May 14, 2014 - Hiking above Rasa, the only car-free village in Ticino

Today we drove to the Centovalli (valley called the One Hundred Valleys). Near the town of Intragna there is a cable car, called funivia, which goes to the town of Rasa, which sits atop a mountain ledge. It is totally invisible from the main road below, and might I say that this main road is VERY narrow and winding! I wrote about it as we drove it back from our trip to France.

 View from the cableway as we swung across the valley.

 It was really awesome when we arrived at the top in Rasa! There are no roads to this town, yet it is quite large, even with an inn and a couple restaurants.

 Rasa, Switzerland

 View from Rasa looking northwest. What I find funny is that even up here, where there are no roads, there is a fire hydrant! 

 This is where the town made their bread in the oven behind me. 

 View of Rasa and how it sits high up on this ledge. 

 After exploring the town, we set out in the direction of Vecchia Terra - Old Ground. We had been told that is was a very old abandoned village which was being restored by several organizations. We hiked through the mountain forest continually going down down the back side of the ledge Rasa sits on. 

 Intersection of two routes through the mountain

 Rarely are we disappointed, but we were when we arrived at Vecchia Terra. The entire area was still a work zone and thus off limits for us to explore. I'm sure it will be great in the future!

Now, there are also no roads to Vecchia Terra. I wonder how they got this big crane up here! Probably by helicopter. 

 So we hiked back up to Rasa and headed to an open meadow east above the town. Some other hikers took our picture. :-)

 What a wonderful viewpoint looking back down on the town! We found a great spot to lay out picnic sheet and enjoyed delicious sandwiches Rick made.

 Our picnic spot!

 After lunch we noticed the path going up into the woods behind us so we decided to try that route. It was a much easier path which leveled out and was smooth for a long part of the way.

I love being surprised by a beautiful open meadow, with little stone mountain houses scattered around. This little grouping of houses was called Monti. There were even mountain bikers coming down this path! In general it was easy, but there are still lots of stone steps - how do they do it! See them coming in the distance?

 There was a sign for an area called Termine, and a number of hikers were doing that loop. We headed in that direction from Monti - the sign said 20 minutes, but it always takes us twice as long as the sign says, so we hiked for a bit but thought it best to head back to Rasa. Here is another view of Monti from the other side. 

 On the way back Rick and I began talking to an elderly couple from Lucern. It's fun to chat with others when you're way up in these little corners of the mountains.

 Just another great view on our way back down. 

 This meadow is steep!!

 The church in Rasa as we were about to take the cableway back down. 

Down below Rasa, deep in the valley, there is a dam. We walked down to the lake it formed. You can see the road and train bridge over the waterfall. 

Campione d'Italia to Pugerna

 View of Lugano from Campione d'Italia

This morning Rick and I took a bus from downtown Lugano to across the lake. Now, here is a great trivia question: What Italian town, which is 100% part of Italy, is found entirely inside the borders of Switzerland? It is Campione d'Italia, right across from Lugano. It's a long story but over hundreds of years of borders, things ended up as they are today. The town is along the lake and the land that is part of Italy extends up the side of the mountain a little. Then, the rest of the face of the mountain belongs to Switzerland, and then at the very top is the regular border of Italy. 

So we began our hike at the lake in Campione d'Italia. We really didn't know where we were going, but saw a "sentiero" (path) sign to somewhere called Pugerna. Through Campione d'Italia the path was a series of steps - up, up, up and up some more! Then a path began in the woods along the mountainside. 

 As we hiked upwards, I found this sign showing the border. We were back in Switzerland! (Svizzera in Italian)

 We finally reached a the town of Pugerna! And what a beautiful view! During the hike we really didn't know what to expect, and if there was even anything in Pugerna. After all, sometimes the name can mean just a farm or meadow. 

 Here is one of the old wash basins in the town. 

 Here is a view from the town looking south down the lake. 

