Tag Archives: wine

Jul31

Switzerland, Part 5: Swimming Holes and Alpine Thrills

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Time always seems to go so quickly when you’re traveling. It’s heightened living at its best, and fate seems to rush it while I do my best to try to slow things down. In this case, I wanted to draw out the feeling of the sun’s warmth on my face, the cold rush of the streams against my hot skin, and the refreshing sensation of breathing in the mountain air.

Still, it was our last full day in Switzerland, and the question loomed: What to do? There was one valley nearby that we had yet to explore, but that valley did not promise Alpine peaks, and so the Alps called and we heeded their invitation. We returned to the Val Bovona, the Basodino Glacier, and the cable car ride that both took our breath away and delivered us into the heart of that glacier.

First, however, lunch was in order, and with fantastic Italian food all around you, you do not substitute with a protein bar. We stopped again in Foroglio, the enchanting stone village, and the Ristorante la Froda, a farm-to-table dream in the middle of a fairy tale. The lentil dish was astoundingly good, and the white Merlot a perfect match.

We followed up the long leisurely lunch with a return visit to Foroglio’s waterfall. Watching water spill over the side of a mountain is nothing short of mesmerizing — maybe too mesmerizing, as we checked the time and suddenly needed to rush to make the cable car if we wanted enough time to explore up in the clouds before the last descent at 4:45. With some mad driving skills by my sweetie that can only be described as impressive, we flew, just making the cable car. The Alpine thrills would be ours today after all.

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Today we decided to go a different route, and began climbing up. It can’t be that far up, can it? So we climbed and climbed, up, up, up. We are almost there, we have to be almost there, but where is there? “There” is the magnificent view that surely awaited us at the top. “So how long do you think we have been climbing UP?” my love asked. “Oh, about 45 minutes,” I said. “Try an hour and 45,” he replied. We had to turn around and go back. In a battle between me and Mother Nature, I am keenly aware she will always win, and stranded on an Alpine glacier for the evening is not my idea of fun.

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I took a moment to take it all in and was reminded of a favorite childhood book, “Heidi,” and for a moment, I knew the happiness that that character felt living on the mountain. Simply majestic. Moments in time to be deeply absorbed before reality whisks you away to your real life, that, while treasured, is not here. “Enjoy,” whispered the universe, and so I did.

It was a warm day, and we were more than a little … err … sticky. The river was looking very inviting, gushing over the boulders, creating those magical swimming pools that were begging us to visit, almost pleading — and who were we to argue? It was the highlight of our day, jumping all hot and sweaty into that swimming pool at the bottom of a valley teeming with waterfalls. Can someone please pinch me? This cannot be real. Immersed and looking up at the water spilling down the ragged, jagged crevices of this mountain valley. Sigh. Heaven.

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How to top off a last night and a perfect day? Ask a local for a dinner recommendation! DaVino restaurant on the lake in Locarno it was, and with homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach, veal and beef, we were anything but disappointed.

Planning our next adventure is tempting, but no, not tonight. Tonight is for savoring where we are and not letting this adventure end too soon.

Jul23

Switzerland, Part 1: Where Italy meets Switzerland: A magic place you never knew existed

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Ticino is the region of Switzerland that is Italian-speaking and -influenced. It’s where the Alps spill into Lake Maggiore, which is shared with Italy. The valleys hold the magic, and traveling up them will leave you breathless and completely enchanted!

swissafter3It’s a place that time forgot, and in this ever-changing world, there is comfort in those places, if only as a reminder to connect with the Earth and your surroundings.

Arriving off the beaten path always involves some effort, and for me, the key is being in the moment, shedding the “hurry up and get there” mentality.

By the time we arrived in Locarno, our home for the next week, we had done planes, trains and automobiles.We flew into Lugano, an hour away from Locarno.  While “hiking” to the train station from the airport with luggage in tow, I could only see the lake the mountains and the charming villages. Then the automobile picked us up at the train station to whisk us to our hotel. There, the beauty of the surroundings dissolved my exhaustion. With a balcony view of the lake, I didn’t feel so tired anymore — just transported.

swissafter5On our first full day, we headed up, up, up. The Madonna del Sasso church and convent is perched above the town, as if it’s floating in air over the lake, and it was a good indication of just how often our breath would be taken away while we were in this magical place. The church is as gorgeous inside as it is outside. Somehow, it’s such a treat when you don’t know what to expect and you turn the corner and BAM! Such beauty, artistry and architecture.

swissafter1Above the Madonna del Sasso, it turned out, was still a whole lot of up, and we kept going until we were above the clouds and shrouded in the fog that danced around the mountain peaks. Here, we spent a lazy hour watching the fog and the paragliders jumping into what could not be seen. We trusted that they had done this before, and watched their colorful parachutes drift off until they disappeared — only to re-emerge in the sunshine that glowed below us and over the lake.

Lunch, I was very happy to discover, was Italian. It is my personal belief that while the Italians have had to endure hundreds of years of corruption, they will not endure any bad food, wine, music or art, and their influence in this region was greatly appreciated by me. Little English is spoken in this area, but I can read “gnocchi” and “risotto,” and I love the lyrical sound of the the locals asking me what I might want in that gorgeous language. With a view of the lake below, I might have stayed there forever, but no: Siesta was calling, and that’s another idea I could sink my teeth into.

swissafter2Is it time to eat again already? Why yes, yes, it is. My husband found a darling grotto (trattoria) for dinner, and we discovered the local wine. Ninety percent of the vines that dot these hills and valleys are Merlot, and the Ticino region is famous for both their white and red Merlot wines. I was already a fan at first sip. I think wine, like food, is never better than when consumed in the place from which it hails. It always gives me a sense of place, and I think of the people who have farmed this land and the people before them as I savor.

Night falls early on the jet lagged, and with two contented souls, we drifted off dreaming of the mountains where they meet the lake in this place between two countries.

To be continued…