Lugano

In 1973 we made a 14 days holiday to Lugano in Switzerland. We traveled by train and it all started on June 24, 1973.

Half past twelve we got very hungry and we had a little lunch in the "Speisewagen" of the train. That was a real experience with a lot of nice food and a beautiful view during dinner on the kitchen of the train.

Later that day we arrived at Hotel Jura in Basel where we received room number 52 and 55 and a book and a map of Basel. After dinner (with spaghetti on its Italian) we walked a little through Basel. On the stairs before the Hotel my mother forgot a step and felt down, so we thought: "that’s it, the vacation is over before it even started", but luckily nothing serious happened and we were very relieved as you can imagine.

The next morning we had some excellent breakfast with bread and some Swiss cheese. There were also some cafe and chocolate available to drink.

Then we took the train again to travel to Lugano. We arrived there at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and a lady of NRV Holiday (Bernadette) welcomed us their and she brought us to our Hotel Simplon.

We received the rooms number 11 and 12 situated next to each other and laying at a balcony. After dinner we walked along the lake of Lugano and we saw many boats crossing the lake to all the other parts.

After another excellent breakfast, we picked up a flyer of Lugano and walked under the trees across the "Riva". At night we did a tour over the lake by boat. A very nice view on Lugano itself and the mountains the "Monte Bré" and The "San Salvatore". There’s not much life on the San Salvatore in contrast with the Monte Bré. At eleven o’clock we went to bed.

Today we visited the "San Salvatore". To go upstairs, you had to take the "Funiculare". Luckily that wasn’t such a scary thing but a normal train. Halfway you had to take another train, because the hill is so steep that the first one isn’t built for such a climb. On the top, we had a beautiful view on Lugano and we drunk some cafe in "Café Albergo S. Salvatore".

In the afternoon we did another tour over the lake and we ended in "Bissone" were we walked through the city and bought two costume dolls.

At night, we had a cafebreak in "Hotel Snackbar Europa". A very dangerous place to sit down and drink something, because the cars are crossing the corner there on mostly two wheels only, but as far we were there, nothing serious happened. A real miracle.

In the morning we walked through Lugano and we ended at a big store with the name "Innovaziona" where I bought a big bell for caws. We had a drink across the street. It was funny to watch, that everywhere in the city the butchers just hang their merchandise outside their shops. Because we walked so long through the city, we almost missed our lunch in the Hotel.

In the afternoon we went to the "Lido" for a swim. At least, Jenneke JR. took a swim and her father just sat down and read a book, because he couldn’t swim. In the past it was even possible to swim in the Lake of Lugano, but since the Lake is so filthy they built a swimmingpool in the city for all the citizens and tourists. There are three different swimmingpools, one for small children, one for older children and one for adults and children who are able to swim very well. Around half past four, we left the swimming pool and at seven o’clock it was dinnertime. We got spaghetti again. Not as we eat it, broken so it’s easy to eat, no this was spaghetti in its natural form: long and almost impossible to eat. The owner of the restaurant saw me dugging the spaghetti in pieces and said: "No, no, you have to eat them the way we do". I started to try it, and when I didn’t succeed, I started to laugh and got nothing inside anymore. Then the owner saw it was hopeless and with a smile he left the diningroom.

This morning we visited the "Monte Bré". Also with a Funiculare and halfway we had to take another one for the last few miles. The view here was even more spectacular as from the San Salvatore. It was possible to watch the dam of Lugano and a lot of boats and big ships passing the dam during our visit.

In the afternoon we drove to "Porlezza" laying in the Italian part of the lake. It was so hot there, that we drove away very fast after we eat a little ice cream. After another dinner and a small walk we went to bed.

Jenneke Jr. and her father walked from "Gandria" to "Castagnola" and they met 25 lizards on their way saying them goodbye with their tails. We had some cafe in "Hotel Villa Moritz" a Hotel where her father stayed many years ago.

In the afternoon we went to the "Monte Generosa". It was so very cold there and downhill it was so hot. Unbelievable. This time it wasn’t a Funiculare who brought us to the top, but a short of train with rack (and pinion) railway. Never realized that there are so many different ways to climb a mountain!

Around 7 o’clock we arrived back at "Paradiso", had dinner, a small walk and went to bed.

In the morning we drove over the Lake and in the afternoon we went to "Morcote".

We had to walk the stairs to climb the mountain this time, but on the top we had a marvelous view over the Lake. We visited an old church and went back to Lugano again by boat.

It was time to buy some souvenirs now. First we decided to buy some postcards for our holidaybook and to write some to family and friends.

Later, we drove to "Ponte Tresa" and we walked to the Italian part of it and visited the city. Then we went to the Customs to the Swiss part of the city. Real strange that you have to show your passport just to cross a part of a city!

We drove back to Lugano with a short of bus and had dinner in our Hotel.

July 3, 1973

We visited "Gandria" in the morning. A small village inside a mountain. It was the perfect place to take some photos, which you can see here.

Later in the afternoon Jenneke JR. and her father went to the swimming pool again. We hired a cabin this time so we didn’t have to move around with all our clothes anymore. This time there were a lot of people around. It was a very hot day and just taking a swim or sitting under the trees was very nice.

We spent the morning in "Tesserete". We drove to it by bus and had some cafe and I took some photos again. If you look carefully, you could even see Jenneke JR’s father and mother sitting at a table in the restaurant here.

There’s a very old church in Tesserete in which a lot of swallows are living.

There was also an "Innovazione" with beautiful stones, but we only had a camera with us with a black-white film in it so there was hardly anything visible of these stones on the photo we took.

In the afternoon we went to "Melide" by boat. There wasn’t much to see upstairs and we went down immediately, but this time we had to climb the mountain with a "Teleferica" chain way many miles above the mountain so you can imagine that, especially, Jenneke JR. was glad when she was back on her feed safely again.

Downstairs, we visited "Swiss Minature" Melide-Lugano. It’s just like "Madurodam" with a lot of small buildings but of course these houses and castles where all built after Swiss originals. Jenneke JR. walked here around, alone, for awhile and took some photos.

At night, we had some dinner, and drunk something in a restaurant before we went to bed.

We paid the Monte Bré another visit in the morning and in the afternoon we traveled to "Capalogo" by boat.

This was the day we visited the San Salvatore for a second time and after a lunchbreak, we went to "Locarno" and "Ascona". It was a "seeing again" because the parents stayed in Ascona many years ago. Ascona is a lovely place and didn’t change much during al these years. During our visit in Locarno, it started to rain. It’s raining there most of the time so it wasn’t a real surprise, but it spoiled our visit.

In the afternoon, we made a big trip over the lake of Lugano and visited some places we hadn’t seen so far.

Because Jenneke JR. liked it there so much, the whole family paid "Swiss Miniature" another visit. In the afternoon we went to the swimming pool again.

Time to go home. We said goodbye to Lugano and we arrived at home around midnight. Our vacation to Lugano was over.

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