May 22 - Walk back from Sonvico, Hotel California, and road obstacles

With the first day of sunshine in a long time here in Lugano, Rick and I decided to hike around in a few towns, since the mountain paths would probably still be too wet. We took the bus along our side of the mountain and up a bit to the town of Sonvico, where we got off just above the old town center.

After exploring the "nucleo" of Sonvico, we wanted to stop for lunch. It just happened that inside the old town center, we heard some music and saw some umbrellas, so we made our way to the entrance to an Osteria. We sat down for lunch outside in the back (where we had seen the umbrellas), even though it was a bit cool - we just kept our jackets on. We were told what the special of the day was, and I asked if there were any other choices, since we weren't given a menu. No, that was it! In a small town like this, the little "Osteria da Davide" makes one thing each day, so that's what we ate! It was called Pizzoccheri - a kind of pasta and well, I can't even really tell you what was in it, but we thoroughly enjoyed it! It was warm and filling and just what we needed.

Since we began our day up high, all we had to do was keep walking downhill. We found paths that led to the next town, Dino, where we found the very end of the line, the final station, of the Lugano-Cadro-Dino train which is no longer there - I talked about this train line which is now a walking path in a previous post.

We ended up following the path all the way back to Pregassona! We probably walked more than 5 miles, and we were totally wiped out by the end of the afternoon! Here are some sites from our walk:

View when we got off the bus, from above the original nucleus of the town of Sonvico. In the distance is Lake Lugano, the city, and Mt. San Salvatore.

Rick in the old town of Sonvico.

I just love all the climbing rose bushes! This one is in Dino.

At the end of the train line in Dino, we saw this plaque. It says "The ex Hotel California, behind the 3 majestic 100 year old pine trees. It was contructed by Ercole Polli, who came back in 1906 after the earthquake in California. Maybe this is THE Hotel California!!!!!

And here is the ex Hotel California

I posted another angle of this bridge before - it was an old bridge from the train line. What I find funny in Switzerland is that you never know what obstacles you'll find. This is just after a curve, and OOPS! watch out for the wall sticking out into the road!