It appeared that adventure holidays may not quite suit me. The aging body continued to get a battering with the buttocks taking a turn today. We had organised an e-bike tour with Susanna to explore the area as the towns were mostly quiet/closed being the off season.
As we arrived quite late the previous night, we wandered down the hill to buy some breakfast from the local supermarket before Susanna picked us up for our tour. The plan had to be modified somewhat because of the snow from 3-4 days ago. She drove us up to the village of Armeno we cycled up through the village of Coiromonte and onto Tre Montagnette for a bird's eye view of Lake Maggiore. On a clear day, you could see all the way to Switzerland. Cycling through snow and ice was HARD! I almost fell off the mountain...Let's just say it was a relief to get back onto bitumen!
We cycled down the way we came and continued down towards Orta San Giulio. We wandered around the main piazza as well as visiting the Sacro Monte, a collection of 20 devotional chapels atop a hill with spectacular views of Lake Orta. Thankfully from here, Susanna drove us back to Stresa. The butt could take no more. She was kind enough to take us to a supermarket for us to buy provisions as our rental was in the "Beverly Hills" of Stresa but required mountain goat skills to get to anywhere. If you are interested in active endeavours in the area or anywhere in Italy really, contact Susanna. She was warm, helpful and great with the children. Her English was good enough with some lost in translation along the way but she made up for it with high enthusiasm!
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| Beautiful Lake Maggiore on our walk towards the centre of Stresa |
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| Even vending machine coffee in Italy was better than coffee in Iceland. Sorry Iceland! |
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| Anything nutella was a hit! Even supermarket ones |
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| Having breakfast on a bench like hobos |
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| Susanna and her great van set up |
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| Making sure we remember how to ride a bike... |
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| We needed many stops even on e-bikes 😂 |
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| Beautiful views everywhere |
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| Our destination |
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| Not really sure what the background was of anymore! |
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| Lake Maggiore |
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| Time to get going |
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| Back through Coiromonte |
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| And onto Orta San Giulio |
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| A virtually empty Piazza |
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| Island of San Giulio |
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| The ceiling of Chapel 1 at Sacro Monte |
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| Chapel 6?! I had lost count by then |
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| Statues inside |
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| The children chose hot chocolate (the nice thick Italian style) over visiting the island of San Giulio |
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| More nutella based pastries! Happy kids |
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