Farnsniente

Dancing at the rehearsal dinner including the bride in red

The bride wore red

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in
📍 Isola Pescatori, Italy

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Garden redemption day! Visited Villa Taranto in Verbania, “one of Europe’s greatest botanical gardens” according to AI. Some things were past their peak (rhododendrons 🥲) but there were plenty of things blooming. Had an awesome sushi lunch then drove to Bevano where we left the car and ferried to the third (of 3) Borromeo island – Isola dei Pescatori. Another redemption, we stayed here years ago in a torrential downpour and today was gorgeous! Enjoyed bubbles and foam on the beautiful wisteria and rose covered terrace then dinner there later.

Details

Up early, we’re checking out today. It’s a sunny day, clear, but of course hazy. We head downstairs and have breakfast. Same old, same old. Good to have coffee.

While we eat we read about where we’re headed today. A top botanical garden (Villa Taranto). The three most recent reviews (from one and two weeks ago) all complained about the lack of blooms. Given what we’ve seen elsewhere, we’re expecting the same: minimal bloomage.

For packing we combine our essentials for one night into a single of our two roll-aboard bags. We’ll be taking a ferry over to Isola Pescatori for the night and want to leave the balance of our worldly possessions locked safely (?) in the trunk of the rental car. 

Checked out, we pile into our car and head out. Our first stop is where we’re thinking to park our car overnight tonight (while we’re sleeping on the island). Whoops! It’s market day. Bummer. The vendors are using all of the space and parking is off limits til 2pm. It’ll be close. 

The drive to the garden, Villa Taranto, is a short 15 minutes. We could pay and wait for a ferry and get there in 40 minutes (plus 40 minutes back), so driving in our rental car it is! 

We have a quickie coffee after buying our admission tickets. We’d seen some rogue rhododendrons and azaleas, so maybe we’ll see some blooms after all. 

Once our admission ticket QR code had been successfully scanned (it’s what every place is doing these days) the first thing we see are perfectly blooming yellow and white pansies. They go on as far as the eye can see. And what are the gardeners doing? Ripping them out. Apparently they’ve served their purpose and it’s time to plant something else. Tough love!

We do see blooms. Not peak azalea and rhododendron but some azaleas/rhododendrons, and lots and lots of blooms on many trees and bushes. We decide that we did get lucky. A few weeks ago was too early and soon it really will be too late. Now is more than good enough. 

More impressive than the blooms is the garden’s paper map and navigation signs. The place is divided into sections (1, 2, 3,…). They’re numbered on the map and also IRL (in real life) in big mosaic numbers. Each number also has an arrow (to say “and now go that way”). A great system.

One of their pride and joys is an old tree, an oak I think. It was like 150 years old when the US was founded. And it’s still chugging along, albeit with quite a few scraggly bits. 

This park, like the previous two, is huge, and again we get a lot of walking in. By following their numbers we see the whole place. It’s a winner and well worth a visit (at the right time of year). 

Next is lunch. Hey Karen, how does sushi sound?! Tears flow down Karen’s cheeks. Just kidding but she (and I) are excited. Seated at our table we’re handed an iPad. I want a beer so our waitress scrolls to the beverages page on the iPad and orders a beer. There. Done. It’s on its way. That’s how you do it. Now figure out what you want and order it! The system works amazingly well. The food is all delectable. It’s a price performer! We’re thinking maybe we could actually live here full time.

Meal done, I go online and get taught how to say (in Italian) “Do I pay here or at the front?” Our Pakistani busboy is not impressed. I mime ‘signing a check’ and my Punjabi friend points towards the entrance. Communication accomplished!

On our drive back we stop for gas. It’s the first time we’ve bought petrol for this car since we picked it up in Turin, some 800 kilometers ago. It’s 50 euros but the car now estimates we can go another 1,000 km before we’ll need more. Damn!

The outdoor market was supposed to have turned back into a parking lot by 2:00 but it’s past that time and we still can’t get in. A policeman chases us off in no uncertain terms. I’m guessing he has to do this regularly. We go to Plan B for parking (on the street) and then walk with our subset of luggage to the dock. Happily there’s a dockside cafe, complete with cold beer. 40 minutes til our ferry. Nicely played, Scott. Nicely played. 

Our room is on the east end of this tiny island meaning we have shade in the afternoon. That’s good because it’s 81 degrees outside and 84°(and climbing) inside. I always travel with a quality digital thermometer and it says the temperature in the room is going up. Karen checks the towel heater in the bathroom. Ouch! That bad boy’s on! She turns it off. 

