Dolce vita... sweet life... and indeed what a sweet life this is! This past weekend I visited Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. It is quite unlike any place I have visited in Switzerland. The climate is quite tropical, the landscape different, and of course the culture is distinctly Italian! Ticino definitely has a "holiday destination" feel about it... and we had the most stunning weekend!
We stayed in the town of Giubasco - we didn't do anything here (except have one incredible meal - more on that later) - but it was well located for all our other trips. On the Friday night when we arrived, we went to Bellinzona and went to one of the three castles. As we wondering back through the town to find a spot for dinner, we stumbled across a free street party which we happily joined in! We then found a restaurant my colleague had recommended... and wow, it was the perfect spot to eat dinner! Just a few tables in the courtyard... seasonal food... (asparagus and prosciutto lasagne for me - delicious!), chilled rosé, great company and a warm summer night.
On Saturday, we headed back to Bellinzona to enjoy the market (this must be the best way to shop - so many wonderful things to choose from complete with the best atmosphere - people greeting each other in the street included!) and selected some fresh local produce for a picnic lunch - bread, cheese (wow, this was incredible), fresh cherry tomatoes, salami and cherries.
We then met up with some other friends and headed to the town of Lugano where we walked along the lake to the Funicular to take us up to the top of Mont San Salvador - a place with an incredible view of Ticino and the place where we enjoyed our perfect picnic lunch (I think people were quite jealous!). From there we headed to the lake, rented some peddle boats and ate gelato... what more could you want?
For dinner we ate at Grotto al Torcett - a typical italian-style outdoor restaurant hidden away from the tourists which we only knew about thanks to my colleague! Eating here was an experience I will not soon forget and I don't think the restaurant will forget it either! I am sure we were the staff's entertainment for the night! I had made a reservation online through mytable.com (a handy website - especially for making reservations in a foreign country!) so we were greeted by a typical italian appearing on the balcony saying "
mio tavolo" (my table!) - at least we knew we had a table! Thankfully my colleague had given us dinner and drink recommendations so deciphering the menu was manageable - italian is similar to french too, so that helped! We had a typical drink - boccalino - wine mixed with gazosa (a regional lemonade) served in a boccalino (a ceramic mug typcial of this region) and ate all you can eat ribs cooked on the outdoor grill close to our tables. Wow.
Sunday brought more sunshine and more adventure! We went to Locarno and took the boat to isole di brissago - a little Island which is basically just one big botanical garden with flowers from all over the world (including South Africa). We spent a pleasant few hours enjoying the sunshine, flowers and beautiful views... and climbing a tree! Then we went to Ascona to eat lunch at a restaurant over looking the lake - this restaurant was another recommendation from a colleague - yum yum yum! Of course the afternoon was complete with some more exploring of the old town and more gelato... delicious! All in all, a perfect weekend!
