Monday, April 8th, Tirano, Italy

Greetings!

Across the border into Switzerland, on the railway to St. Moritz, is a cable car station (Diavolezza) that carries you to the 10,000 foot summit of a pretty spectacular ski slope.  Normally, you can ride the Bernina Red Train from our hotel there. but a landslide last week blocked the route, so we used a smaller, more agile bus to navigate the narrow, steep roads following the tracks.  And while only a couple of us fought vertigo or oxygen shortages, we all accompanied plenty of skiers and snowboarders to the point where a local legend says that a fairy creature (She-Devil) had the ability to make visitors lose their orientation.  

Noting the limits of many types of trees, we climbed from the lakes and waterfalls which provide 90% of Switzerland's power, to the treeline's upper boundary.  On a clear, warm day, we lunched at one of the Alps premier views.  Roberto, our guide, provided a commentary which entertained us with hundreds of vital insights acquired over a lifetime of residency.  Back at our hotel at 2pm, our tour crew challenged us to determine Italian vs Swiss Chocolate in a blind tasting. 

This evening, we'll experience another of OAT's signature experiences (Home-Hosted Dinner).  Not sure if photos will result, but if it's anything like other similar evenings OAT has provided, it will be fantastic.  

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Monday, April 8th, Tirano, Italy.

Sunday, April 7th, Tirano, Italy

Greetings!

OAT chose Tirano as our home for the next three days for a variety of reasons.  First, it is the terminus of the picturesque Tirano-Sankt Moritz railway line (Bernina Railway).  Unfortunately, a landslide took out a section of the line between here and where we were going in a few days.  We're going to use a small bus instead.

Second, just up the mountain from it is the hamlet of Borgo Baruffini, which will host us for what OAT calls "A Day in the Life".  This feature of every tour is our opportunity to better understand the lives of residents of these hardworking farms on the mountain hillside.  

We started with a walk through the village with Fluvio, a newcomer who thirty years ago decided to fall in love with the place (and a girl), and who has become the President of the community development organization and theater company.   A tour guide could do no better to explain the changes the hamlet has seen over past six hundred years, including the handmade wooden signs crafted by a lifelong resident whose retirement significantly upgraded the facades and identification of the neighborhoods.

The third reason it was chosen was the willingness of the hamlet to engage us in the preparation of a luncheon meal calling on our research, talent, and finally our musical abilities to create a feast long remembered.

While we waited for the buckwheat pasta (known as pizzocheri) to become ready, we met and were regaled with stories of an 84-year old resident's  tobacco and coffee smuggling days as a young woman carrying this contraband over the mountain behind the hamlet to Switzerland.  Celeste allowed she'd recently hiked up the same distance two years ago in two hours, and even our young guides were astonished at her agility.

Allowed access to her wine cellar, to fill eight bottles of local wine from her 200 year-old barrels, we imagined her participation in a historical outlaw movement requiring rugged mountain climbing to effect cross-country trading to escape high tariffs.  Our guides attributed the reduction in population in the hamlet over the last hundred years partly to the parity achieved over the same time between the Euro and the Swiss Franc.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Sunday, April 7th, Tirano, Italy. 

 

Saturday, April 6th, Tirano, Italy

Greeting!

Today was a traveling day, from Lecco at the south end of the lake often confused as Lake Como  (that's on the other branch of the upside down "Y" - where George Clooney lives) up to the point where the two meet (where we had lunch at Varenna, then east through the glacier-carved valley to Tirano.

We'll be here for three days, and we'll be exploring the beautiful snow-capped Alps to the north of us. Tomorrow morning, we'll be visiting a working farm and assisting in the collection and preparation of our lunch.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on the album link at Saturday, April 7th, Tirano, Italy.

Friday, April 5th, Lecco, Italy

Greetings!

It's probably appropriate to use a photo of Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper to illustrate today's travels since the painting was the focus of our journey.  DaVinci spent four years creating the painting in the dining hall of the convent at the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.  Viewing it for 15 minutes with a group instructor at mid-day, our tour company had obtained tickets that no one believed possible for all of their 2024 travel year.  We now know all of the guests, their motivations, hand gestures, and color schemes.  

A trip to Milan would not be complete without a visit to the largest church in Italy (remember that Saint Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican is not in Italy, but in the Vatican State).  Officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is the third largest in surface area, and sixth in volume.  Milan is the capital of Lombardy, and Italy's second largest city, an important trading center for over two millennia, and once served as the capital of the western half of the Roman Empire.

Ending our visit, we walked through the Galleria Vitttorio Emanuele II which connects the Teatro La Scala and the Duomo di Milano.  Every major fashion company has shops here, and the management is proud to have ejected McDonald's recently.  The fadt food chain got the last laugh, however, as it set up shop a few hundred feet from the entrance, and the smell of its french fries continues to carry through the structure.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Friday, April 5th, Lecco, Italy.

Thursday, April 4th, Lecco, Italy

Greetings!

Thirty miles north of Milan is Lecco, a small non-tourist town sitting on the shores on the peaceful, gently winding shoreliine where the Adda River flows into Lake Como.  From there, we traveled upriver to the third landing known as Mandello del Lario.  The home of Moto Guzzi (the Italian Motorcycle company), and site of the events narrated by Manzoni in "the Betrothed", its origin was best chronicled by Vittorio Veneto Vincenzo Zucchi in "Oppidum Mandelli". 

For at least a thousand years, Mandello del Lario has played a role in the governance and use of the lands in this area, as a Roman defense garrison to the site of industrial innovation over the last hundred years.  

Back in Lecco this evening, we shared a welcome dinner at Ristorante Frigerio.  Slow food at its best, served by a very talented and entertaining owner and staff.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Thursday, April 4th, Lecco, Italy.

Wednesday, April 3rd, Lecco, Italy

 

Greetings!

We're off on another adventure, this time to Northern Italy, Cyprus, and Malta.  After a long flight through Chicago to Milan, Overseas Adventure Travels (OAT) drove us to the NH Ponte Vecchio Hotel in Lecco.  We'll spend three days here visiting Milan and the Lake Como area  There are fourteen of us on the tour, all from America, and all about the same age and travel experiences.  

After a rest until evening, we introduced ourselves over drinks and met our guides,.  We all took a short walk to the central square to get the lay of the town.  ATMs, restaurants, pharmacies, churches, and a statue or two.  Then back to the hotel for a late dinner.

To see all of the photos taken on our walk, click on Wednesday, April 3rd, Lecco, Italy.

Sunday, January 28th, Santa Rosa, California

Greetings!

Back home again until April, when we head out to northern Italy, Malta, and Cyprus.  Before then, we've cleaned up our 2005 Airstream and 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and are putting them up for sale.  Here are photos