Summer Vacation Part 2: Lake Maggiore and Lunch in Switzerland

Part two of our vacation week took us about 3 more hours north to the town of Stresa, on Lake Maggiore, which is located to the south of the Alps. Lake Maggiore and Lake Como to the east are upscale vacation resort areas where famous people such as George Clooney have luxurious vacation villas. We stayed at a fancy hotel with a pool overlooking the lake. It was built in the 1930's and during its time must have been quite the hotel! We happen to notice we were the youngest guests by at least 2 generations (and that's comparing Brian and me, not the girls!)

Isola Bella, Isola Pescatori, and Isola Madre are part of the Borromean islands and are located within the lake a short distance from Stresa by ferry. On our first full day in Stresa, we started by visiting the beautiful Isola Bella, where in the 1600's Carlo Borromeo built a palace for his wife. Today, the palace shows which room Napolean stayed in when he'd been a guest.

Next we arrived at Isola Pescatori, where naturally, we ate fish caught from the lake for lunch--fish risotto, to be exact. Delicious! Then we ended up at Isola Madre, where we saw beautiful gardens and even a peacock with his feathers open.

Our second full day, we decided to take the Lake Maggiore Express, which was a circuitous route north by train to Switzerland, and then back south via a ferry on the lake. First, we took the local train, then boarded the Locarno FART train (yes, we couldn't help but take a picture and chuckle every time we said that).

The scenery was beautiful and the girls even took a little nap along the way, which was a bonus! We arrived in Locarno, Switzerland with about two hours to kill before we headed to board the ferry. So, we entered the Piazza Grande, famous for its International film festival every August, and found a restaurant where we had pizza, panini, and a cheese/veggie crepe.

Then we boarded the large ferry boat for the relaxing, two-hour ride back to Stresa. It was a lot of transportation, but life is about the journey, isn't it? Although the destination wasn't bad either. Who knew we could go to Switzerland just to lunch?! Our only disappointment was there was no one around to stamp our passports!