The breakfast this morning was out of this world. Everything was made that morning by the hotel's chef to perfection ... pastries, coffee, eggs, salmon, juices, oatmeal with chia ... a real feast. I guess it is good to wake up in the richest country in the world : )
My first challenge of the day was to figure out how to cross the Alps from Switzerland to Italy. The Splügen Pass, which was directly south from where I was, seemed like the logical and simplest choice.
Liechtenstein runs north and south in a valley between two very tall mountain ranges that eventually come together and close by Splügen village ... that is where the climb began.
After leaving the main road, the climb started with a little bit of dirt for road repair and then a very narrow and very steep road with very tight switchbacks with no rails ... a good way to wake up and digest that fabulous breakfast. All is well and all the senses are on!
There were so many switchbacks on the Swiss side that they felt endless ... but there were more on the descent on the Italian side! Some on the Italian side even came down on a road carved out of a straight vertical granite wall.
The pass is at 7,000 ft (but it feels higher) and it drops all the way to 1,000ft on the Italian side. The temperature dropped all the way to 35 degrees at some point. Once at the bottom on the Italian side, I stopped in Chiavenna to rest and have a cappuccino. A great little and very Italian town. It is nice to understand what everybody is saying again : )
Today was Sunday so plenty of cars, bicyclist, and motorcyclists are out to play .... definitely way more motorcycle riders in Italy that anywhere else so far.
Interesting how the road cultures of the 4 countries I have been so far are so discernible and unique ... Germans are very orderly ... people may go over the speed limits by 5-10 kph here and there (no limits on highways or rural roads) but generally follow all the rules ... the Swiss are definitely the worse ... everybody goes 1-2 kph below the speed limits everywhere ... very annoying because the whole country is full of villages with a limit of 50 kph ... Liechtenstein is somewhere between Germany and Switzerland ... Italy is definitely the best ... motorcycles dodging in an out of traffic, on solid or dashed lines, speed limits are just suggestions for most ... controlled chaos ... alive!
The road south brought me to Lake Como ... a very long and narrow lake nestled in between two very tall mountain ranges ... stopped in Secco for some pizza and a walk around the promenade. Lots of sailing boats everywhere on the lake and lots of villages perched on the slopes of the mountains on both sides.
The road went through at least 10 long tunnels ... no room for roads on the shores ... and on to Milan.
Took the ring road around Milan to avoid the traffic and decided that I was not going to make it to Monaco today.
The Alessandria area south of Milan is full of hilltop medieval towns with castles, forts, walls, and ancient structures ... I stopped in Cremolino, one of those medieval stone towns, and found a great little hotel with a great restaurant 100m away that only opens from 6-9pm. Needless to say, had an amazing dinner ... fish soup and a ravioli dish from the region ... another great meal to end the day ... and went to bed. A long day.
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