And here is a cute story. In the old center of town we were walking around exploring. There happened to be an elderly man sitting on his porch and we didn't see him at first. When Rick saw him he said "Buon Giorno!" A small conversation began and then his wife came out. She was so sweet and they told us they have lived up there all their lives. I asked her about our plans to get back to Campione d'Italia - we saw a road there that went down to a little town along the lake called Caprino. We were hoping we could walk down there and then walk along the lake back to Campione. 

Well, good think we asked her!!! She said the road ends in Caprino and that there is no path to Campione - the cliffs prevent a path along the lake. And at this time of year there was no boat from Caprino to Lugano. I was a little nervous about going back the way we came, as we had climbed uphill and many areas were rocky. Uphill is one thing, but downhill there is more of a chance of slipping. I said I wished I had brought my hiking poles. 

So this sweet old woman says "I think I have a hiking stick somewhere. You can take it and then just leave it at the first house when you arrive back at Campione." She went to look for it but came back empty handed. Some other visitor must have taken it. But it was so sweet that she even offered it to me! 

 A little restaurant in Pugerna - we had brought sandwiches - if we had only known! It would have been nice to have lunch there. It's called Ristorante Grütli. We did have ice cream though! 

So I had to face the fact that we had to walk back the way we came.  But what if we had walked all the way down to Caprino! We would have had to hike back up and then down to Campione to get home - oh I can't imagine! I asked where the road coming into Pugerna came from - couldn't we take that road back? Yes, but it doesn't go down to Campione - it's a high road in the Swiss territory and goes to the town of Arogno, on the other side of the mountain, where we could get a bus. But this was a far walk so we walked back the way we came. 

This part of the path was easy, but a very sheer cliff! 

This part was steep!

 We actually got all the way down much faster than I expected, and it wasn't so bad.  It had taken us 1 hour to hike up, but only 35 minutes to hike back down. Here is our view as we waited for the bus. I love the reflection of the clouds in the lake! 

On the bus ride home, I snapped this picture to show where we had hiked. Right in the center of the picture, on the mountainside, there is a small group of homes along the lake, Caprino, then another group a bit uphill and to the right. Then there is a 3rd group of homes and meadows uphill and right of the 2nd. That is where we were, although we walked there from Campione, which is not in the picture. It's along the lake off the photo on the right. 
We were really exhausted after this! 

Ticino, from Villa Luganese to Rosone, under the Denti della Vecchia

May 8 - Hike from Villa Luganese to Rosone, under the "Denti della Vecchia"

 The Denti Della Vecchia (the old lady's teeth as they call those mountains.)

It was easy to begin this hike since we just took the 461 ARL bus from Pregassona to Villa Luganese, which is just up the road and back towards the end of the valley. When we got off the bus, we really didn't know which way we would go. I saw a group of homes up on the mountainside so we decided to go there! It was an area called Rosone. 

 This time, the sentiero signs were along the road, so we just kept hiking upwards and it was quite easy since we were on a road. I really enjoy using my Gallileo offline maps on my iPhone, since I can check where I am by satellite at any time. It works quickly and without internet or any data use! 

 Up and up we go. The Denti on the left, and in the distance a couple of shimmering spots of Lake Lugano. There are many meadows up here and also mountain homes. 

The highest point we went to was basically at the end of the road - a place called Petrolzo. I believe there was a farm up there that made and sold cheese. I know that you can just go to these mountain farms and buy cheese directly from them. Unfortunately they were no open at the time we were there. 

 At the point of the cheese farm, there was a sentiero (path) sign heading down a dirt road which said 1 hour to Sonvico. It also pointed back the way we came and said 1 hour to Sonvico. Sonvico is basically next to Villa Luganese. I preferred to hike the new route back. We followed the road which came to an end - well, it continued (and there were cars parked there) but there was a barrier and it said private. But I saw the sentiero sign pointing downwards through the forest, so we went! This path at this point was not as well defined, on the ground, but there were many markings on the trees, so we had no problem. 

Rick was a bit hesitant, but come on! We've done this before! 

Then we came out in the pasture in the picture above. We found a nice rock which naturally formed a chair and ate our snacks. 

