Day 9

                                                                        Mon, 24 Oct 2022

Day 8

Lake Maggiore

Breakfast at Santa Margherita.

The Sea has white caps. Might rain today.

Final look at Hotel Regina Elena before we depart for Lake Maggiore.
Notice the flag of Italy in the center.

This first part of the trip we'll be heading to Genova.

Map Time

Leaving Santa Margherita (bottom arrow) and heading
northeast to Genova

I'll have some interesting comments to make once we get there.

So many tunnels - I stopped counting after 15...

Duration: 00:00.07 sec.

Another tunnel...and another...and another...

Duration: 00:00.16 sec.

Italy has spectacular views and a magnificent road network which is in very good shape.

The sign above says "Genova".

This is the bridge that collapsed a couple of years ago.
I remember when this happened and was shocked with the news.

Here's the Google response to the date

It connected Genoa's Sampierdarena and Cornigliano districts across the Polcevera Valley. The bridge was widely called "Ponte Morandi" after its structural designer, engineer Riccardo Morandi. On 14 August 2018, a 210-metre (690 ft) section of the viaduct collapsed during a rainstorm, killing forty-three people.

A famous architect from Genova donated his time and energy to lead the rebuild of this project.

It was completed in less than 2 years. The above picture shows the completed project.

The new €202 million San Georgio bridge was built in just 15 months at the "the right costs and the right way", Marco Bucci, the mayor of Genoa and the commissioner for the reconstruction said.

Looking over Genova with trains and buildings.

Leaving Genova and on our way to Lake Maggliova

Map time...

From Genova (bottom arrow)
we'll be heading due north
to Lake Maggiore (top arrow)

More incredible bridges.
We will eventually traverse the bridge you see in this picture.

Did I say there were a lot of tunnels in Italy?

Duration: 00:00.12 sec.

Arriving the town of...

Stresa which is where
our hotel is located and
is on the shore of Lake
Maggiore

Arriving at our hotel before our next adventure.

Check this out.

Duration: 00:00.27 sec.

Getting ready for our next Optional Experience

From the Tour Guide Handbook

"The premier attraction of Lake Maggiore is the Borromean Islands. We'll take a private boat over to Isola Bella, the largest and most famous island, renowned for its incredible palace and stunning Botanical Gardens. Our Local Expert will take us on a guided tour of this privately-owned palace, with free time to admire the gardens. A must!"

Here's our "private boat".

And here's the main island with
the palace and botanical gardens.

Getting ready for the Palace Tour...

Duration: 00:00.10 sec.

Palace Tour Begins...

First the Dining Room

Duration: 00:00.20 sec.

The Great Room

Duration: 00:00.26 sec.

One of the slaves of the palace made this model.
The family was so impressed they put it on display
in the Great Room.

Another view of the model.

/Thinking of Mom as
I take a picture of the
music room with the
harpsicord in the middle.

Our group listening to our Local Expert talk about the music room.

In the middle of the Conversation Room is this
unbelievable mosaic. Yep, it looks like a painting,
but it's really tiny pieces of stone put together to make
this masterpiece.

I took this picture to show how the locals painted
the walls to make them "look" like marble.

Another look at the "marble" room.

Moving downstairs to unbelievable rooms...

Duration: 00:00.24 sec.

Note the small stones in the floor...all came from 

the beaches around the island. 

Duration: 00:00.13 sec.

Looking up at a winding staircase with free standing steps.
Built in the 1600s. Unbelievable.

A picture of "Saint Charles"
Not sure if this is the Saint Charles
our city is named after, but
maybe so, I don't know.

This room reminded me of the 3 galleries at the Vatican
of which the last one was of these embroidered wall hangings.

After the palace tour we were able to
spend some time in the palace gardens.

Let's get a closer look...

Amazing, isn't it?

At the base of the structure above, were these koi fish. 

Looking down the path where we came from.

Now on the back side of 
the structure looking down
at more of the gardens.

This is the back of the tall structure.
The family symbol was a unicorn which sits on the top.

It's about 3pm and the cloud cover is still thick, but
that doesn't affect the way Jan looks in the least.

Coming back around the 
structure to where we began
the entry into the gardens.

Interesting trees. I haven't seen trees like these before.

And the trees are changing
color even in Italy.

More garden views.

This is from the base
looking back up to the top.

Back to the front of the
palace. The gardens are
behind this part of the palace.

Front left.

Front direct.

After returning back by our private boat it is now...

...time to go to dinner...

Our group coming together...

Main dish was chicken, green beans, potatoes...

...or Trout, green beans, potatoes.

Back at the Grand Hotel Bristol

A night walk in one of the hotel halls...

Duration: 00:00.13 sec.

Another "Wow" day in Italy.

Good night!