Thursday, May 15 - Lago Maggiore

The ride out of Santa Margherita Ligure began with the tight blind turns and narrow streets of the town, but soon we were on the highway. Scenery was scarce, though, since much of the time we were in tunnels. Eventually, we emerged into the

Piedmont area – rolling countryside at the foot of the mountains. Much of the time it could be mistaken for the 401 in southern Ontario, if you ignored the majestic mountains.

We passed rice fields, where they raise the rice for risotto and other fields and wooded areas, always with the mountains in sight. We soon began catching glimpses of

 Lago Maggiore, our destination for the day. Annelies explained the geology of the region, where there are granite and marble quarries, as well as beautiful lakes, mountains, fields and woods. The beauty just keeps on coming. Enzo delivered us to a dock on the lake and we were transported in our own boat to 

Isola Bella, an astonishing estate that has been in the Borromean family for hundreds of years. We toured with a local guide, then wandered the gardens, encountering

white peacocks and peahens, and stopping for a drink and lunch. We checked into the palatial Grand Hotel Dino, rested for a while, then took the boat back out to

Isola dei Pescatori for dinner. On the way back, we saw an amazing sunset. Several of us had heard about an underground art gallery that connects 2 hotels, so we wandered through that, and called it a (great!) day.

All photos of day - click to open