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Published: March 14th 2009
Date of travel:
Friday, March 13th The amazing thing about continental Europe is that it is so close and compact that you can take a daytrip to another country. Yesterday (Friday), I did not have any class so this is exactly what I did. I started planning this trip at 11pm on Thursday night and did not have enough time to tell anybody about it so I went by myself. This was probably a good thing because the first train of the day was at the crack of dawn and I wanted to be on it.
I woke up at 5am and hopped right out of bed. I was so excited to go to Switzerland that I hardly got any sleep the night before. My desination was
Locarno, Switzerland and since the train was scheduled to leave at 7:00am, I wanted to get out the door ASAP. I packed myself a sandwich, a bottle of water and my camera and I was on the tram by 6am, Metro by 6:10am, and at Stazione Centrale by 6:30am. I overestimated how long it would take me to get to the station, so after buying my ticket I had an espresso in
a coffee shop.
Once the train left the station I started reading a book, The Catcher in the Rye. I usually start sleeping almost immediately on trains, but I had a couple of train transfers and I was pretty perked up on the espresso I had just drank. I arrived in Locarno at 9:15am and was immediately greeted by blooming trees and plants, colorful buildings, and gorgeous views of the Alps. It has been over 6 years since I was last in Switzerland, and I had forgotten just how beautiful thisi country was. Locarno, along with a couple of other towns, is nestled in a large valley and is surrounded by the Alps on all sides. I started walking towards the center of town because in the past 6 weeks of traveling, I have learned that in the center of most cities, towns and villages, there are centers for tourist information (or at the very least, a travel agent or a frienly local resident who will point you in the right direction of major attractions in the town). After getting a map and trying to figure out what I wanted to see, I figured I would walk around the center
of town a bit since I was already there. By 10:30am it had already been 4.5 hours since I ate a small breakfast, so I sat on a bench near a cafe and ate my sandwich. I made it pretty big so that it would hold me over for a while and save me some money. Walking through Locarno, I saw a number of small pastry shops, chocolate shops, cigar shops and a very cool antiques store. It was not until I saw all the price tags in the stores with prices such as 5CHF and 13CHF that I realized I would have to get some Swiss currency if I wanted to buy anything. It totally slipped my mind that I would be paying for things in Swiss Franc's. I'll tell you this....traveling on a train for 2 hours and ending up in another country really messes with you sometimes. At the ATM, I got the smallest amount of Swiss Francs possible (100CHF) and I asked the guy at the antiques store how many Euros that was (it is about 65 euros). After walking around for a bit more, I found a couple of great spots where I could have
eaten my sandwich and had a great view of the Alps. I wish I hadn't eaten my sandwich in a small piazza on a bench where all I could do was look at buildings. I dwelled on this for about an hour, I really did. Oh well...I figured I would make it up to myself later in the day and find a nice relaxing place to eat.
I walked away from the center of the town and towards the lake that Locarno sits on, il Lago Maggiore. While walking on a path alongside the lake, I noticed that it had gotten quite a bit warmer (60+ degrees or so) since 9am so I took my jacket off. The views were breathtaking because, like I said before, the town is in a large valley that is surrounded on all sides by the Alps. In fact, a large portion of the town is actually built right on the mountainside. I found a really cool track/soccer field that had an unlocked gate so I was able to walk in. I also found a small mini golf course, but I figured putt-putt by myself might not be too much fun! Maybe next time.
I walked through a small park along the lake and found an outcove of rocks where nobody else was around. I sat down to take a few pictures and then I rememberd that I had my book in my backpack. So, I took my backpack off and used it and my jacket as a backrest and padding against the rocks. For the next hour or so, I basked in the sun and read my book. I hate to be cliché (really, I do) but at that moment in time I did not have a worry in the world and was simply enjoying life. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing for Holden Caulfield, who is the main character in the book. *This only makes sense if you have read the book. If you have not, I suggest you do so.* While reading, I even took a picture so that you can see what I was seeing (from a first-person view).
After reading for a while, I decided I would walk back towards town and try to find Cardada, which consists of a funicular railway to take you part of the way up the mountain, a gondola to take you
further up, and a ski lift to take you to the very top of the mountain. After getting off at the first 2 stops and exploring a bit, I got off at "Cimetta", which was the highest point that I could go to yesterday.
On the gondola, I was riding with a middle-aged German couple. I figured I would try my luck and start speaking to them in English. No response. I then started speaking to them in Italian. I got a terse, incomprehensible response in an unknown language. I don't think they knew what the hell I was saying to them. The rest of the ride was completely silent, as my knowledge of the German language is not very deep. I only know how to say "Ich bin ein Berliners" (thank you John F. Kennedy), but I kept that to myself because they did not seem to have a great sense of humor. The mountain had just gotten 2 meters of snow earlier in the week, so I was kind of bummed that I could not do some hiking to one of the other mountain peaks. My original plan was to head back down the mountain once the sun
started setting, but I had to scratch that. However, it was also very cool being able to walk among all this snow and wear a short sleeve polo. It very warm on top of the mountain, it was awesome! Still, even with those temperatures it is going to take a while for 2 meters (6.5 feet!) of snow to completely melt. It was nice being able to see Lago Maggiore from so high up and because I didn't feel like going back down to town yet, I sat at a table at an outdoor restaurant patio and continued to read my book. While looking at the lake, I meant to ask somebody where the Switzerland part of it ended and where Italy began, but all the people around me were tourist and wouldn't have a clue. And with my luck, I'd probably ask another German couple and only get confused stares when I asked them. I only read for a bit because my sandwich had finally worn off and I was starting to get hungry, so I headed back down.....Ski lift--->Gondola--->Funicular railway--->town. **If you don't know what a 'funicular railyway' is, read up on it. It is actually a very
cool and rather simple solution for bringing people up steep inclines.**
After wandering around for a bit I FINALLY found Piazza Grande. Clever name, huh? It's the biggest piazza in the town...so they named it "Big Piazza". There were lots of stores, restaurants, bars and food vendors and I bought myself a "pretzel sandwich" from one of the vendors. It wasn't very filling, but it was kind of cool to eat. They took a jumbo pretzel and carefully sliced it in half, and then made a ham/tomato/pickle sandwich out of it. Bellissimo! (By the way, the official language of Locarno is Italian because it is so close to the border of Italy. Everything is written in Italian, but underneath there is usually German, French and English.) I imagine the printing business in this town is rather profitable. There is no such thing as a one-line sign or a one-page pamphlet!! Everything has 4 languages translated on it. These are the type things that I think about.....how successful the printing industry is in Locarno, Switzerland.
After the pretzel, I was still kind of hungry but I wanted to hop on the next train back to Milano (6:30pm) which left in
Madonna del Sasso
This is the most famous view of Locarno. When you "Google" or "wikipedia" Locarno, Switzerland....this comes up. I went inside of the church and it was very cool. There was a priest who looked to be about 90 years old and had a long, white beard that went down to his stomach.about a half hour. I was getting low on Swiss Franc's so I went to McDonald's and got a burger called a Beef Rustico. Swiss people should stick to making cheese fondue, because that burger was awful.
With a full stomach and a camera full of pictures, I bought my train ticket and headed back home to Milano. I had an excellent day and I will definitely be making another trip to Locarno in May or June with friends when it is even warmer and we can go swimming.
Ciao for now!
-Michael
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Uncle Michael
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NICE!!
Dude........ if that aint the best day trip I have ever seen in my life, I don't know what is. Those are some incredible pictures, thanks for sharing them, the blog is awsome. When you have gone into a restaurant has anyone asked yet: uwantslawondat?? It almost looks German.