Even though we didn't do very much yesterday evening, the little that we did helped us this morning. After a pleasant breakfast in the exceedingly delightful breakfast room of the hotel, we set off for 'downtown' Locarno, a ten minute walk from the hotel. This took us past the stage being erected for the Moon and Stars festival and onto the town's train station. We were actually looking for the entrance to the funicular railway which according to my map was somewhere in the vicinity, but I couldn't find it – until I asked in the railway ticket office and was directed to an unassuming entrance 100 metres away. We had walked past it earlier (albeit on the other side of the road) but hadn't noticed.
The funicular runs from downtown Locarno to a 'suburb' called Orselina, which is very close but much higher up than Locarno. The ride only took a few minutes and wasn't particularly interesting. Once out of Orselina 'station', we walked across the road and bought tickets for the aerial cable car to Cardada, a mountain 1340 metres above sea level (Locarno is 210 metres above sea level). The cable car trail runs through forest, so the view whilst going up was not particularly spectacular.
On the other hand, the view from Cardada itself was breath-taking. The station is set in a forest which is exceedingly quiet, the silence being broken only by birdsong (although when we returned, the birdsong was interrupted rudely by a bunch of German speaking teenagers). A short walk of 400 metres brings one to the terminus of the chairlift to the peak of Cimetta, 1672 metres. We were slightly apprehensive of the chairlift, because one is fairly unprotected; I have a problem with heights and internal balance which prevents me from taking rides at funfairs, etc. (as if I wanted to).
The first minute or so of the chairlift ride was marginally troublesome but after that, we acclimatized and began to enjoy the ride. Again, there wasn't actually that much to be seen from the chairlift (as we were looking to the side, not up or down), but once we got to the summit, the views there took our breaths away. There was a mountain just behind where we were which was slowly being obscured by a cloud (cue 'The mist covered mountain'); I was about to start filming this on video when my wife asked me to take a photograph with this background. By the time I had finished with her camera, the mountain had all but disappeared from view.
We walked up a hill (adding maybe another five or ten metres to our elevation) to an observation point. Although we should have been treated to stunning views, most of the mountains and valleys were covered in cloud. Slowly though the clouds disappeared and this time I was able to film the mountain behind us slowly appearing into view. There was also a communications aerial there; as I filmed it, I mentioned on 'the commentary' that there shouldn't be any problem in getting a signal on my mobile phone. A moment after saying this, the phone began to vibrate: someone had sent me a message.
After wandering about a bit more on the summit, we returned to the terminus and took the chairlift back to Cardada; this time the view was very impressive, and we enjoyed the descending ride much more than the ascending ride. Back at Cardada, we found an observation point which gave us a good view over the hills and valleys; the hitherto invisible Gordevio (I think) came into view.
From there, we rode the the cable car back down to Orselino and from there, the funicular back to Locarno. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.
As time was getting on, we decided first to eat before doing anything else. We stopped at a café but then I realized that I didn't have enough cash to pay for any meal. The waitress said that there was a cash machine nearby (in Italian); whilst I did find the cash machine, I also wandered about and found a self service restaurant which seemed to be more promising and cheaper than where I had left my wife. After retracing my steps, we finally found an English menu in the café, only to discover that there was nothing on the menu that we wanted. I convinced my wife that we should eat in the self service restaurant. We had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch of fresh fish, fried on the spot, along with potatoes and broccoli; very healthy and probably much better than anything that we would have eaten at the café. The bill turned out to be higher than I expected, but it was definitely worth the extra – and I could pay by credit card.
Unless I misunderstood the sign, the restaurant also boasted free wi-fi, a service which appeared on the noticeboards of a few cafes and restaurants that we passed on the way, so I am hopeful that I will be able to upload this tonight. Regarding the sign: I can understand about 50% of signs written in Italian, but find it much harder to understand people when they talk, primarily because they talk so fast. Italian is the dominant language in Locarno, followed by German and then French. There aren't that many people who speak English (the café where we didn't eat being a good example). As long as there is something written, we can get along, and I speak enough pidgin Italian to be understood in certain circumstances (like ordering one dish of vanilla ice-cream and one of banana when it's printed in a restaurant menu).
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