Bellinzona

15 years ago - #Italy

I've tagged this entry with "Italy" even though Bellinzona is in Switzerland. However, you would really never be able to tell that you left Italy in this part of Switzerland.

David and I got an early start and hit the road to a town called Bellinzona. The ride there was pretty great, too. We drove past Lake Como and all sorts of other lakes. I could see that if you lived in northern Italy, it would be quite nice to have a summer condo on the lake.

Bellinzona is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been a UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000. We had some initial trouble finding the castle - which seems kind of laughable in hind site. It's right in the center of town built on a hill. It is completely unmissable. In the end, we did the smart thing and just parked near the center of town and started walking. We got a heart pumping climb up the rampart walls to Castelgrande.

The castle seemed rather modest at first, but there was plenty to explore. The views of the hills around Bellinzona were magnificent. And the more we walked around the castle, the more the magic started to work on us. You could wander all over the rampart walls which were covered in grass. They had taken the hills of the castle to grow grape vines. The castle has two towers: the white tower and the black tower. You can climb up each of them as long as you don't mind twisting stairs. We went to the museum but there was really nothing to see - especially since most of the items in the museum did not have English translations. There was an interesting painting of a man changing into a wolf - of which I took a picture.

After exploring the castle, David and I went back to the center of town for something to eat. As usual, we were too late for the lunch crowd and we had a hard itme finding anyone to serve us. About the time I had settled upon the idea of a gelato lunch, we found a Turkish take-out place and got döner kebab.

Our next stop was Orta, but we decided to take the long, scenic path around the edge of Lake Maggiore.

The Walls of Castelgrande David Walks the Ramparts Werewolf Artwork Roofs of Bellinzona Hills of Grapes outside Castelgrande The White Tower and the Black Tower David in Front of the White Tower
This post is part of a series called...
To Milan and the Lake Region
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