Memories made in Ticino

Going to the Ticino, for me, is always like coming home. I spend many summer holidays there as a child and have so many sacred memories connected to it. So way back in May I went to Locarno with one of my best friends. We became quite good travel buddies over the years and had a wonderful time exploring Locarno and its surroundings. Even with gloomy and rainy weather the Ticino never disappoints.

But first we stopped at the Rofflaschlucht (Schlucht=gorge), which is a sacred place to my friend, whose ancestors built a way to a beautiful waterfall back in 1907, it took them 7 years to finish. There’s also a hotel located right at the entrance to the gorge and it is still led by some of my friend’s relatives.

We left the Rofflaschlucht and drove about 1.5 hours over the San Bernardino Pass and finally arrived at Locarno, from where it was a short but winding drive to Orselina, a pretty village situated in the hills above Locarno.

The mountains surrounding the San Bernardino were still covered with snow. While further down the highway between San Bernardino and Locarno is embedded between lush green mountains. I never get enough of this view it’s just so calming.

We stayed at a lovely hotel and were enchanted by the breathtaking views from our room and the interior of the house.

You really can see the love for detail in this house, we found so many antiques, like this quite old book, on how to behave like a lady, hilarious. Also the bathtub had feet for crying out loud!!

We had a delicious dinner at a charming grotto, with a view over Lago Maggiore that would take your breath away.

The next day we got up rather early to drive along the lakeside of Lago Maggiore and headed to the market in Cannobio, Italy. Found some nice souvenirs, had a quick lunch and then made our way back to Ticino up to Lavertezzo a pretty little village situated in the Valle Verzasca.

Market in Cannobio

Lavertezzo

Look at the color of the water. Depending on the light, you will find all shades of green in it.

As we left Lavertezzo and drove down the winding streets of this beautiful valley we stopped at the dam wall of Lago di Vogorno and had an ice cream, where once a bungee jump of the James Bond movie “Goldeneye” was filmed. So if you’re an adrenaline junkie you still can do your own bungee jump there.

Our quick weekend trip came to an end and I think I speak for both, when I say, we returned home refreshed, relaxed and inspired by the things we've seen, the company and the talks we had.

Everglades National Park

Have you ever been to Everglades National Park? Let me tell you, it is worth a visit. It was really a highlight of our entire trip. This piece of nature is just spectacular. We saw many wild alligators on our way right next to the street.

 These animals are fascinating.

We entered via the southern section and drove across the park to Everglades City, where we took a boat tour through the mangrove forest.

This cute dolphin accompanied us a length of our boat trip.

Finally we entered a somehow hidden tunnel of the mangrove forest. We felt as stepping in to a different world, out of this earth. It was gorgeous, magical and pictures however don’t do it justice. It was quiet and you could only hear the birds sing and the water clashing at the boat. The branches hung low, so we had to crouch from time to time, luckily the boat had flexible chairs, made like this for the very reason.

This guy was waiting for us, sitting on our car.  

Once more we were lucky enough to see a beautiful sunset as we were heading to our next destination.

Beautiful Victoria, Vancouver Island

I arrived back in Switzerland yesterday at noon. Managed to stay awake till 5 p.m., fell asleep and am wide awake now, at 4 a.m. due to jetlag, writing my second last post of this trip.

After saying goodbye to Salome, I headed to Tsawwassen to catch the ferry to Swartz Bay and then drove to Victoria on Vancouver Island. I did this trip already three years ago and was really excited to be there again. The ferry ride was as beautiful as I remembered it.

Crossing another ferry in between beautiful and wild Islands.

I checked in at a hostel in Victoria, in which I was supposed to stay for two nights, but I cancelled after one night, because I have slept so badly, due to extremely loud noises from the ventilators in our room and the street, since we had to keep the windows open all night, otherwise it would have been too sticky and hot in our bedroom with six people. I’ve been extremely and unusually exhausted the past few days of my trip, so I just wanted more privacy and a much needed good sleep. I found a really nice hotel in Victoria, close to the harbor and the beautiful parliament building.

Actually I booked hostels for the rest of my trip on Vancouver Island, but cancelled it all and booked hotels instead. It’s not, that I don’t like staying at hostels, in fact, I stayed at really nice and good hostels throughout my trip and loved it, but since I didn’t feel very well, I figured it would be the best to get some peace and rest in a hotel room of my own. Also all the private rooms of these hostels were fully booked unfortunately.

I’ve seen so many beautiful things on Vancouver Island, like the Butchart Gardens, located in Brentwood Bay near Victoria. It was layed out in 1904 and remained a family business until today.

The Rose Garden.

The Sunken Garden.

^

I went places, that I already visited those three years ago and was pleased to see again. Like the creative and colorful house boats at Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria.

Of course I had to get me the best Fish and Chips at Red Fish Blue Fish at the inner harbor in Victoria. There is always a long queue, because it pretty popular around town. It was totally worth the 40 minute wait.

Since I am a sentimental person and a sucker for traditions, of course I drove out to Kitty Islet to eat my fish and chips there, as I did the last time with a friend of mine. I just love the good feelings that come up with good memories you made once.

I drove back to the city and went to see the parliament building.

Then I drove to Mount Douglas to enjoy the evening mood and hoped to see the sunset shining through the clouds, but I didn’t have luck, but the views were gorgeous anyway.

As I came back to the city I happened to see the beautiful city lights, I missed to see those the last time I visited, so I really enjoyed walking the streets to the parliament building and back to my hotel.