I hold my thermometer in the path of the air coming out of the A/C. The numbers quickly start climbing. That’s no bueno. We kill the A/C and head the two flights downstairs to talk to the girl at the desk. Karen’s first question is about the promised minibar. We couldn’t find one. “A mini bar, yes, for sure, I show you.” 

On the hike together, up the two flights of stairs Karen also mentions the A/C, especially the part about it not working. “Ah yes, there’s a man coming, tomorrow, or maybe the next day, anyway he coming to fix the A/C”. Hm, we’re here just one night. Oh, well. The minibar? That was hidden in what looks like a small three drawer dresser. Very crafty. 

Too hot in the room. It’s cooler down closer to the water, in the shade, in the breeze, say… down at the bar? We go down there and park at a table with an awesome view facing Isola Madre. 

It’s getting past five so the last of the ferries are leaving taking with them the day trippers and their noise. But… then a band starts doing their mic check. Wha?? A guitarist, drummer, base cello, and a sax. They’re the band for the wedding tomorrow (and by extension, for the pre-wedding dinner (or as we’d call it, rehearsal dinner) here tonight. So they’re rehearsing for the rehearsal dinner. How meta! 

Thankfully they’re good, fun, and the mic check is brief. We are sleeping, and dining, here tonight. We do not think that was the last we’ve heard of them. 

We hang out in the room for a while, Karen out on the balcony overlooking the bar/restaurant. Soon guests in all white show up for the event. Karen overhears English and deduces that many guests are from Chicago. The wedding couple are in their 40s, she American and he Russian. Stella and Misha. 

All throughout our dinner Karen had an eye on the dancing and mingling of the fifty or so guests. The band has three sets, toasts are made (half in English, half in Russian). At one point the bride and then the groom are hoisted on chairs up in the air. It is very entertaining. 

Our dinner was truly good: two starters and we split one main course dish. At ten someone makes another speech, this one announcing the boats are here and the party needs to quickly move to their suite over on the mainland. We lost our entertainment but gained some quiet. In our room, still warm. All windows are open and for tonight our PJs aren’t helpful. 

Photos

Our last morning in Stesa. It’s hazy, like always, but calm. The zipping boats and walking tourists will be here soon enough.
Yesterday I carried my coffee and fruit up the circular marble staircase and almost had a little fall. Today… the elevator. Cooler heads prevail.
We drive over to the botanical garden, fifteen minutes away. After we buy our tickets, but before we go in, how about another cup of coffee (when in Rome, and all that).
On our drive over (and really in many places in this region) we have been seeing pink bunting and pink this and pink that. At the botanical garden, too, there was a lot of pink at the entrance. Karen finally figured out that the Italian version of the Tour de France, the woman’s race, is happening soon, and apparently is coming through this city. Something like that.
At the garden (Villa Taranto) we are delighted to see blooms, if only yellow and white pansies for starters. At least they are in full bloom and there is an ocean of them.
And the next thing we see? Gardners furiously ripping out the blooming white and yellow pansies with pitchforks. Apparently it’s time to give some other annual a chance to shine.
We did see lots of blooms, which made us happy. The park is very well laid out and a delight to walk.
They have different sections, including this flat one with a cascade of waterfalls to the left (not shown).
We liked this melange of wildflowers and others. There were lots of flowering bushes and trees, plus lots of planted just… flowers.
Karen’s made a habit of stopping and smelling the roses. Many don’t make any scents (you see what I did there?), but a few smell delicious.
Worn out from the garden we head down the street to Sunshine Sushi restaurant. You order everything yourself, on the iPad they give you. It was efficient, filling, delicious, and ABI (anything but Italian). It checked all the boxes.
Back from the morning excursion to the garden we park the car and take our abbreviated luggage on the ferry to Isola Pescatori for the night.
Our room was warmer than outside, so we parked on the balcony, working on the blog. The view was not bad at all.
Here’s my editor also working on the blog.
Later we headed downstairs to the bar for a little aperitivo. We got a good breeze down there as well as a good view of the water. We were delighted to see a little cygnet along with Mama and Papa swan.
Back up in our room, preparing for dinner, we hear ruckus of a rehearsal dinner starting and later hear the band (whom we’d heard earlier doing a mic check).
Cleaned up, we head back downstairs to dinner. We have the same table for dinner as we had earlier for our aperitivo before-dinner drinks. The view was great, as was the dinner.
Part of our view was the rehersal dinner going on a very few meters from our table.
After dinner we hung around and enjoyed the view as the daylight faded and the lights of the nearby towns came on.
At bedtime, our room still way too warm, we left all the windows and our balcony doors open, which helped (a little). If I’m grumpy tomorrow, you’ll know why.