Stresa and Lake Maggiore, Orta and Isola San Giulio

We had the morning to ourselves walking north along the coast from our hotel to where the cable car use to run from. This is also a base for running excursions out to Isola Borromeo by small boats. This gives a good view of Isola Bella from the flower rich waterside.

    As I posted elsewhere, when they moor up for passengers to board or leave they run them hard aground, its a good job they are fitted with a stainless steel shoe to protect the hull.

We met the rest of our group at the hotel  at 1-30 pm to catch a coach to Orta on the shores of Lago d’Orta a little over half an hour away. Its a tiny peninsular town and the coach is not allowed beyond the bus park so we had to transfer to the “Toy Train” and then walk the final bit to the main town and lake side.  At one time the lake was connected to Lake Maggiore but now it is several feet higher. One of the landmarks as you approach the town is the Hotel Villa Crespi with it’s tower poking up into the sky.  From their web site you would think it stood on the banks of the lake, but its actually well inland but stands on high ground.

After taking the “Toy Train” we still had a fair walk to the lake side. We had about an hour to spare before the boat was to take us out to Isola San Giulio, a monastery and church on a small island so a bit of time to wander the narrow streets.

The boat took us all the way round the island before dropping us off at the landing stage by the town gate.

When we arrived another boat load had just landed so the place was packed so rather than trying to get into the church we walked round the island. There is a single pathway on the island that goes all the way round and nowhere else, known as The way of silence and meditation.. The idea being that the monks could walk round in silence while they meditated. In recent years signs have been erected all the way round, I photographed 10 of them but I think I missed a couple. They are to give you something to contemplate as you walk round clockwise, on the other side are things to consider while being silent.

    The path or ally is quite narrow and occasionally you can see the lake down between the houses, but mostly its just walls. We walked round in both directions.

Once we had done that the crowds in the church had gone, probably back on their boat to dry land and we could look round the church with ease.

The pulpit was quite magnificent with its carvings, at first I thought it was wood but its actually stone

It is said that Sint Giulio was the first person to land on the island in the year 390 when the only inhabitants were snakes and he founded the church and was buried here when he died. Our visit over we waited for our boat to return  to take us back ashore, Bob did a first class job of ensuring only the members of our group boarded our boat as people just tend to get on any boat to go back if they are not part of a group.

Once back in the town we had a bit of time before our coach left, or should I say the “Toy Train”  so we went and looked at the Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption at the top of the road, this first photograph demonstrates the incline quite nicely .

We then walked up to catch the”Toy Train” back to our coach, thankfully everyone arrived back on time as this is a schedule service so wouldn’t wait for any stragglers.

Back at the hotel we should have been having another inclusive meal but we decided we would rather wander into town and eat again in this lovely town.

Stresa on the banks of Lake Maggiore, Isola Madre & Villa Taranto

Another free day so we decided to take the ferry first to Isola Madre and then to the far side of the lake Villa Taranto. We had checked out the ferry terminal earlier on and noted that there are large queues for tickets prior to ferries leaving so we bought our tickets yesterday afternoon when the place was empty, 8 tickets in all, 2 to the island, 2 from the island to the far side, 2 from the far side home and we think the other 2 must have been some kind of tax. The whole lot only cost £23

The first leg of our journey was to Isola Madre where the whole island  is covered by the gardens of the palace that stands at the highest point. If front of the palace is a large Kashmir cypress tree that was planted in 1862, in 2006 it was uprooted by a tornado and great efforts were made to save it with special lifting equipment flown in by helicopter. Today its again standing proud with the help of some guy ropes.

The gardens are quite extensive with several informal lily ponds and a few Peacocks lying around for good measure.

They had a lovely stand of Bamboo plants as well as a Wisteria tunnel running down a long flight of stairs that lead directly to the level of the Palace from the boat house.   I am sitting in the shade at the top of the stairs enjoying a cold beer.

The Palace is not lived in but has been owned by the Borromeo family that owns Isola Bella and many other Islands and palaces for over the past 500 years and in my opinion was a nicer place to visit than the palace at Isola Bella. Again there was quite a collection of puppets and even a set up puppet theatre.

The house contains many other treasures as well and demonstrates well the architecture where there was a corridor giving instant access to all rooms for the servants.

      

From here we caught one of the scheduled ferries to the far side of the lake to visit the grounds of Villa Taranto. I say the grounds because you are not allowed near the Villa, but you can photograph it through the fence.

The island was bought by a Scotsman, Captain Neil Mc Eacharn back in 1931 with the view of creating an English Garden to remind him of home. I can’t say it reminded me of Scotland with its wide paths and some of the plants, but it did all climb steadily up the rock.

It also contained several formal water features.

Looking out across the lake from above the formal pools the horizon probably did remind him of his beloved Scotland with the snowy peaks, there is even an interpretation board to help you identify them.

After completing our walk around the gardens we headed back to the ferry terminal to catch one of the passing ferries going back to Stresa, not a direct route calling in at several places on the way and passing Isola Madre just as another boat was leaving.

If you would like more information about these two wonderful gardens then please visit their web sites at
The story of Villa Taranto and its majestic gardens
Isola Madre - Borromean Lands on Lake Maggiore - Official Website (isoleborromee.it)