Ah magical Switzerland!
As we haven't purchased a pass for the motorway we did all our
driving on the more minor roads which are always much more
interesting. We actually went in and out (= 1) of Switzerland 5 times
but spent about 7 days roaming around mainly the south of it, all in
all.
On our second visit (2 -
4/10) we entered from Leichenstein heading for Chur, Switzerland on
the 3 road. The weather was beautiful and we passed through some
absolutely stunning scenery. One valley had vineyards with grapes
ripe and ready to pick, they looked wonderful with a backdrop of
snowy mountains behind. We stopped at an amazingly picturesque lake
Heidsee near Lenzerheide but really our whole day was spent driving
and bit and stopping to gaze and take pics. Finally at around 5pm we
were going through the Julierpass looking at a large dam above a
village called Sur and Carol started talking to a man walking his
large white dog. Lorenzo we discovered is a New Zealand lover and has
travelled there often in his adult life. He lived in the next village
along but quickly organised us to stay in his empty ex-hotel (half is
now used as his offices) in Sur. He took us there and showed us where
everything was, sorted us one of the rooms that was all made up and
ready to go and said we must spend the next day hiking up to the
lakes above the town on Alp Flix. Wow what an amazing guy, we
unloaded and did a huge load of washing after having a long shower
each then lazed the evening away whilst uploading pics to
www.cjb.pascoe.net.nz , we had the small hotel to ourselves and it
felt wonderful to have so much space. The next day we hiked up to the
lakes, a beautiful day with a cool wind which was just as well as it
was a bit of a climb and it cooled us off. Late that afternoon we
carried on again up over the Julierpass and more snow and on over the
Maloyapass. Ahead we saw this huge white cloud and drove down into
the next valley where we passed an absolutely HUGE lake that wasn't
even on our map! We carried on driving in the mist and stopped for
the night in the carpark of a cablecar still on the 3 road.
The next day (4/10) we
reentered Italy crossing the border shortly after getting on the
road. The weather continued to be misty and rainy as we travelled
into this part of Italy. We passed Chiavenno and headed for the big
lake a bit south (we can never find signs saying the names of the
lakes in Italy). It was shrouded in mist and cloud and quite
beautiful and we followed it's western edge and turned on the 340 to
Lugano. Lots more tunnels on this route and they are building more.
In fact we exited one tunnel and found we were at the border of
Italy, drove immediately into the next tunnel and the end of that was
the border for entry to Switzerland. It all happened so quickly we
didn't even get a chance to take pics!
So now we were in
Switzerland for the third time from Lugano we drove north and around
the top of Lake Maggiore where we stopped for the night the weather
still drab and wet. The next morning was dry but with low cloud and
the lake looked stunning.
At 9.30am (5/10) we
re-entered Italy as we continued down the side of Lake Maggiore
heading for Verbania. As the day progressed the clouds lifted and the
sun brought a delightful day. We stopped at a small village on the
lakeside called Oggebbio and ate breakfast while looking out over the
lake. It was so walm, calm and serene and we wondered why you weren't
all there with us... After Verbania, which is quite a large place,
we turned onto the 33 and passed Domodossola, it was cloudy again and
we were heading for mountainous territory again but these mountains
were shear rock with lots of long waterfalls. By the time we reached
Iselle to exit at the Italian border we found we had entered a pass
known as 'Le Vie del Contrabbando' otherwise known as the Simplon
Pass heading back into Switzerland again.
To
see our photos http://cjb.pascoe.net.nz/
(click on or copy and paste into browser)
