12-Jun-2018:: Exploring Lake Maggiore area
Not such an early morning this morning as breakfast is included in our stay, but it wasn’t served till 8:00am. We headed out from BB at circa 09:30 and as the weather was very pleasant and sunny, we decided to go down to the lake and do some touring of the islands.
The first task was to arrange some sort of transport across to the islands.
This was managed without issue, and we were soon sailing towards Isola Madre (translates into Mother Island). This is the main and largest of the three islands that make up what’s called the Borromean Islands in Lake Maggiore, the other two being Isola Bella (Beautiful Island), and Isola Dei Pescatori (Island of the Fishermen).
This group of islands is named after the dukes and counts of Borromeo, a family from Florence which has its roots in around the 13th century and still have prominence today.
Isola Madre has magnificent gardens and a beautiful palace ( the outside of which looks like it needs some work). Walking through the palace and gardens provides fantastic views of the lake, the vegetation and wild life. The islands infrastructure was severely damaged by a tornado back in 2006, and is still being refurbished even today.
A boat then came along and picked us up to take us to Isola Dei Pescatori. This is the smallest of the three islands and is very much a restaurant and cafe island, with a smattering of the houses of locals. The setting of some of the restaurants was magnificent with tables and chairs almost directly next to the waters edge. You could well imagine a sumptuous, lavish romantic dinner on a warm summers evening of local fresh fruits of the lake.
The weather was starting to turn, as the forecast thunderstorms began to roll in. We caught the next boat to Isola Bella at around 12:30 and began to explore this beautiful island. The main features of this island was again a palace and gardens, both with brilliant views over the lake and back to the mainland towns of Stresa and Baveno. The palace here was much more lavish and we’ll maintained than the one on Isola Madre – it had recently hosted a family wedding back in 2015.
The thunderstorms were now above us, so we moved through the points of interest of the place. Before long it was teeming canines and felines – lucky to have a small umbrella that somewhat protected us until we reached our boat that would take us back to the mainland.
A late lunch of local pizza back in Stresa, which gave us a chance to sort of dry off. Curiously, the thunderstorms disappeared almost as quickly as they showed up, and by the time lunch was done, the sun came out again.
Feeling somewhat adventurous, we went for a drive along the lake road in both directions from Stresa to see what else was around, but clearly, Stresa is where it’s all happening.
Later in the afternoon, the weather closed in again, so outside activities were somewhat curtailed.
It was a good opportunity to catch up on some blogging, net surfing etc.







































































