Friday December 30th, 2016
This time we go by car, waking up pretty early so we can enjoy more the short days. First stop in Lugano, where we walk along the lake front till S. Maria degli Angioli with beautiful frescoes inside. Then we walk in the pedestrian streets till the main square and up to the Cathedral (unfortunately it’s closed). Back down to the lake, some more walking and some more churches.
Next city ins Locarno, we park near S. Antonio (but we will see it later), we have lunch and then we visit S. Francesco and the castle (only outside). In the main square of the city there is an ice-skating track. We pass the railway station to reach S. Vittore (it’s a bit far from city center), it has an enormous crib in the crypt. Then Chiesa Nuova with many paintings and S. Antonio.
We would like to go to Madonna del Sasso, but we don’t find any parking near so we give up and go to Ascona. We slowly walk along the lake front. Ascona is pretty small but nice.
We should go now to Luzern, but on the way we stop to Altdorf, the home town of Guglielmo Tell. In the main square there is a tower with a painting and in front of it a statue of Guglielmo Tell. Short walk to the main church, St. Martin. The weather is cloudy and pretty cold.
We reach Luzern when it’s already dark.So a short walk (we were here last year too and some other times): Jesuitenkirche, Spreuerbrucke (a roofed bridge), Hirschenplatz, the pedestrian streets, the town hall, and at the end the Kappelbrucke, the most famous spot of Luzern.
We have the hotel near Zug, so we have dinner and then we see a bit the town, It’s very nice in the evening (there are no people around, it’s pretty cold). Switzerland is cold in Decmeber but it’s very nice.
Saturday December 31st, 2016
After breakfast we continue our trip in Switzerland, visiting Zug. We see more or less the same things of the evening before. We also see the old area with some towers and squares. It’s cloudy and a big foggy too.
We head to Einsiedeln and when we reach the top of an hill, we can see a beautiful landscape: blue sky, freezed meadows, and clouds down in the valley.
In Einsiedeln we visit the abbey, and then we go behind it, to take some pictures from the hill.
Back to the clouds, and we are in Rapperswil: we start from the hill with the castle and the cathedral and then the lower part. In the afternoon we visit Coira, also here the lower part and then the hill with the castle and the cathedral.
We are on our way back home, so just a short stop to Bellinzona to take a break.
