Spring 2024

Lugano - 16 April 2024

16.04 - Lugano

I was driving today - 45 minutes, mainly on motorway. All was going well until we arrived at the paid parking place. The barrier wouldn’t let us in! Not sure whether it just didn’t recognize our number plate. We reversed and tried again a few times. We repeatedly press the button on the paying machine to speak to someone - finally we did, and we were in. Let’s hope getting out won’t be the same hassle.

It’s all relative, but CHF20 for up to 24 hours here seems good value - considering we’ve paid more for a field with no services!

We walked down into town, about 10 minutes. We headed for the tourist information and picked up a map.

First church of the day - San Rocco - very Catholic and very Italian!

Walked to the park. The picture of the ancient gate at Parco Ciani is in my guide book - so needed to see it! I’m glad we took photos on the way, as when we walked back - there were some tourists sat having their lunch - oblivious to why people wanted to take a photo there!

The park is full of bright colourful flowers and trees and has a laidback vibe.

By then it was lunchtime and we’d seen a restaurant earlier, so went back. I’m really surprised - you can only have dish of the day - but we were happy with cheese lasagne - even had lovely fresh bread. Plus the fizzy water was included - and then coffee and dessert too - all for CHF 16 each. We later saw just one punnet of strawberries in the market for CHF 12 - so our lunch was good value. Nothing spectacular - but good enough 😊

We’d just walked to the edge of a lake, a boat was just departing - we said shall we - and then hopped on. It was CHF 32.80 for us both - and yes - that was half price using our cards. The journey lasted about 1-1/4 hours. We sat outside. It was quite chilly and the wind certainly picked up.

The bay of Lugano is between the two mountains of Monte Brè and Monte San Salvatore - my guide book says it can almost compete with Rio de Janeiro and its famous Sugar Loaf. I think Sarah and Herc will have something to say about that!

We didn’t get around to a trip on the lakes of Thun or Brienz (mainly due to weather) so was a good experience. Quite popular too - was really just a ferry collecting and dropping off people at different stops - maybe to go hiking from?

The strange photo is trying to show the difference between looking through my sunglasses and not. The other strange one is just showing strange German girls wearing their coats backwards - not much of a view!

We walked down Via Nassa - where all the very expensive shops are. How do they cover their overheads? There never seems to be anyone in them!

We did have a brief search for some Victorinox perfume which I tried at the top of the Jungfrau - just thought CHF 89 was a hiked up price due to location - but no. Found some - but not the right one, and it’s the same price - never mind.

Where else do you see a random swan?!

Another church - not much to say except that the floors looked wet they were so polished!

Then another church - knew it must be more important as it had a man stationed inside! The Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angioli was built in 1499. It contains the most famous Renaissance fresco in Switzerland - the vivid and colourful Passion and Crucifixion of Christ by Bernardino Luini (1529) - which covers the whole wall of the nave. It depicts two main scenes - the Last Supper and the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus.