Bormio, Lombardy, Italy
This is a long catchup blog with lots of photos in support. I apologize that time hasn't allowed for me to separate it into separate blogs.
We are now in the Brescia, Italy. Three days ago, we left
Stresa, Lake Maggiore early for the challenge of driving an EV for the first
time for 4 hours on the wrong side of the road up into the Italian Alps to our
next hotel. For the majority of the route we were on extremely narrow roads,
many of them winding through mountainous terrain. Driving in Europe requires
special concentration, but I’ve done it many times and today should have been
fine. But it turned out to be a far more stressful and tiring trip than it
needed to be. More on this a little later.
As planned, we broke our trip by stopping in Varenna, on
Lake Como, catching a ferry across to Bellagio so that we could meet up with
Sharon‘s mother, brother and sister-in-law who had been holidaying there since departing
Switzerland after our wedding. It was
special to reunite with Sharon’s family particularly as Vilma, Sharon’s mom will
shortly fly home to South Africa, and Sharon really doesn’t know when they’ll
next see each other. Following past visits, I love both Bellagio and Varenna. But
the crowds were so heavy it was a real turn off. Lane ways, walkways, and even
broad plazas were choked with people. One had to queue for a seat at a café or restaurant
and queues for ferries were 50 or more meters
long. Why is it so busy? It’s not even summer season.
Is it a post covid phenomenon?
I don’t want to ever come back if this turmoil prevails. If I do, it seems any
future visit will have to be early spring or late autumn.
We then headed off for Bormio to our spa hotel in the
mountains. This is when the problems started. Our EV had a battery range of 380
km, and our trip for the day was scheduled to take 300 kms, giving us a safe
excess capacity. But our car’s satellite navigation made two critical errors.
These resulted in us doing almost 100 extra frustrating kilometres and the
battery level running dangerously and worryingly low. I was getting more and
more annoyed that Avis had off-loaded an EV on to us. After 5 hours of disjointed
and ultimately highly stressful driving we arrived at the QC Terme Hotel Bagni Vechi,
Bormio. The intense 5 hours of concentration required left me physically and
mentally exhausted.
We had reserved four nights here but checked out after
just two. This hotel had amazing spa facilities. We’d both fully recommend it if
you want an excellent wellness stay. Set in a unique mountain location it had every
conceivable spa service and wellness facility one could desire, and utilised a thousand-year-old
thermal spring from the mountain to feed its hot spa facilities.
All the other guests seemed to be on a personal or hotel-arranged
health program which the hotel administered very professionally. But we
couldn’t get used to everyone walking around everywhere in the hotel including in
the bar and dining room in their bathrobes.
It reminded us of scenes from the
movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest. I found it very amusing.
Sharon was looking forward to taking advantage of the spa
facilities, but we targeted Bormio largely to hike in the nearby mountains.
Accordingly, we were very disappointed to discover that most
hiking trails are not yet accessible, at this time of year there is no mountain
transport such as cable cars, gondolas, etc to take us to the start of these hikes.
Mountain transport does not open each
year until July, an important message for any other hikers planning a visit. Cyclists
are clearly better catered for; we saw hundreds of them. The famous Stelvio
Pass, with its amazing series of hairpin curves as the road steeply zig-zags
down the mountain is nearby and just one of a number of serious mountain challenges
for cyclists.
For the time we were at the Bagni Vechi hotel, we really
enjoyed the spa facilities particularly the natural open air spa pool with its amazing
distant mountain views. However, a day and two nights of spa and bathrobe experiences
were enough for us.
So yesterday morning, we consulted the AI resource ChatGPT
as to how we could utilise the unexpected extra two days we now had. ChatGPT
gave us a really interesting itinerary via Sondrio and Lake Iseo, to Brescia.
We particularly liked what we saw of Iseo, a very pretty quiet lakeside location not too dissimilar to Stresa, with a busy ferry service operating between Iseo and various villages on the shores of Lake Iseo. If we'd more time, we'd loved to have taken a ferry ride to explore them. We figured, and they looked from a distance, to possibly be similarly pretty as those on Lake Maggiore, but without the same level of tourists.
The AI facility we used is extremely useful, providing very worthwhile tour suggestions,
travel times, recommended accommodation, and dining locations. It certainly
makes holiday planning much easier.
I’ve never been to Brescia before, and my immediate
impression is very positive. Fascinating history, a wealth of magnificent medieval
and historical buildings, and our Hotel Vittoria is in the middle of them in
the old town.
From our balcony we have a clear view of them, many just 100
meters away. The fabulous atmosphere as we enjoyed evening aperitifs with
hundreds of others in Paolo VI Square reinforced our first impressions. There
was a real buzz of excitement, and why wouldn’t there be? Apart from the alcohol
effects of the aperitifs, the scene across the square and just 20 meters away had
a lot to do with this. It was startling. A 200 meter line of beautifully
preserved old and historically significant buildings highlighted by the late
afternoon sun. Just beautiful.
And the positives kept coming. When our drink order
arrived, we were surprised as it was accompanied by a complimentary charcuterie
plate of cheeses, dry meats, crusty bread, etc. Our restaurant we learned and
others in the square have this generous custom between 4:00 and 9:00 pm each
day of providing this gratis. Another reason for the excited buzz. We retired
to our hotel very content in that we’d made the right decision to retreat from the
spa to somewhere so much more enjoyable, and so much more Italian.
Terese
2024-06-16
Thank you so much for the detailed update…glad you had enough ‘fuel’ and that you adjusted your itinerary…lovely
John verhelst
2024-06-16
Methinks you guys may need another vacation after the stress. A full electric car would be panic stations from the start. Hence our combo at home. Keep enjoy8ng one of the most beautiful regions in the world.
Jan
2024-06-16
Certainly a great part of world. Assume by now you have mastered EV driving.
Barbara Rose
2024-06-17
Im with John. A hybrid is much less taxing on the nerves especially in a location that's unfamiliar. Still, you made it and what glorious scenery. Theres no antiquity quite like this is Oz so enjoy every moment.
Michael
2024-06-18
You made the right decision to get away from the bath robes. Chat GPT didn’t tell you not to get stuck in a tunnel- room for improvement. Hope the EV stress will reduce for the rest of your trip.
Kev
2024-06-21
Just catching up on your marvellous holiday photos and travelogue.Lake Como brings back some terrific memories for the Pikes!
Anne
2024-06-23
How beautiful! You must be positively glowing after your luxurious spa retreat & lucky escape to glorious Brescia. What gorgeous scenery!