Sunday, September 11, 2005
Following The Path Of The Olives In Lugano
Most people in Germany think of a several-day-trip if they want to visit Lugano. This city, in the Southern part of Switzerland is about 250 km away from the German Swiss border. Because you must cross the Alps, it takes some time to get to Lugano by car. You can either choose the tunnel, e.g. the Gotthard Tunnel, or you try to climb the mountains by using one of the passes.
At worst, you live in the Northern part of Germany, the way to Lugano costs you 1-2 complete days, at best, you live in the most southern part, it still takes you about 3 hours - only if there is no traffic jam in front of the tunnel - and most of the time there is traffic jam.
Me and my wife, we just visited Lugano for one day. Yes that's true. Since I'm working in Switzerland, I have one of these General Abonnements that allows you to use the swiss rail (and most of the public transportations in all Swiss cities) as much as you want. So we spent the night at my apartment in Switzerland, took one of the first trains in the morning and finally arrived at lugano before 10 am.
In the evening, we left Lugano at about 18:45 and finally reached my "Swiss home" at about 21:30. I didn't have to drive and could relax in the train, and so we spent about 9 hours in this wonderful city.
Lugano is like a part of Italy. Although it belongs to Switzerland, you feel that the Italian border is just a stone throw away from it, especially if you walk through the narrow alleys of the old town. Like in Italy you find there many small shops with fresh fruits and vegetables, and also butcheries with these delicious Italian sausages. You here everywhere the people speaking Italian.
That last times when we visited Lugano, we hiked to Monte San Salvatore and to Monte Bre, two wonderful mountains very close to the old town with a fantastic view over the city and the lake.
This time we hiked the Sentiero dell'Olivo, a path starting in Gandria and ending in Castagnola. We reached Gandria by ship and returned from Castagnola by bus (Because we came to Lugano by train, we did not have a car). The path guided us along the shore of the lake, and we saw quite alot olive trees. On some information panels, the history of the olive trees, and the production of the olive oil was described. But the most beautiful were the views that we had across the lake to Monte San Salvatore and the bay of Lugano.
Beside this hike, we did some shopping in Lugano and finalized the day with a visit in one of the numerous restaurants. Altogether a great day, especially because the weather was great: sun all the day, about 25 degrees.
At worst, you live in the Northern part of Germany, the way to Lugano costs you 1-2 complete days, at best, you live in the most southern part, it still takes you about 3 hours - only if there is no traffic jam in front of the tunnel - and most of the time there is traffic jam.
Me and my wife, we just visited Lugano for one day. Yes that's true. Since I'm working in Switzerland, I have one of these General Abonnements that allows you to use the swiss rail (and most of the public transportations in all Swiss cities) as much as you want. So we spent the night at my apartment in Switzerland, took one of the first trains in the morning and finally arrived at lugano before 10 am.
In the evening, we left Lugano at about 18:45 and finally reached my "Swiss home" at about 21:30. I didn't have to drive and could relax in the train, and so we spent about 9 hours in this wonderful city.
Lugano is like a part of Italy. Although it belongs to Switzerland, you feel that the Italian border is just a stone throw away from it, especially if you walk through the narrow alleys of the old town. Like in Italy you find there many small shops with fresh fruits and vegetables, and also butcheries with these delicious Italian sausages. You here everywhere the people speaking Italian.
That last times when we visited Lugano, we hiked to Monte San Salvatore and to Monte Bre, two wonderful mountains very close to the old town with a fantastic view over the city and the lake.
This time we hiked the Sentiero dell'Olivo, a path starting in Gandria and ending in Castagnola. We reached Gandria by ship and returned from Castagnola by bus (Because we came to Lugano by train, we did not have a car). The path guided us along the shore of the lake, and we saw quite alot olive trees. On some information panels, the history of the olive trees, and the production of the olive oil was described. But the most beautiful were the views that we had across the lake to Monte San Salvatore and the bay of Lugano.
Beside this hike, we did some shopping in Lugano and finalized the day with a visit in one of the numerous restaurants. Altogether a great day, especially because the weather was great: sun all the day, about 25 degrees.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Start Into A New World
This is my first post in this very first blog that I write. Since there are several purposes to write a blog, I should point out that my intention mainly is to create a cronicle of the things that happen to me in my life - and that are worth to be mentioned, of course.
