To Locarno – A Culture Change (5/16)

Today began in an area of chalets, heavy pine forests and snow-topped mountains above them. Typically, you see houses with lace curtains, and abundant wood for the fireplace stacked up outside. This evening, I’m in a Mediterranean-like climate, complete with palm trees, and I have just been out for a boat ride on the lake. How things could change so much in a train ride of less than four hours is beyond me, but it certainly is the case!

After another wonderful breakfast, I got on the train in Mörel. The ticket taker, a young woman in her mid 30s, was able to sell me a ticket all the way to Locarno. I had anticipated having to get off and on the train several times, and having to buy another machine ticket at my first stop. Instead, she made the whole thing easy. In addition, she helped me out quite a bit in terms of changing trains and finding the right platform. At one point, she was talking animatedly on her phone, and I didn’t recognize the language she was speaking. I asked her if it was Romansch, and she said no, it was low-German, the kind of German that is spoken in Switzerland. I was really surprised because it didn’t sound like a language I had heard before.

The scenery began to change really quickly. By the time we were in Andermatt, I realized there were no more chalets, and instead, houses and other buildings had been built with stone and masonry. I assume the change in architecture is because the trees had all but disappeared. There were still the snow-capped mountains, but not the heavy pine forests that I been in for the past few days. In Göschenen, places began to have Italian names; soon, everyone was speaking Italian, and the train stops were announced in Italian. By the time we got to Locarno, the stone buildings were gone and the houses begin to look Mediterranean. And as I said, there were palm trees. I made my way to the hotel with only minimal problems with Google Maps, and found myself in an older part of the city in what feels like a pension. I’m on the second floor, and I was given a choice between a room with a toilet and a room with a shower. (I had been told I would have shared bathroom facilities, so this choice came as somewhat of a surprise.) I chose the former - it’s just plain easier, and once I was minimally settled, I went out to see the sights.

My first stop was the Castello Visconteo. This castle was built first in the 800s, and was added onto several times afterwards. Although it’s certainly not the Chalet de Chillon, it was interesting. Not a lot of restoration had been done, but there was a big exhibit of archaeological finds from the Roman period. There was also room that described the Pact or Treaty of Locarno, which was signed in 1926. It was intended to keep the various European powers from rearming themselves. I had known nothing about this meeting or pact, and I worked hard to understand the Italian descriptions. After all that work, I saw where the explanations in English were hidden. Oh well … from there, I saw an interesting use of a subway entrance where some Roman ruins were displayed, and there was a very attractive set of explanations underground. This whole entrance lead to a piazza that had been created relatively recently, both to show the ruins and to create another meeting space for the town. Apparently there are plans to use this new piazza for a movie festival. After that, I went into two churches before heading off toward Lago Maggiore.  At one point, when I wanted to ask whether it was okay to enter one of the churches, I decided I was already tired of pretending I could speak Italian, so I asked to enter the church by just using Spanish. I got a direct answer, and decided that was the easy way to deal with Italian!

When I walked toward the lake, which is really the center of town, I saw some people waiting to get on a boat. I decided to see if I could go, too, and I ended up taking a boat ride around the lake. This one is sort of a commuter boat that takes people from Locarno to two different small towns along the lake. Because I had been given a visitor card with free or reduced entry to various sights and transportation, I could take the boat for free. Our first stop was Tenero. What was amazing to me was that along the lake shore was a big group of travel trailers. People were camping right along the lake shore, and there was a little beach and swimming area with a raft. I didn’t realize camping was a big thing here in Europe. Where I was staying in Mörel, there was a much smaller camping area right next to a stream, and I found that fascinating. Now, here at Lago Maggiore is an even bigger camping area.

By the time boat arrived back at Locarno, I was pretty chilly. I had been wearing a T-shirt and jeans. And the T-shirt had felt perfect for the weather in Locarno. But out on the water at 7 PM, I needed a bit more clothing. Regardless, I was hungry and I looked around for a place to eat. I found a café outside and ordered tagiatelle ai fruita di mare. It was delicious! Now I’m back in my hotel room, and will soon plan my next moves.