Touring Lugano

Lugano is not quite what I expected. It is much larger and noisier than I expected and is a strange mix of historic buildings right next to 1960s era buildings. The lake itself is gorgeous however, as are the towering mountains that surround the lake.

We stayed at the Motel Vezia - a biker motel. That's biker as in motor biker. It was interesting! Definitely a throwback to the 1950s with an enormous cutout of Elvis, a juke box, and pictures of 1950's automobiles decorating the place. The reception staff was less than helpful. We asked the woman manning the desk when we arrived if she had any good recommendations for where we should go for dinner and she said "No."


On day 1, Theresa and I took the funicular to the top of Monte San Savatore, for spectacular views over the city. Lacking a sufficient breakfast however to sustain a hike to a neighboring town, we chose to ride the funicular back down, have lunch, and take the boat over the Morcote.

Morcote was a charming village, with lots of stairs. Most of the towns along the lake are built into the sides of mountains, making everything a vertical climb. After climbing the stairs to see a beautiful church, we found a lakeside lounge where we tested out the sangria. It wasn't bad, but was still no match for Diego's. :-)


On day 2, we rode another funicular, this one unfortunately packed with school children, to the top of Monte Bre. From there we "hiked" (read walked down TONS of stairs - enough to rival the Grand Staircase hike in the Blue Mountains in Australia) to the town of Gandria. We had no idea the hike would involve this many stairs. We managed them well considering we were only 4 days post Ironman. Unfortunately though - we are both paying for it today. After having lunch in Gandria, and even catching a glimpse of The Tour in a local cafe, we boated back to Lugano.


Once in Lugano we rented a speed boat! I made Turbo drive. She was nervous at first, but after about 15 min declared "Ok, I've graduated now, I need more speed!!!" Our little rental boat topped out at about 5 mph - hence the reason no boating license was required. We had fun cruising the lake on our own, and even managed to change into our swim suits on the boat, in the middle of the lake to get some sun. It was the highlight of the day.