I have lived in Turkey for almost two years and in Argentina so I’m used to countries which have so many different places. But, I never imagined Switzerland being like that.
We left Zürich behind to travel to the Southern part of the country. At the start we took the scenic route around some lakes and nice towns and then we took the highway. The highway which took us through the Gotthard tunnel. A tunnel I know from when I was small, back in the days it was the longest tunnel on earth, nowadays it’s the fifth longest tunnel. The van still had this flickering battery light and we still had no idea what was wrong. However, she starts easily, drives perfectly and sounds normal.
In the tunnels the light was flickering more, or is that because it’s dark and we it is easier to see? Not sure. But, we managed to get in and out of the Gotthard tunnel and entered another world. Suddenly we were surrounded by incredibly high mountains and truly arrived in the middle of the Alps. But also; it was a lot warmer. We were wearing a t-shirt and were still feeling warm. Love it!
Lago Maggiore
I’m not sure but I remember lago maggiore from my youth. A huge lake in Switzerland and Italy. We were staying the night in Lucarno, at a campsite right at the lake. A very expensive campsite I must say, the most expensive one we’ve ever stayed on. But, for the night it was okay. The campsite has a restaurant and since we hadn’t done any shopping yet this was quite handy. I has nice toilets and good showers and we are staying with view on the lake. For one night the price is doable I guess.
Dipping in Lago Maggiore
What better way to wake up with a nice dip into Lago Maggiore? Well, a hot shower maybe. The lake is still so incredibly cold I couldn’t stay in it for too long. It felt like the New Years Dive in the North Sea back home. But, this time it’s warm outside so you don’t need that disgusting soup afterwards 😉
Fontana, Europe’s cutest village?
We soon left the lake and campsite behind us to visit a valley and it’s cute little villages. While on the road we had to stop at possibly every waterfall on our way because they are all so beautiful. And then we walked up to a village called Fontana. One of the cutest villages I have ever seen I’m sure. All the houses are made out of big stones piled on top each other, in the middle of the village one finds a fountain with delicious mountain water. It’s as quiet as if it being a village on a early Sunday morning. For us this meant a village alone and a moment to drive up the van.
The great thing about travelling in this time is that there aren’t many tourists and that may be more of a plus than all the downsides of travelling during this time. Yes, the bars & restaurants are closed, borders might not be open for tourists and you have all these regulations you have to take into account. But the plus side is so huge; almost no tourists, people being incredibly friendly and curious and true adventure.
Back to the village(s). Fontana is truly amazing. The location is wonderful, the houses are just incredible and the tiny streets wonderful. The van could only just fit the small streets of the village. We drove up and down and continued our way to another cute village. This village was also located with view on a waterfall and had the same cute houses as Fontana. It’s called; Foroglio.
We didn’t stay the night at either of these villages. We headed for a campsite which we hoped was open but wasn’t. Actually, the campsite itself was now the home to many Scottish highlanders with big cowbells. It was all very idyllic, but we had no place to stay, except for the wild. Which we did, with approval of the farmer of course. And so we slept on the farmers land next to Scottish highlanders with big cowbells. Luckily, they aren’t awake at night like the hamster I had when I was young. And so, with cows, snow and mountains surrounding us we fell asleep.
We woke up not to the sound of roosters but to the sound of cowbells. After a quick breakfast we headed for another valley, but first we had to figure out the flickering battery light. We headed into town and found a garage quite easily, but not the right one. From one garage to the other but no one seem to be able to help us, and no one seem to be able to speak a language other than Italian. Annoying but yet another adventure. I tried my best Spanish to make some sense out of our problem. Without any luck. No garage is able to understand nor help us. Instead of getting irritated or annoyed we decided we better head into another valley to relax at more cute villages. We ended up at the end of the valley on a parking lot for campers. With about 20 campers we occupied the lot and had a nice sleep in our van. Also, we did some grocery shopping so were now able to cook for ourselves, yay!
Love, Milene & Yuri
