Italy - the lakes

Yesterday, on the way to work, my finger tips where a little bit chilly for the first time in a long time, a good time to think back to the magnificent summer holidays and give a bit more details of each of the spots, as I promised. Our trip started with a drive from the Jura to the lakes in the north of Italy. Four or so hours of really beautiful scenery, first with the cool autoroute blanche down to Geneva, bridges coming out of tunnels all the way along, you never seem to be at ground level, you're either in it or way above it, I dig it! This followed by beautiful mountains, the Mont Blanc tunnel, arriving in Italy, and heading down the charming looking Aosta valley. Not too schabby.

View of Mont Blanc, peak on left, 4808 m, the highest in Europe. The Alps are different feeling to the Himalayas and Andes. Something about the very green forested slopes and the rugged light grey peaks I guess. Great to be with the mountains, albeit briefly.















Just before the tunnel into Italy, this glacial looking ice clinging to the side of the Alps. Beautiful greeny blues.

The Aosta valley seems to need some exploring, many castles along the way, would be interesting to know a little more of the area's history.















Baveno on Lago Maggiore, our first night stop. Delving into my experience of ruggedness, I obviously sounded convincing about camping. Although this is a different breed, it is the find a spot in the warren to dump your tent kind. Amazing the full timers that pitch up for a month stint with fridges, satellite dishes, in fact all the mod-cons... all this so they can sit outside their caravan and stare at their neighbours 3 metres away for a month... hmmm. This said the camping facilities are very good, and in retrospect I would rather do camping that stay in hotels that are 2 to 3 times the price. So night one, on the side of the lake, quite pleasant!

Day two we headed across to Lago Como, after heading around the south of Maggiore and up th eeast side, the west shore of Maggiore is lovely, old and established, well worth a visit. The east shore ,however, is a bit of a waste of time, skip it!

Como is newer, more developed, yet quainter... far more trendy. I think the old folk, that always have, go to Maggiore. The richer, younger, fashion concious probably do Como for holidays.
Steeper shores leave beautiful villages flinching to stay out the water. The drive around is spectacular.





























Domaso, north west shore of Como, we struggled to find a spot for the tent, but finally did. That night I worried about my decision to buy the cheapest two man chateau as the heavens opened up and the wind rearranged all the windsurfers around the camp site. I tent survived perfectly, surprisingly we stayed dry, a far cry from the old days of scout camps. Domaso is also home to the best tiramisu on earth. No, I mean it. I generally think tiramisu is right up there with tofu as the worlds most overated 'foods', but the little family restaurant under the arch pavement in Domaso, now that's a different story!















All round the northern point and down the east side. A road trip well worth doing, and spending more time. Each village seems to have a character.

The lakes are beautiful, could have spent ages there, especially Como. Off to Milano...