 At the edge of that meadow the path continued down towards a stream. How long have these signs been on this tree? Quite funny! 

 Rick, after crossing the river. Half of the little bridge was out, but rocks placed in just the right place helped. And so did my hiking sticks! 

 In this picture we can see Monte Tamaro in the distance, with snow. As we had walked through the woods, we could see a number of old, abandoned stone houses. It's amazing to think there were people living all over in the mountains so many years ago. A very difficult life! 

 Little farms dot the landscape

 The Denti della Vecchia are really impressive when you see them towering right in front of you! 

Typical orange sentiero signs. Usually just orange signs mean it's an easy walk. Signs with red and white means there is some up and down, rocks or tree roots for steps. I've never had a problem with the red and white sign trails. If you ever see a hiking sign with blue, you better be a skilled mountain climber! 

 The spring flowers in the meadows are abundant and beautiful! 

 A little farm under the Denti della Vecchia

 We made our way back to Villa Luganese - we had hiked for a total of 4 hours! TIRED! I took this picture from the cemetery in town, because you can see where we had hiked - the area called Rosone. 

Look in the center of the picture on the green mountain on the left half of the picture. There are a few white dots in the green trees. That's Rosone, and the cheese farm was up towards that open area a little up and right of Rosone. 

It was a far walk! 

The outside of the church in Villa Luganese has arched porticos which have frescos on them. It's so amazing to see the date - 1577!

It was 5:15pm when we had arrived back in Villa Luganese. We walked around until 5:30 when the Grotto degli Amici opened. It is an adorable grotto with outside seating under huge trees.  Rick enjoyed some ice cream and I had a panaché. I don't know if they served panaché in the US - it's 1/2 beer and 1/2 sprite or 7-up or lemonade. It's really good and refreshing! It's also worth going inside the grotto restaurant, as it is SO charming inside! We plan to go back to eat dinner there some evening. 

The ARL 461 bus leaves from right across the street from the Grotto every half hour, so this is a convenient place to go from our home in Pregassona. 

A super day! 

Comano to the top of San Bernardo

Today we took the bus to Comano, which is the town we lived in for 1 year, 10 years ago. We always enjoy a visit back there, to see what changes have been made, and hike some of our favorite paths. Last year it rained so much that not once did we have a chance to hike there. 

So today we were walking up higher in the town when we saw a helicopter doing some work. This often happens in Switzerland. They will use helicopters for construction of a home or delivery of a large item. Sometimes a truck can't maneuver the narrow roads. This helicopter was working with some lumberjacks - taking the cut wood over to another area to pile it up. It's always fun to watch this, but then our entire hike up the mountain was so loud with this helicopter moving back and forth! 

Back down in Comano, we stopped in our favorite little grocery store called "da Gina", which basically means "Gina's place". Gina is the elderly lady who runs the store, and when we lived here, she was our "go to" person for any kind of info on what was happening in town! 
As usual, she was so happy to see us. Since it was noon, she invited us to a restaurant in Comano called Osteria Ronchetto. She wanted to treat us to lunch. We had a lovely time and ate pasta and polenta. Gina says that she feels so touched that we come to see her every time we are in Switzerland. We love seeing Gina! She is our Ticinese grandmother! 

 This is one of the little streets in the old section of Comano. They are re-doing all the water lines and sewers. As you can see, it is quite a project! The space is so narrow between the buildings, and you can see the black tubing along the buildings so they can have water during this long reconstruction. 

 Helicopter ready to lift up a large log. 

 On the way up to San Bernardo (where there is a little chapel), we saw these new bas relief sculptures of the stations of the cross. In Comano lives a famous Swiss sculptor, Nag Arnoldi. These are his works. There are quite a number of 3 dimensional sculptures by Nag Arnoldi in Comano. 

 Ahhh, finally at the top! Looking down on Lugano and the lake. 

 A view to the east from the top of San Bernardo

 We sat on a bench for a while with this view. Gee, we could have had a bar-b-que!