The sexiest lake in Italy?
Dawn broke with more mist and cloud however by the time we had eaten breakfast and walked the dogs it had begun to clear and we got some super views across the mountains.
We set off for the Simplon Pass to Italy not really knowing what we were letting ourselves in for. In the end the journey up was on good roads and, while there were diversions and some contraflows, the driving was easy and we ended up at 2000m at the pass with no problems.
We stopped briefly by the eagle at the top (an eight metre-high stone figure erected during the WW2 by the 11th mountain brigade of Switzerland) and walked the dogs and noted we were a long way from London and San Paulo amongst other places! It was a bit colder at the top too!
We contined down the other side and into Italy. The signs warned of burning tyres on lorries from an over use of brakes - and we did get the wiff of burning rubber on the way down not from us I think (I did check at the bottom for smells from Vincent!!). There is a very obvious transition as the roads change quite markedly (not bad - just not to Swiss standards) and the tunnels are not quite as well maintained.
Bridget had chosen an aire for lunch and after the sat nav took us to a closed road and down a few quite 'hairy' hair pin bends (one which Michael needed to do as a 4 point turn) we ended up in a very nice spot for lunch in a town called Crevoladossola.
We umm'ed and arr'ed about staying for the night and decided in the end to get to Lago D'Orta for the night in an aire at the northern end of the lake in a town called Omenga. Lago D'Orta was named in a 2018 Sunday Times article as "the sexist lake in Italy". Well it did not quite seem that great on arriving but we did have only one other motorhome in the aire and there was water, electric, free wi-fi - so not all bad and we settled into the evening after a long drive and planned the next day.
Early Wednesday morning Bridget went for a run and was soon messaging about the super market in Omenga. Lucky us it was the weekly market. When Bridget got back we both set off to explore the market with the dogs. There was over 100 traders selling everything from home made salamis to cheap leather belts. We wandered leisurely up and down and simply enjoyed soaking in the sounds and smells of it all. We made a few small purchases and ended up with 2 salamis, some cheese, some lime blossom honey, rice, tomatoes, aubergine.....
After returning for breakfast we headed off again, this time without Mitzi and Luna, and walked around the Omenga town for an hour or so exploring the town trails. It is a nice little town with character. One interesting fact is the the river at the top of the lake actually runs north towards the alps, which is counter to what might be expected, but is due to the fact that Lago D'Orta is actually higher that Lago Maggiore which is to the north due to the way the glacial lakes originally formed.... this is the interesting fact for this blog entry!
We returned from the walk and settled into Vincent, had a leisurely late lunch and started to plan where to go on Thursday! The best place seemed to be Orta San Guilio at the south end of the lake. We then found that there was a nice campsite on the lakeside at Orta San Guilio and suddenly realised that if we packed up Vincent in 20 mins and left the aire at Omenga we would be inside our 24 hour payment window before having to pay more to stay. So that is what we did .... quickly packed and left! Less than 30 mins later we were picking our spot on the lake and within an hour of leaving Omenga were parked on the southern end of the lake in a beautiful spot.
Today we walked into Orta San Guilio, a lovely medieval town. In town we took a boat ride to the Isola San Guilio, the isand is in the lake and is 275 metres long (north/south), and 140 metres wide (east/west). The most famous building on the island is the Basilica di San Giulio. Since 1976 it has been transformed into a Benedictine monastery. There is a super circular 'walk of silence' around the lake with small alley ways running down to the lakeside. In the background there was the sounds of the monks in a church service singing - the 'silence' was not that silent however and the atmosphere was almost spoilt by people chatting very loudly - nevertheless a great little trip.
On our return from the island we treated ourselves to a sausage pannini which was being cooked on a BBQ at the quay side - I think by supporters of the local football team.
We then set off to explore the Sacro Monte di Orta - "Sacred Mountain of Orta" - a Roman Catholic devotional complex on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao. It is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list. The complex is dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi and was begun in 1583. The project involved 36 chapels, of which only 20 were built. Construction ended in 1788. Amazing to think these have survived over 400 years and they were amazing - so much effort went into the buildings, frescos, carved figures and iron work for 200 years! We visted all 20!
Our return to Vincent was a walk around the rest of the headland and back for a well earned coffee and food for the dogs.
We plan to go to Lake Maggiore tomorrow after the rugby.