Phil & Mel's Blog

Finally, we were able to spend a few days in the canton Ticino again (during our long trip we continuously spoke about our love for the Italian part of Switzerland) and enjoyed every minute of it.

Memorable three days: Easy drive down (Thursday traffic, molto bene), one night in a tent along the Lago Maggiore at one of the many camp sites (where -to our surprise- we saw a huge number of Germans, who were vacationing in camper vans but were pulling those with very expensive cars…), cooling off in the lake, gelati, a 44km bike-ride from Ascona to Cannobio only to find out that the restaurant we wanted to eat at only opens for dinner, a wonderful second night at a B’n'B in Frasco in the Valle Verzasca at Signore Regina’s (found by chance), picknick dinner along the river, easy 5-hour hike up to Lago d’Effra the next morning, a visit to the “Museo Communale d’Arte Moderna” where we discussed Arp, Richter, and Tobey, and a delicious gourmet dinner to top it all off before driving back to W’los.

Culinary Delights:

Two lunches at “Grotto Baldoria” in Ascona (which had been recommended to us), unique and fun dining : After finding a seat in the garden, the waiter stopped by and asked about what we were drinking and whether we wanted salad, and gave us a plate and cutlery each. Then we were given salami and mortadella on a cutting board, along with bread, and were able to spend the next few minutes nibbling from both, until the waiter picked it up and passed it along to the next table. After a delicious salad, the cook appeared with the meal of the day (in our case consisting of pasta with meat), and gave us each a huge plate full. After that we were given about six local cheeses -again on a cutting board-, and then a big platter of something they called “crostata”, a pastry that went well to the espressi and grappa that we finished our meal with. Well worth the price: All in all the meal cost around 60 CHF, which is cheap for Ascona). Our rating: 4 Stars

Polenta-dinner at very good Grotto Scalinata, Tenero. We came across this place by chance while strolling around Tenero; wonderful atmosphere, friendly service (who welcomed my pathetic attempts at speaking Italian), and “tre decilitre” of vino rosso (house-wine) were good! Our rating: 3.5 Stars

Osteria Vino Divino, Cannobio wonderful place we had our last supper at. Especially the Antipasti (a mix of cream cheese in zucchini leaves with couscous for me, and three balls of tartare rolled in various spices for Phil) were exquisite and imaginative (each plate looked like a work of art). Primi and Secondi Piatti were also good: we tried a truffle-risotto, a special kind of vegetable lasagne, and a dish with guinea hen and foie gras. Service was friendly, and restaurant garden we ate in simply beautiful, simple decoration but very stylish. A little bit on the ritzy end (coming directly from our hike, we were quite the underdressed young couple), but again excellent value for money.