Day 7 - A Day on Lake Maggiore

---

Today is a really relaxed start, as we won't be hitting the road until 9:00. So after a quick breakfast, we bid a fond farewell to Santa Margherita, and board the coach for Lake Maggiore. Lake Maggiore is in the upper northwest area of Italy near the border with Switzerland. This is a 3 hour bus ride, the longest we have some so far. So with plenty of time on the road, Anna gave us a quick synopsis of the days activities, and used the remaining time to settle up our bills for the optional excursions. With a WiFi credit card machine on the bus, it didn't take her long.

As we left Santa Margherita, the mountains began to quickly subside and we were quickly in the flat farmland of the northwest. So for the next couple of hours, it was like riding a bus through Nebraska, just flat land and fields of grain. Luckily its only for a couple of hours, but there just wasn't anything exciting to see. Soon we could see signs of the Alps in the background, but it was so hot, close to 100 degrees, that there was just sort of a haze blocking the view of the mountains. But after a while, we could begin to see the Alps come into view and we knew we were getting close to Lake Maggiore. We did get a quick glimpse of the capital of Genova along the way, but we were really too far to get a good view. We arrived at about 12:30 and luckily the rooms were ready. We're only staying in Lake Maggiore for 1 night, and there are no real planned activities for the day. There are however 2 optional excursions that we have signed up, the first being a visit to Isola Bella. Isola Bella has a palace and gardens, but the gardens are completely exposed to the sun, and with a day as hot as this one, Anna decided to delay the boat ride over until 4:00 when some of the heat of the day had subsided. So we were on our own with free time until 4:00.

The Hotel Simplon is probably the nicest hotel we have stayed in so far. Anna warned us that some of the rooms may be especially nice, and that if we got a really good room we should "suffer in silence". Our room was on the 4th and top floor of the hotel, and we were hoping for a view of the lake. When we opened the door to the room, we were blown away. Not only does our room face the lake with a balcony view, but the room is a 2-story suite with a couch and desk downstairs along with a 2-sink vanity bathroom, but there are stairs leading upstairs to the king size bed with a skylight. Jody was a little concerned with wandering downstairs in the middle of the night, but not to worry, there is a second full bathroom and shower upstairs right next to the bed! We have never been in a 2-story, 2-bathroom hotel room with a view before. This room is awesome!

After unpacking our stuff, and figuring out the refrigerator (the refrigerator is a mini-bar with a WiFi control and requires a 10 euro deposit to enable), we decided to head across the street to an actual supermarket. We went inside what looks like a corner neighborhood market and were impressed with both the selection and the prices. There was a great selection of meats, cheese, bread and fresh vegetables, like nothing I have ever seen in the states, and the prices were reasonable. We had been paying between 2.50 and 3.00 euro for a Coke Zero, and they had cans for 0.85 euro and 4-packs for 2.49 euro. The had large bottled water for 0.19 euro. So we bought a couple of cold Coke Zero and a 4-pack to put in the refrigerator.

It was still really hot outside, so we decided to put on our bathing suits and head out to the pool. The pool was HUGE! It also had 5 ceramic tile lounges inside the pool itself, so you could lie on a lounge chair in the water. But before getting in the water, we stopped in the bar for a couple of sandwiches and some water. We've both become addicted to the European sparkling water. With dinner they always bring over multiple bottles of both plain and sparkling water. Since we both typically drink Bubly or Le Croix flavored seltzer at home, we naturally went for the sparkling water. It is unflavored, but it is not nearly as bitter as American seltzer with just the right amount of carbonation.

After lunch we headed over to the pool, and the water was just perfect! We just lounged around in the water for a good hour enjoying a cool, refreshing afternoon. About 3:30, we headed up to the room to get ready for the trip over to Isola Bella. We weren't sure how to dress, because we wanted to wear shorts for the visit to the gardens where we knew it would be hot, and we wanted to dress up a little for dinner. In the end we opted for shorts and t-shirts to be comfortable in the heat, and it was the right choice. Some of the people dressed nicer for dinner and were miserable in the heat at Isola Bella. Most of the people had signed up for both the optional excursions, so at 4:00, Anna had us put on our Voxs and walk down the street to an awaiting Water Taxi. The view of Lake Maggiore from the Water Taxi was awesome! We took plenty of pictures in what turned out to be a short ride over to Isola Bella. Isola Bella is the summer home of the Borromean family and is entirely covered with a palace built in 1632, and a Botanical Garden. At 4:30 we met our tour guide Daniella who gave us a 45 minute tour of 25 rooms of the palace mostly located on the first floor and in the basement. Descendants of the original Borromean family still live in the second and third floors of the palace, and tours are limited to the floors below.

Daniella's tour was great, and while the first floor was beautiful the basement is what was really interesting. All of the floors and walls were made up of pebbles. A lot of the floors and walls were black and the pebbles were volcanic rock. It made for an interesting look, and the location also made for some really good natural air conditioning. The other interesting part of the palace was the unsupported spiral staircase in the servants area. All of the stone steps are cantilevered out of a very thick wall, making the staircase appear to be unsupported and just hanging out of the wall. At the end of the palace tour, Daniella led us out to the garden to explore on our own.

The garden was really beautiful and well kept. I couldn't find any signs of a watering system, so I assume the garden is kept up with hand watering. The symbol of the Borromean family is the unicorn, and central in the statuary of the garden is a huge unicorn at the top. There are also white peacocks wandering the grounds, and while they made lots of noise, we never saw any of them displaying their feathers. The flowers in the garden were beautiful, and some of the shrubbery was trimmed to topiary shapes. It was really hot in the garden, and some of our fellow passengers, especially those from colder climates just couldn't deal with the heat. It was about 95 degrees, but since we are from Florida, it didn't really bother us much. We tried to keep to the shade wherever possible, but mostly it didn't bother us as we tried to stay hydrated. There was also a small aviary with some sort of parakeets or love birds. After spending about a half hour wandering around the garden, we checked out the gift shop that didn't have much, and stopped at the snack bar to get a couple of drinks. Freshly hydrated, we headed over to the rendezvous point to meet up with Anna and the rest of the passengers.

We hopped back on the Water Taxi and headed over to the next island called Isola Del Pescatori, or Fisherman's Island where the restaurant for our dinner was located. This restaurant is called Ristorante Italia, and specializes in local fish caught in Lake Maggiore. The owner of the restaurant came out to explain where the fish that we would be served came from. He runs the restaurant and his brother is a fisherman and catches the fish. There are very few fisherman left in Lake Maggiore as the owner claimed that the water was so clean that there was very little plant life left to provide food for the fish. He brought out some examples of the fish we would be eating. The meal was delicious! From the anti-pasti to the main course of whitefish filet, everything was so good. The only thing neither of us would eat were the pickled sardines. I just don't like eating food that is looking back at me! For dessert we had a lemon cake that the owners daughter made and it was delicious also. Jody and I are having such a great time on this trip!

When dinner was over, it was time to get on the Water Taxi and head back to the hotel. And while I was certain that we were both full from such a great dinner, on the way back to the hotel we passed by a gelato stand. A quick look at each other and we figured out we probably had just enough room for a gelato. Jody had her 2-scoop of chocolate and caramel, and of course I had the 4-scoop of Caramel, Coffee, Tiramisu, and Chocolate. That really hit the spot!

Tomorrow is the longest bus ride of the tour. We leave at 8:00 (no "relaxed start" tomorrow), and except for a stop in Verona for lunch, we expect to make it to the Dolomite's around 5:00.

---