Italy Day 6
Como & Lugano
April 18, 2011
COMO
Up to the Italian-Swiss border to the Lakes of the Alps! Como held out its hands to us (pictured above) and mother nature was smiling down upon with a crystal clear day affording us the best possible views of the lush mountains speckled with small towns, some neighborhoods tucked all the way at the peaks.
We checked into Hotel Barchetta Excelsior, which sits at the center of the main Piazza at the base of Lake Como. We decided to pay 20 extra Euro to upgrade to a Lakeview room on the top floor. Money well spent! As you can see, the view from our room (pictured above) was as good as it gets… EVER! Down below was the Piazza, the Lake Como docks and all around us were the hills of Como and its inhabitants, complete with Funiculare, this region’s special inclined trains that take you straight up the side of the mountain to the top in a matter of minutes!
We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed back to the train station to catch an early train to Lugano. On the way to the station, we stopped for a quick Cappucino and a delicious Panini filled with Bruseaola, Arugala, and Grana Padana.
We continued by train along the slopes of the Alps for only about a half hour to cross the Italian-Swiss border into Lugano, Switzerland. Once off the train, we immediately hopped on a little Funiculare that took us to the base of the mountain upon which the train station was nestled. We then embarked on our journey to Mount Augustine which required a walk from downtown Lugano along the beautiful Lake Lugano Parkway, a Pedestrian Road that follows the shoreline for the entire length of the city. The extreme wealth of Lugano shone through in its pristine public spaces, expertly manicured greenery and high end residential and commercial buildings all along the shoreline and well up into the hills.
We hopped on the mount San Augustine Funiculare for a quick but expensive assent (20 Euro/ person) which took only 15 minutes to reach the tippy top of the mountain! Well, there was a small hike to the actual tippy top of the mountain where the San Augustine church stood the apex of the mountain, it’s granite structure seeming to just be protruding from the granite mountaintop itself. The way up had several nice spots to stop for a minute and admire vintage posters of swiss trains and gondolas, we need some Ogden posters like these!
We climbed 64 steps to the rooftop of the church where there was nothing else above us but azure sky and 360 degree views of Lugano, the Alps, the Lake, and a half dozen other towns tucked away into the hills. We could see all the way to Italy from where we stood. BREATHTAKING.
If anyone wants to plan the perfect romantic spot, this would be it. More specifically, if anyone out there is planning a spectacular marriage proposal with images that will stay in your heart forever, THIS would be it. Without diverting from the travel, food, and wine focus of this blog… just wanted to say that this was a MOST special moment for us there on Mount San Augustine in Lugano. ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!
With butterflies from an incredible experience we headed back to the Station for Como. Trying to find lunch for less than $50 was out of the question at any restaurant in town, as even a single pizza in Lugano is 20 Euro! Let’s just say the world “bargain” or “value” is not part of the Lugano vocabulary. We hunted the streets to chance upon a wonderful little market that sold charcuterrie, cheese, antipasti, and Cheesy Traditional Foccacia by the pound! Just what the doctor ordered! We got a couple glasses of the only locally vented wine around, a nice chocolaty Merlot and refueled for another truly uphill HIKE to the train station.
After freshening up in back in Como, we set out for Brunate, a town at the top of the mountain adjacent to our Como Hotel. To get there we took another Feniculare, the fourth Feniculare for us in one day! This Feniculare was much cheaper, only 5 Euro/person, and sped us to the top of the mountain in only 5 minutes! We took in some enchanting night views of the city down below before we went back down to Como for dinner.
Dinner was at San Giovanni Griglieria. We ordered a bottle of Caretto Blange, a beautiful Peimont White with the slightest bubble and flavors of gren apple and honeysuckle. We paired it with wood oven roasted flatbread with Italian herbs and perfect blistering. We also started with a cheese plate with six different local cheeses. For entrees we couldn’t wait to compare the local fish to the Hawaiian Sashimi of Jasoh. The first dish was a Como Lake Fish, a white flaky fish similar to Cod, in a creamy risotto with fried sage. Very nice preparation, but we are very spoiled at Jasoh with our beautiful thick whitefish steaks! Next, we had a Swordfish, grilled over live coals that had superb texture and flavor and with a little lemon needed nothing else. This Swordfish with our Blange was a match made in heaven. We also had wonderfully prepared grilled eggplant and zucchini squash. Our entrees were interestingly brought to us before we were truly ready for them as we hadn’t finished our cheese plate when they were delivered. We noted the importance of course timing which is a huge part of our service at Jasoh… allowing guests to finish each course before the next one arrives. Anyway, we decided to make the most of the situation and enjoy our Cheese plate as both a starter as well as a third course before dessert. For dessert, we took the servers suggestion to try the Strawberry Tiramisu, a house specialty. We would describe this dessert as more of Strawberry shortcake which was delicious, but was not Tiramisu. This shortcake was even more delicious in conjunction with a very nice Passito, a dessert wine from Sicily that tastes like oranges and hazelnut toffee. Yummy! After finishing, our server took us on a small tour of the kitchen which included the Wood Oven, almost identical to the Jasoh Wood oven in size and shape, just not as beautiful, and also the live coal grill which we were told heats up to roughly 800 degrees and produces the excellent flavors we enjoyed in our Swordfish and Vegetables. We chatted with the owners and cook and headed out, grateful for a healthy-length walk back to the hotel.
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