Schaffhausen, back in northern Switzerland, at dusk. Zermatt, a stream whose mountainsides featured in that last post, is the southernmost German-speaking town in Italy; Schaffhausen is pretty much the northernmost canton in Switzerland…and is both German-speaking and largely surrounded by Germany. And also hosts Switzerland’s other exclave (remember the Italian Campione?), a German town just upstream from Schaffhausen which has no direct connection to the rest of Germany. No, I didn’t have time to make it there: was too busy enjoying the mulled wine and hillsides, plus Schaffhausen’s most famous feature, which we’ll show you in the next post :-).
An exclave of Italy within Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Lugano. Below is the dock as our boat pulled in – tap or click the photo to see it better, b/c the gallery auto-crops it a bit to fit. Probably the top of the mountain in that photo is already Italy again, but in between is a steep Swiss mountainside :-). My first four nights in Ticino were spent a 15-minute walk to the right of that marker below.
Taken as the Gondola swung towards its doc up at the top of what they call, I believe, the “Little Matterhorn” which is the highest gondola station or in the alps, or maybe the only year-round skiing option in the alps, or something of that sort. (I could verify it all in guidebooks or online, but will leave readers to do so if you choose.) Suffice for now to say these three photos were all taken while swinging in a different kind of metal enclosure in mid-air 🙂 en route to another high point looking at the alps – and yes, that’s the real Matterhorn again to the left of the left line of cables.
Goodness, these are the first images I’m showing you from my lovely out-and-back train ride from Locarno down to the remote, mountainous little village of Camedo, on the border between Italy & Switzerland and a bit west of Lago Maggiore. The area is called Centovalli because of all the steep, narrow valleys created by the side-streams that feed into the main valley-bottom river, the Melezza. This is a special line that runs between Domodossola and Locarno, serving quite a few tiny villages perched on the steep slopes along the way, and with (my guide book tells me) 17 impressive ironwork bridges along the way. I wish I’d had more time to explore it – but maybe next visit!
Above, your last shot of those Hajar Mountains over UAE on the Dhaka to Dubai run in September. Below, another of my new form of “in the air”-ness, taken from a gondola high above the valley of the Ticino river on my way to a mid-mountain stop that gave me access to a Tibetan hanging bridge that connected two villages without having to go up or down and around, not too long ago. You can see the shadow of my gondola on the mountainside, plus some of the city of Bellinzona in the center – left. Much more on both the Tibetan Bridge, and Bellinzona and its pivotal role in history, later… 🙂
My last few days in Ticino I moved over to Locarno, at the northernmost part of Lago Maggiore where it’s Swiss. (I showed you a few views from the train of bits of the Italian parts farther south, a while ago.) Above and below middle, you can basically see from Locarno on the NW corner of the lake, to the northeastern corner which means these shots cover maybe half the Swiss parts of this enormous lake.
(so much world, so little time....) 