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.