Farnsniente

At lunch on Isola Bella

Whoops’es on our first full lake day

—

in
📍 Isola Madre, Italy

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Best laid plans… got the 1st ferry of the day to Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) then missed where to queue for the palace/garden visit. Had a nice wander through the old streets and a coffee before joining the still very long line with many tour groups. The palace personified wretched excess (DJT would love it) and was super crowded. In addition to the overwrought interior there are 6 large grotto rooms covered floors, walls and ceilings with shells, rocks and coral. The gardens were nice as were the white peacocks. Lunched on a beautiful vine and flower-covered balcony then took another ferry to Isola Madre. We skipped the villa but enjoyed the gardens. Ferried back to Stresa for one more night.

Details

Today we were up at seven. We have things to do today! Step one is breakfast. It’s fancy but good. There’s a thick metal old school coffee carafe at the table offering coffee on demand and keeping it warm. Yay. In front of us is a couple. He has a skirt on, well, really a true kilt complete with a beaver skin purse. Hm. 

After breakfast we catch the ferry, really just an oversized boat, to Isola Bella, just barely. It’s a quick trip. On the island we just wander. Karen says she doesn’t know where to go. I assume that’s what she means and lead on to explore the island. What she actually meant was that she doesn’t know where to go to get in line to see the castle (for which we have tickets). Whoops. By the time we find the line it’s wrapped half the way around the building. 

The castle is not opened yet so we agree to sit down for another coffee and let the crowds die down. I order a “cafe con latte”. Too “latte” I learn that means a hot pint of milk with one espresso shot. Whoops. 

Well past opening time we go back to check out the line. Now it’s even longer. Boats from the mainland just keep arriving. Whoops! We wait in line. As groups don’t advance with the line, Karen takes the initiative and moves us up. Good girl! We eventually get between two different big groups everyone with wireless earphones. “LET’S ALL STAY TOGETHER!!” is the refrain. We’re comfortably wedged, isolated between the two big groups. 

In the castle it’s amazing. Someone had way too much money and time, and not enough taste. The crowds are thick. After innumerable rooms I do a Google search on how many rooms this place has. 100. Yikes! We eventually get through them all and start our ascent up a wide circular stone staircase, many floors. I feels it’s appropriate as if we’re emerging from the seven circles of hell. It wasn’t that bad but a quick reader’s digest version would have worked for me. 

The gardens are better, crowd-wise but just barely. Two white peacocks strut in unison across a perfectly manicured sunny green lawn. Behind us is a dogwood with so many blossoms you can barely see the leaves. 

We see an acre or so of azalea bushes, taller than I am. The one or two straggly brightly colored petals telegraph that last week is when we should have been here. Later, in the climate controlled greenhouse, numerous smaller blooming azalea bushes try to make up for our timing faux pas. 

We show up early for our lunch reservation which is probably ok. It’s empty and quiet early, but soon the place packed. Our first course is good but the hamburger we split is more raw than we’d hoped. Alas we’d split it and cut it up even further by the time we figured this out, no sending it back now. We grin and eat (most of) it. 

Our next order of business is to ferry over to Isola Madre where we have tickets to another garden and castle. Well that was the hope. The way it works (we now know) is that you ferry over to Isola Pescatori. Wait. And then catch a different ferry over to Isola Madre. We’re told the next ferry is in 30 minutes. Karen goes for a walk. Two minutes later the ferry arrives. Whoops. We wait and catch the next ferry. So many crowds. 

On Isola Madre we walk to the gardens. They cover most of the island (all, really). We show out tickets (not cheap) and go in. Everyone is walking a nice trail on the perimeter of the island. You need to pee, too, I ask? Hm. We just passed the WC at the entrance. There’s another on the far side of the island, we’ll be fine.

We get to the other WCs. They’re closed for cleaning, the lady tells us in Italian, in no uncertain terms. There is another toilet on the map further on, near the exit. After much searching we realize this WC is outside the exit (and we’re not ready to leave yet, we haven’t seen anything!). 

We continue on, back to the garden entrance and finally (after much searching) we find those toilets. Ah. What we cannot find, on the island, in the gardens, are very many flowers. We do see more white peacocks. And lots of very large impressive trees. We see a magnolia hedge that’s 50 feet tall. But pretty much no flowers.

At the castle, we decide we don’t need to go in and see more old paintings and furniture. We head back to the dock and soon we are headed back towards our hotel.

We chill for a while and eventually go out to the pool. I get in. The water is lovely! Later, after dressing for dinner, we head out and walk to a restaurant a half mile away. It’s Sunday and the city is packed. Maybe everyone is having their special day out. We see lots of tourists and even some large tour groups with the leader, holding a umbrella up to be visible. I think about pick pockets and check my wallet. It’s not there! I left it in the room carefully hidden when I went swimming. Whoops! 

Karen stays behind and gets a table while I walk back to the room for my wallet. For dinner I have my first pizza of the trip. It’s OK. We have gelato after and walk. We see a big vending machine, reporting to be your 24/7 pharmacy. We check out what they have on offer. A few things for sore throats, muscle plains and headaches. Lots of condoms and seven different varieties of vibrators. I guess we know what the big medical emergency is around these parts!

Photos

We wake and the sun’s already pretty high in the sky. We see a secret parking place that we’d not noticed before. It raises up from the ground and a car drives in, and then it lowers back down. Cool.
A fancy, nice place for our breakfast. Unlimited hot coffee, I can get into that. In front of us the white haired man is in a full proper kilt, complete with animal skin purse.
In the distance we can see Isola Bella, our first island for the day.
Once on the island we make the mistake of not immediately getting in line for the castle and gardens. A bit later, after coffee, the line is even longer. Tourists arrive all day long.
Inside I’m not sure what the fuss is all about. There are 100 rooms and they’re all decorated to the nines. Someone had too much money and time to do all of this.
Even some of the decorations seemed to be arguing, perhaps about how over-decorated this place is.
The place draws such crowds and the back up is such that suddenly you’re seeing people rather than the tacky, er, lovely things in the rooms.
At one point we catch a glimpse of ourselves in an old mirror. Time for a quickie selfie.
Almost done with the house we return from the lowest level up, up, up, back to the main level.
We’re almost done, just the hall of tapestries to see.
Out in the gardens two white peacocks strut their stuff in unison on the green grass. People were hoping for a show but we didn’t get one (here).
We did get a show from the dogwood tree, which seemed to have so many blossoms you couldn’t really see the leaves.
Looking down we can see more gardens and our hotel in the background.
A commotion signals something going on. One of the birds has decided to give us a show. This woman wanted to see how close she could get for a picture. The turning of the bird surprised her silly self.
We do lunch early, which worked out well. The mostly raw hamburger, not our favorite.
On the next island, Isola Madre, we didn’t see many blooming flowers, but we did see this 50 foot high hedge made from magnolia trees. Impressive.
We also got to see another white peacock, this time with its peahen mate.
Back at the hotel the cool water in the pool was most refreshing.
For dinner I finally get a pizza in Italy, albeit not in Napoli, its place of origin.
On our after dinner walk we see a MedyBox, a 24/7 vending machine for after-hour maladies. There is headache medication and mouthwash, but most things are condoms and vibrators, like for real emergencies.