthier in some ways, but am very far behind in others.  In any event, I will try do to some justice to one of our most fantastic walking days of the whole fantastic tour.

We departed from Menaggio by bus, headed for the Swiss-Italian border and away from the lakes towards high Swiss alpine peaks.

Upon crossing the border, we found ourselves in Val Bregaglia, an alpine valley shared by Switzerland and Italy.  Most of the valley, which takes its name from the pre-Roman alpine tribe who lived there, falls within the German-speaking Swiss canton of Graubünden (Fr. Grisons).  The Bregaglia Range is in the southern part of Val Bregaglia.  The valley has the distinction of being the only valley in Europe where three important rivers originate, each draining into a different sea.  The Rhine River flows into the North Sea; the Inn River flows into the Black Sea and the Po River flows into the Adriatic Sea.  

We descended from our little bus at Stampa, and passed by one of its most famous buildings, Palazzo Castelmur, now a Swiss heritage site, with its gracefully decorated windows,

before beginning our uphill trek to the village of Soglio, high in the mountains. 

At first, our "trek" seemed like a mere stroll along paved roadways

winding through picturesque stream-filled mountain villages.

But, after we had admired rustic woodcarvings,

interesting granaries,

and neatly tended houses with bright flowers to greet us,

and noticed the delicate spires of churches rising from the trees,

we found that our real efforts had barely begun.

Brief Intermission and Catching Up

No, I haven't finished with the Italian lakes yet.  !!  But the past month has been chock full of other activities as well.  Most of them have distracted from regular blog posting, especially during the past week.

Last week, for instance, my niece, who is a university student, arrived in Switzerland together with one of her long-time friends. 

The girls will be studying French courses for foreigners as offered by the University of Geneva during the summer and will be here with me until early August.  So HWMBO and I drove to Zurich last week to meet the girls after they had had two full days of travel to get here.  Initially, they were scheduled to travel by train/bus from Billings, MT to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC, where they were to board an flight that would take them to Düsseldorf in Germany, where they were to land early in the morning and then catch a flight to Zurich, which would arrive mid-morning and where we would bundle them into our car for the rest of the journey.  Tentative plans were also to stop briefly in Interlaken on the way back to Lake Geneva, to experience a tiny bit of the Swiss National Yodeling Festival held in Interlaken last weekend.

But even the best-laid plans can be circumvented.  This proved to be the case when the girls' flight from Vancouver to Düsseldorf departed several hours late.  The great thing is that, in this age of instantaneous communication with them and their mothers, we realized that the plane would be late, which would likely mean that the girls would miss their scheduled flight to Zurich and need to take a later one.  This proved to be the case.  Thanks to on-line and other electronic communications, the girls managed to notify us and their mothers - and especially to reassure the latter - that they had arrived safely in Europe, had not been trafficked and still had their passports!  We all managed to connect at Zurich's Kloten Airport, although several hours later than originally scheduled.  As you can see from the photos with this post, we didn't look too alert so it is probably a miracle that we connected at all!

While the later arrival did allow HWMBO and me to sleep in later than our original wake-up time of 5:00 am for the drive to Zurich - which was greatly appreciated - it did mean that the yodeling festival was a casualty of the revised schedule.  Ah well ...!

Once here and fed, the girls expressed a desire to use the period between their arrival and 27 June, when their classes will begin, to travel to Paris in France.  This made sense because this period of several days is the only one that they will have free for visits longer than lightning touch-downs.  Nonetheless, a trip to Paris and especially one undertaken anytime from mid-June to early September is something that requires advance logistic planning.  Train tickets are still possible, although one pays a premium for not booking in advance, so the girls were able to book rail tickets and change money.

But in Paris, lodgings at reasonable cost are always if-fy during the summer without advance reservation.  Exacerbating the situation is that this week Paris is hosting its annual Air Show, which increases the number of out-of-town visitors exponentially.  Unsurprisingly, not one hostel or cheap hotel could be found, even after a travel professional had been enlisted who used all her contacts to find something - anything.  The closest that the girls got to Paris was when they were near the "Café de Paris" restaurant in Geneva when they changed money!  I'm not even sure whether they realized that.

Although somewhat disappointed, the girls resourcefully managed to change their tickets for Paris to Venice instead and to find affordable lodgings in Venice.  They left early Monday morning by train for their Venice adventure.  Since then, we've followed their progress electronically (e-mail and Twitter) and all seems to be well.  We expect them to return late tomorrow night and hope that they'll have had many glorious experiences to share with us and their families.

Before their departure, we had also hosted an informal get-together over the weekend at our apartment with former colleagues, friends and neighbors to introduce the girls to them in the hope that their circle of acquaintances here will be expanded beyond the summer student contingent.  The get-together was a dual purpose occasion because HWMBO will return to the US next week and it was the only time that many would have a chance to see him while he is here.

Yes, it's been busy here.  It will continue to be busy.  But I will finish the Lake District posts by this weekend.  Then I have a real treat in store: some recent photos of Princess Butterfly and her cousins!

Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part VIIa - Loveno and Playing Bocce

When we arrived at Loveno, we discovered that we had done well to take a cappuccino break because the restaurant where we were to have lunch was not expecting us so early.

To while away the time until lunch, Guide Po took us on a walking tour of Loveno, an old and still fairly unspoiled little village

with narrow cobbled streets

full of interesting byways

with wrought iron window guards

and signs.

Loveno has several historic villas.  Among them is the beautiful Villa Mylius Vigoni,

with its 19th century garden designed by Giuseppe Balzaretto.

The villa is part of a residential complex that includes the Villa Garovaglio-Rizzi.

The complex is the property of the German Government, which has made it into a cultural center.

Nearby is the parish church of San Stefano, with its 18th century facade and

16th and 17th century paintings framed by a baroque interior.

What I liked was the ornately decorated and multicolored altar.

We made our way through the narrow streets back to the restaurant,

where we dined sumptiously.  Rising from the table with an effort, we went outdoors to learn about bocce.   Related to boules, played in Switzerland where I live, and pétanque, played in Provence in southern France, bocce is played generally on natural soil or asphalt courts. 

It can be played between individuals or teams.  We "played" - I use the term very loosely - in teams.

The rules of play can be found here.  Under the tutelage of Guide Po and Swiss Guide P, the "teams," whose composition varied even in the middle of a game as team members drifted in and out, managed to enjoy themselves.  But I believe that the watchers had the most fun.

Followng the bocce interlude, we walked back down to Menaggio, passing by beautiful flower-covered villas

until we reached Piazza Garibaldi near our hotel where a small flea market

was being held for the benefit of charity.