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2004 - The Italian Lakes
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2004: France and the Alps
Day 8 Sunday through Day 9 Monday - The Italian Lakes:

This was a definite highlight of our trip, for many reasons. The town of Orta San Giulio is so charming, and we had a wonderful day with an Italian friend who took us hiking on Mottarone and showed us around Stresa.
Charming Villages:

They don't get much cuter than Orta San Giulio. We stayed here for two nights and loved roaming the ancient, narrow streets, stopping for a gelato or a beer along the way, making many, many photo stops, and finally ending up in the central piazza where we would relax at an outdoor cafe for a nice dinner.

Orta San Giulio marketplace
Lago di Orta
The Lakes Themselves:
    We visited Lakes Orta and Maggiore on this trip.

    Lake Orta (or Lago di Orta in Italian) is relatively small for the area, but that doesn't make it any less impressive than the others. The towns are picturesquely placed around its edge and there is a lovely island in the middle, home to a working monastery.

    Lago Maggiore is one of the largest lakes in Italy, and stretches all the way into Switzerland on its northern end. It's the lake featured in "A Farewell to Arms", by Ernest Hemingway, and has a romantic feel to it for me, maybe because of that. The mountains that rise around it make for some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable.
    Stresa:

    Stresa is one of the larger towns on Lago Maggiore. It knows that its biggest industry is tourism, and plays up to that role well. The promonade along the lakeside is beautiful, adorned with parks and gardens, as well as the occasional sculpture.

    There are a number of fabulous hotels facing the lake, and several excellent restaurants with outdoor cafes just waiting for you to sit down and watch the parade of tourists go by.

    Thanks to our local guide (see the next section), we found a lovely little restaurant, Il Triangolo, on a back street a few blocks from the water. It was reasonably priced and the food was outstanding.
    Lago Maggiore from Stresa
    View from Mottarone
    		Hiking on Mottarone:
      Earlier this year we had come across an on-line photo album of shots taken from the mountain that rises between lakes Orta and Maggiore. It had never occurred to us before that there were some great hiking trails up on the mountains that overlook the lakes, and we thought this would be a great thing to do while in the area.

      We contacted the photographer, Ruggero, to get more information. He was more than helpful, and in fact offered to be our personal guide for the day! We jumped at the chance to spend the day with someone from the area and were so happy we did. We had a wonderful day both up on the mountain and later walking along the water in Stresa. This was definitely the highlight of our trip, even though the day was too overcast for many good photos.
      Where to Stay:
      La Contrada dei Monti ***
      Via Contrada dei Monti 10
      28016 Orta San Giulio (NO), ITALY
      Tel: +39 0322 905 112
      Fax: +39 0322 905 863
      E-Mail: lacontradadeimonti@libero.it
      Web site: www.orta.net/lacontradadeimonti/inglese.htm
      Would we stay here again? Definitely

      A lovely hotel in the heart of the old town of Orta, with all the modern conveniences. It's impossible to get a photo of the outside without a fisheye lens, as it opens onto a narrow street, so we "borrowed" this one of the lobby from their web site.

      We had to park in the garage just outside the city walls and walk in, as there is no parking inside Orta itself, but once we got there, the service was excellent, the front-desk staff spoke perfect English, the breakfasts were generous, and the room was the best of the trip.
      La Contrada dei Monti
      Orta San Giulio church
      		What else is there?
      • More villages - there are many small villages all along the lakeside here, but we never got a chance to see any of them as our stay was so short. You could spend a week in Orta, visiting only the towns on its shore, and not get bored.
      • More lakes - there are several smaller and two more large lakes in the area. We had already been to Lakes Como and Garda, and would like to return some day to both of these. One of our favorite towns in Italy is Bellagio, in the center of Lake Como.
      • Boat rides - there were boats for hire and boats to rent for small, private excursions on the lake, water taxis to take you to the town of your choice or one of the many lovely islands found in the different lakes, and ferries to transport you (and your car) to the other side of the lake to continue your journey.

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      Last modified: 07/06/2004 11:57:07 AM
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