Left Ceresole Reale bright and early after breakfast in the bar. Few locals came in for their cafe and brioche (you and I would call them croissants) but that's what they call them here in northern Italy.
Autostrada A4 took us across the northern part of Milan. Well! driving through Milan - there is not enough Vitamen B12 in the world to keep you calm, particularly with the GPS British Emily getting her knickers in a twist over the pronunciation of the Italian road names. Also it's not like the route just goes straight through. You have to regularly peel off, do a few roundabouts and then get back on, and then there's the times when the lanes split and Emily just keeps quiet and you're left having to read the road signs. AND the Italian drivers, for crying out loud, shocking! AND the masses of trucks - they have signs on the back which suggest they should be doing 70, 80 or 90, I think depending on the circumstances, but they are mostly hurtling along at 100-110k and overtaking each other at the drop of a hat! Once off the the autostrada, drivers regularly passed slower traffic in the face of oncoming cars and on crests! We saw several new misses, speed limits are meaningless to them.
Frank came up with the insurance claim " It'sa disasta, I hadda the accident, it wasna my fault. I was only 110 onna the wrong sida da road, the bastard wouldna get outta my way"
On the A4 we came up behind a little old mini in the middle lane, he was wandering all over the road, surrounded by hulking great trucks doing 100k. When we passed him, he was about 80 not out, had the mobile earpiece in his ear and was only holding the mobile up in front of him looking at it - crikey!
Anyway route to Tirano took us along the Lake Como, lots of tunnels, very picturesque. Didn't see George, not surprising really - it's a huge lake and I think we may have been on the Lecco side.
Tirano is not far from the Swiss border, and pretty chic little Italian town. The hotel we are at Hotel LaRotunda is not however very chic at all, more timewarp from the 60's. It passes the main criteria though, it is clean! We ambled down the main street to the train station to purchase our tickets for tomorrow for the Bernina Express. After a bit of negotiation we decided on the panoramic for there and return - at exorbitant extra cost for the pleasure.
Pretty tired after 400k drive on Italian roads, so early tea - 7pm - at the hotel. Meal surprisingly good, pasta - pizzoccheri - a local speciality is buckwheat flour and very nice with sauce of melted local cheese Cesara and veg - potato, beans, savoy cabbage and crispy fried garlic and sage leaves. Sounds strange but is delicious. Second plate chicken in mushroom sauce.
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| See that little mini...on the phone! |
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| Little hilltop village above Tirano. |
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| Chic main street of Tirano |
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| Church Tirano |
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| View from our hotel room of the church tower |
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