Castles, cobblestones and confusion

Sunday, 3 August 2008

European Adventure Travel Day 2:
Zurich, Switzerland to Milan, Italy

It's an exciting thing to look out of the window of a plane and know that the mountains you see sticking up through the clouds are the Alps.

I made it off the plane and through customs in good time, changed some money and collected my backpack. My first challenge was the train station. When traveling with a Eurail Pass, one must first have it validated, which I was able to do at the ticket window, where the lovely English-speaking ticket agent booked me a reservation to Bellinzona (pronounced with the Italian "tz"sound, not an English "zzz"), my first destination of the day. As I stepped away from the window, I realized I did not understand a word printed on the card, and unable to find an information booth, I decided to try my luck at the train tracks.

It took me 15 minutes to remember that "zug" means "train." It took another 5 to remember that I was already AT the "Zurich Flughafen," otherwise known as the airport.

The first person I asked for help was Russian, and she spoke about as much English as I do German, but we compared tickets and realized we needed the same train. We made it to the main Zurich station and found our connection to Bellinzona (for me) and Lugano (for her). On the train, I showed her pictures of Oregon and she played Russian music on her Mp3 player for me, and then she wrote a note for me in my journal.

I disembarked in the sunshine at Bellinzona, in the breathtakingly beautiful Ticino valley near the Italian border, which boasts three castles of its own, built to fortify the border defenses in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Bellinzona, Ticino Valley, Switzerland

In Switzerland, everything is carefully marked, so it was not hard to locate the first of the three castles. You can see them from the train station, but they look much further away than they actually are. I began at Castelgrande, a massive stone structure that sort of encompasses a hill.

Entrance to Castelgrande, Bellinzona, Switzerland

I climbed a few hundred stairs to reach the stone and grass courtyard (with my unwieldy 30k backpack, fun times) and looked around before returning to the center of town to summon my courage and strength of thigh to climb the hill opposite Castelgrande to the next castle, Castello di Montebello.

Castello di Montebello and Castello di Sasso Carbaro, Bellinzona

Castello di Montebello has two drawbridges, a wine press, and the tiniest closet toilet I've ever seen tucked inside the castle wall. You're able to walk along part of the old castle walls and look down into the valley. This castle was once a 13th century palace, expanded into a defensive structure over the following 200 years. Castles fascinate me.

Castelgrande from the windows of Castello di Montebello

After Castello di Montebello, I returned to the train station far too exhausted to continue up the hill to the third and final castle, and caught the train south toward Como, Italy. After an encounter with the Italian border police at Chiasso, I got off the train to find Lake Como (downhill and to the left from the stazione).

Stairs in Como

The lake is every bit as beautiful as they say.

Lago di Como, Italia

This particular evening, it was so hot and sunny that there was a haze over the lake. So many boats were out on the water. There was a small boy in an AC Milan jersey playing football (soccer) on the bumper boat dock. The steep, narrow streets are chock-full of sidewalk cafes. Multitudes of people were strolling around the lake, most eating gelato, window shopping and enjoying the lazy, humid Sunday afternoon. The atmosphere was one of indulgence.

Como, Italy

I wrapped up my day's journey in Milano, where after wandering around the city for nearly an hour, I was relieved to finally find my hostel. In Italy, what sounds like an address (Corso 22 Marzo) is actually an entire street. I wandered the wrong way up said street. Fortunately, Italian boys who learned to speak English (for, I am convinced, lost American tourists such as myself) were able to turn me around and help me find my way back. Grazie!