I do not want to be accused of having a pure mountain-adventure blog. The purpose of this blog was to detail what the heck Freddy and I do in Switzerland, which without trying that hard, has turned into essays on adventures in the mountains. Well folks that’s about to change:

After a week of heavy rain to celebrate Freddy’s first week back in a 9 to 5 (it’s actually 9-6:30 since in Switzerland the work week is 42 hours!), the California Princess needed sunshine. Unfortunately, sunshine was not predicted in Zurich for the weekend. In a fit of dreary hopelessness on Thursday while watching fat drops clang against the window of our building, I opened up the Meteo Swiss app only to find out that it was going to be sunny in Ticino. 

Where is Ticino you may ask? Switzerland has three national languages split by region. Ticino is the Italian part of the country, and the only part of the country on the south slope of the Alps. It has a more meridional climate, and when you pop out of the Gotthard base tunnel going south, you see that the landscape has drastically changed from the northern slope; every garden has palm trees. 

We exited the train station and meandered down the narrow cobbled pathways to the Lugano Autumn festival, which was a lively street market of crafts, food, and music. We were both quite tired, so we took the day off from exercise and ate and drank our way through town: for lunch we had a lakeside Italian espresso, then shared a plate of polenta and venison while watching a Ticinese folk group sing and accordion. We continued by going to the Lugano Arte e Cultura, an art museum with a mission of showcasing the culture of Ticino and Ticino Artists. I found out that both Freddy and I prefer impressionist style art over realist/surrealist, a real win if we ever decide to up our interior design with large bright art pieces.

After a couple hours of art, our attention waned, so we strolled along the lake towards the festival and sat at a cafe in the Piazza della Riforma sipping on Rosé and Aperol Spritz. How lucky are we? I thought this while we laughed in the late afternoon sun, watching the festival-goers from older folks with hiking poles, young men with Gucci fanny packs slung over their shoulders, and more geriatric music troupes in traditional Ticinese costume.

The quintessential spot for a lovely dinner on a warm Ticinese night is a “Grotto” which from what I can tell is just an outdoor restaurant in a garden. Because it was a chilly fall evening, we sat in an enclosed glass lanai with Palm trees lined all around. On the menu was local cured meat, cheese and delicious ravioli. We went to bed full of happiness and food.

On Sunday, we set off for Monte San Salvatore. You can see why the mountain was a pre-renaissance pilgrimage site for those who worship Dog. From the lake, the mountain juts out of the water like a fin, its sheer side in full view from Lugano. From the summit, you get a marvelous 360 view of the whole lake district and all the way to Milano. From there, Freddy and I parted ways, he trotted off for a sweet 30k loop through the pastoral land that surrounds Lugano.  

Pictured above: The mountain in the left photo is Monte Generosso, which Carol, Kathy, and Natalie hiked before I was born. Other photos by Freddy

I headed back to town with one mission in mind: fried fish. If you have ever talked to Freddy about food, you’ll know that he will bring up the Lake Geneva perch that are buttered and broiled and inhaled with delight, glass of cool white wine in hand. The Lugano take on this delicacy is fully fried mini perch that are chomped in two bites with a side of very crispy side of fries. 

As I walked off my eating display, I saw that the boat to Gandria was leaving the dock. So I hopped on (thank you GA pass!) the ferry and disembarked in the tiny Riviera village on the border of Switzerland and Italy. I walked back towards Lugano on a hiking path lined with ancient olive trees with interpretive signs about the olive. Imagine a perfectly graded path with lake views and superb lake dipping spots - I would highly recommend this to anyone who is planning to go to Lugano.

Photos above: From my walk on the Ancient Olive Trail

I met back up with Freddy in Lugano for one last Italian meal: Pizza!!!!! I sipped on a Limoncello Spritz, sat back and thought to myself, why the heck do I go to the mountains all the time?! Well the mountains make weekends like this even sweeter.