24 hours in Paradise

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The Hotel Federale was full, but the desk clerk said she had one room, if we were willing to use the toilet facilities down the hall and shower downstairs in the exercise sauna. The price was right ($61.94 USD for both of us), and our sense of adventure said, ''Go for it.'' The room was more than adequate, two twin beds, a small T.V. one chair and a sink. The toilet facility was just a few steps down the hall, and it appeared that we were the only guests using it. The shower was quite nice also; we just had to remember to take everything we need with us since it was two flights down.

After a good night sleep, we went to the hotel’s very elegant dinning room for breakfast, which was included in the room rate. A buffet style, offering breads, cheese, ham, cereal, yogurt, jellies, jams, and fresh fruit was offered. While enjoying our café latte, we noticed that the waiter who took care of the entire dining appeared to know everyone, as if they were frequent visitors. This made for a delightful experience.

We arrived at "The Spaghetti Store" at about dusk. The day had turned cool so we had to sit inside, but were fortunate to be seated at a large window. The menu had so many choices, none of which I could even read, so I asked the waiter for his recommendation. Obviously, we ordered spaghetti and Chianti. The food was good, but the atmosphere was spectacular. After dinner, a walk on the promenade with all the lights reflecting on the water and a wonderful end to our three-week adventure.

The ride up Mount San Salvatore was spectacular. The funicolare (cog-wheel incline train, cost $10.14 USD per person) took 12 minutes to reach the top, with departures every half hour. The 360-degree view of Lugano and the surrounding areas was breathtaking. Dark clouds moved in quickly and positioned themselves midway between us and the lake, yet did not block the view, but only enhanced it. My photographs of this site are incredible. From the top of San Salvatore, a panoramic hiking tour leads you through a natural park and allows you to view the treasures of the local flora. With a gourmet restaurant, a self-serve restaurant and a free picnic area there is a nice variety of refreshments for any taste. There is also a museum and an old church that were quite interesting. Then back down on the funicolare, a long walk along the shore of Lake Lugano for our next adventure.

Beautiful 'big-band' hits were playing on the loud speaker interrupted occasionally for a recorded mini-tour of the small Venetian-type towns we were passing given in four languages, Italian, French, German and English. The messages told about the history of each village, famous past residents and modern day utilization. The Village of Gandria, for instance, does not allow any cars as there are no roads 'Have boat-will travel.'

The lake stretches for many miles each side of Lugano and enters into Italy on the southern leg. Just as you leave one village and cannot imagine anything more beautiful, you come across the next village, which proves that theory to be wrong.

The boat was large enough for everyone on board to find a comfortable area, including bench-type seats on the upper decks or in the full-service restaurant below.

Later, after dinner and a walk on the promenade along Lake Lugano, we were making our way back up the hill to our hotel, when we heard the most marvelous music. Since we didn’t have any particular place to go, we following the sounds and found ourselves in a large open-air square, surrounded by buildings which made the echo of the music sound wonderful. An American group was presenting a free concert of big band music. We pulled up a few chairs and enjoyed the entertainment- even 'stole' a dance in the piazza as we were leaving.