Stresa, Piedmont, Italy Friday, August 31, 2012

Clear and Choppy

De-stressing in Stresa. There really hasn’t been anything to de- stress from. We are pretty tired from travel day and all the excitement we had in Switzerland. So, not much on the agenda today.
We had a very nice breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel. It is included in our room. They had ham, salami, cheese, apple type croissants, some kind of light Italian pound cake, and chocolate cappuccino. Other items as well. Very nice.

Fountain on My Morning Walk

         After breakfast, we sat and sent some blogs since the internet did not work from our room last night. Then, since Carol is tired, she took a nap, and I went out for a walk. First, I find the train station for tomorrow. Then down along the waterfront to check out the boat schedule and prices as we may go to Isola Bella to see a palace. Next, I check out the local grocery store, and then just meander a bit. Back to the room to see how my honey is doing and she feels better. After showering, we decide that it is too windy and cloudy to enjoy the island so we decide to just stroll around town and the lake front.

Still Climbing

We hang a right down some street and see a small church. We go inside and then I see a quiet alley type street behind it and I say ” let’s walk down this alley”. It starts to climb and after a bit we are quite higher than where we started and can see the lake through an old garden and real fixer upper house. Might as well keep following the path at this point. Up we go, where we reach some kept up properties and a dead end. But wait, there’s more! Around the left is a road so we join that until it turns into a footpath. Now, we are in the Italian jungle and we come across a familiar red and white trail marker on a rock. Have we re-entered Switzerland and joined back up with our trail? No we haven’t, but we are on a trail of some sort.

Where We Ate Lumch

Continuing, we emerge from the forest at a road and a church high above the lake. It has benches so we must stop and eat our sandwiches where we can appreciate the view.
Now, we could have gone back the way we came but what fun would that be. We decide from a non-detailed map that we think we know where we are and a road to the left will fork and go down to the lake. The road does not fork, it just ends and we are back on a path. Our trail markers are back but turns a bend and starts uphill which just feels like the wrong way.

No Clue Where We Are

We are off our map so that doesn’t help. There is a small path to the left going slightly downhill, so we follow that. It soon turns uphill and to the right also but there is a sign pointing to somewhere on a path that obviously does not get much use. We will fix that as we hang a left down this path. It is obviously ancient with rock walls on both sides and occasional cobblestones down the middle. Maybe an old donkey path and we can only imagine who has walked here. After a bit this path forks so we take the one that seems to head down hill and towards the lake.

Just Outside of Stresa

We see an old stone house in ruins and continue on. We emerge from the woods at the train tracks and take a tunnel underneath the tracks and end up in a area between fences of some homes. We can see the road below us and figure this will descend to it. It does, except it ends in somebody’s gated yard with a big metal gate and wall between us and the road. Back track we must until we see a way down to the road. It is between two houses and full of sticker bushes but we want out of the jungle so down we go. A few scrapes and thorns later and we jump over a swampy area to the road. There is no sidewalk so we just walk along the road until the edge of Stresa.
Feeling we have earned some relax time and since it is really windy by the lake, we buy a bottle of wine, some mozzarella, and bread to eat in our room. Then a little snooze until dinner.
Pizza and wine for dinner, and a stroll along the lake which is beautiful with only a small breeze. We sit on a bench on the lake for a while then back to the piazza for a gelato to cap off our night.
It has been an unplanned adventure today which was a really cool walk and we are feeling rested. Tomorrow on to Lake Como.
CNC
“Adventure without risk is Disneyland”- Doug Coupland

Expenses
5.42E-mozzarella, wine, and bread
15.50E- 2 pizzas, and wine
6E- 2 large gelatos. At langolo del gelato

Miles Walked- 8.4 Miles