Wednesday, 14 May 2014

To Pallanza via Milan

Another good journey on 2 trains and a bus. We got the early train to Milan and our carriage was full of very excited 10 year olds on a school trip. Luckily they got off after 2 stops and the silence which followed was golden! In Milan we only had time for a coffee and to eat our packed lunch in a park before catching the next train so we didn't see any sights although the train station was an immense monument in itself.

We had to catch a local bus to Pallanza and it was a bit of a bundle getting on. An elderly italian woman had started talking to me at the bus stop even though I told her I was english and couldn't understand her. She carried on even on the bus so I just smiled and nodded - not a clue what she was on about.

Our hostel was once a very grand villa but is now very basic inside - very clean though and with an excellent free breakfast. There are no kitchen facilities but we are still self catering - amazing what you can eat with just a knife - and we invested in some plastic cups for the wine.

Yesterday we took a boat across the lake which stopped at the Borromean Islands which looked beautiful from the boat.  We then took a cable car and chair lift to the summit of Mount Mottarone (1492m). We had a fab view of the mountains and 8 lakes. We walked back down which took us 3 hours - so pleased we chose to do it that way round!

Today we walked along the lake shore to give our legs and feet a bit of a rest as tomorrow (which is our last day in Italy) we are tackling the hill behind the town where we are staying.

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