Getting Reacclimatised!!

Hi Everyone,

So after two days and a bit of cabin fever the rain did eventually stop and Julie managed to get the washing rinsed & dried, what a great idea the “Vanussi Magic 150” was but Julie wishes we had discovered it during the summer months as I don’t think we will get the opportunity to use it much more now.

The campsite we are on is right on the shores of Lake Orta and is deserted so again we have a nice little spot right on the waters edge.  It’s a really nice little place especially when the sun is out, but like anywhere not so appealing when it is pouring with rain!  

 Very picturesque 

 But not so picturesque in the rain & low cloud!!

Lake Orta itself is very beautiful and I suppose what we imagined Lake Garda to be like but obviously on a much smaller scale.  The village of Orta San Giulio is a small elevated peninsular that juts out into the Lake and is very nice too, you can even walk all the way around the bottom right next to the lake on a lovely footpath but at the moment there are some parts that are actually underwater as there has been so much rain. As usual Julie seemed to find a very friendly cat although it wasn't that impressed with the umbrella.

There is only one road onto the peninsular which leads into a main Piazza and then just little narrow cobbled streets with a handful of shops and restaurants/bars.

At the summit is the “Sacro Monte Di Orta” (Sacred mountain of Orta) which is a Roman Catholic complex and is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi,  it’s construction began back in 1583.  It’s quite a surreal but very peaceful place and has a main church along with 20 small chapels dotted around under a variety of trees, it’s quite hard to believe that they are so old but all still complete with murals on the walls so no wonder it is now included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

There's even this amazing bamboo growing high above the road

From there you get a great view across to the “Isola of San Giulio” which is a small island just off of the peninsula, the main building in the centre is the “Basilica of Saint Giulio” but since 1976 it has been transformed into a Benedictine monastery.  So all in all it is quite an interesting little place that we stumbled across and for a change somewhere in Italy that we actually quite like.

One building that we noticed straight away which we thought looked a bit out of place and not in your typical Italian architecture was "Villa Crespi". So thanks to the good old internet here's what we found out.

"In 1879 a successful cotton merchant built "Villa Crespi" in an authentic middle eastern style with an unusual feature, it's very own minaret inspired by Baghdad's architecture.  During the 1930's captains of industry and royalty were frequent visitors to the villa but at the end of the 1980's it was converted into a hotel where nature, art & history entwine."

As usual we have been out and about exploring on the XT (we don't know what we would have done without it, it's been a godsend and enabled us to get to some remote places).  We ended up following a road full of hairpin bends up to a little village about 800 metres above Lake Orta and found a fantastic viewing area that treated us to this stunning panorama.  At the far end of the picture you can see the peninsular of Orta San Giulio and the Isola of San Giulio.

The next day we followed a different road that took us up through more small villages to Mottarone which is in the pennine Alps range with an altitude of 1,492 metres.  From the summit we got a breathtaking view of Lake Maggiore which is the second largest lake in Italy after Lake Garda and the largest in Southern Switzerland as the lake and it's shoreline are divided between Italy & Switzerland.

 We were even up above the clouds 

Mottarone itself has a small ski resort and we found this out of season dormant chairlift, it's hard to believe the last chairlift we were on was back in March but it seems like only yesterday!

While out & about on the XT we had to stop while the local farmer moved his sheep, lambs and donkeys from one field to another which meant crossing the road.  If you look at the picture closely you can see that the donkey has a hessian  type saddle bag on with pockets on the side and inside the pockets are some small lambs with their heads poking out...obvioulsy they can't keep up with the main herd so have to hitch a lift, how cute!!!

To relieve our cabin fever we have been keeping busy reading, doing crosswords and researching stuff as usual.  One of the books we have read and re-read is "Europe in a Motorhome" which my sister Jo bought me a few years ago for my Birthday.  It's about a middle aged couple that sold up everything they had in the UK and took a mid-life gap year around Southern Europe with their 13 year old son.  It's a great easy like hearted read and in many ways we can relate to it, even to the places they visited and the predicaments they got themselves into in their huge american RV that they called the Beast.  So if you are looking for a great little stocking filler for anyone for Christmas then check this link out, you won't be disappointed.

Europe In A Motorhome - A Mid-life Gap Year Around ...

So after a few days of sun the rain has now returned again so the flip flops & shorts are definitely packed away and we are now "reacclimatised" into Winter mode.   It seems quite bizarre but we seem to have made the transition OK and are looking forward to returning to the mountains a place we love being, just as much as we love being by the sea.

We need a change of scenery & country now so are moving onto Chamonix back in good old France and are looking forward to meeting up with some  friends who live there.

So it's arrivederci from Italy.

J&J

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