This is it, folks: last of the Swiss mountains, some from my walks in and around Morcote (above), Bissone and Lugano, several from around the Centovalli town of Camedo, and also some from the hanging-bridge walk in the mountains on the north of the valley that runs between Bellinzona and Lago Maggiore / Locarno. (E.g. the bigger photo at the bottom with a lovely crescent moon.) It’s a lot, but some of them sure are lovely, eh?
Last photos from the cable car up (with sun) and down (without sun) during my manic effort to see and walk across the Tibetan-style hanging bridge in the hills north and west of Bellinzona, back in November. For orientation, in the photo above, the main city of Bellinzona with its three UNESCO historic castles is to the left, west, around the corner and between the ridge of mountains we’re descending, and the ridge formed with the moutain across the valley. In case you were curious…
A selection of entrancy photos from various parts of Ticino on my visit there more than 5 months ago. I need to accept that I’ll never get all those photos posted…
Many bridges in Bellinzona; the one above connecting Castello di Montebello’s inner and outer courtyards, also seen in some below along with a few street bridges from my lovely hike between castles that day. If you missed it earlier, do check out our prior post explaining these castles.
Last post of the Tibetan footbridge we’ve shown you previously, in the hills above Bellinzona. Anyone with trouble viewing the small circles below: tap or click on the individual photos to see them full size. 🙂
These are some of the lovely cottage gardens and semi-wild hillsides down which I walked and bushwhacked during my efforts to see all three of the proud castles of Bellinzona early last November, as we’ve described in a prior post or three :-).
Et voila, that Tibetan hanging bridge across a gorge in the hills northwest of Bellinzona (en route to Locarno) that I’ve been promising to show you for more than two months. There’ll be one or two more of this location, likely in a different series you can guess.
Welcome to Bellinzona, which is the capital of Ticino, Switzerland’s southernmost and only predominantly Italian-speaking canton. Its importance derives from its pivotal role in ensuring the Swiss Confederation took all this land south of the alps away from various Italian ducal cities which had claimed it.
Yes, it’s not coincidence that Switzerland has this large canton almost entirely south of the alps whose sole official language is Italian: three key central-Swiss cantons and founders of the Old Swiss Confederacy back in the 14-1500’s each built a castle strategically positioned to both protect the Gotthard pass – it’s north and east of the mountains on the far side just above and has since history began been the main pass through the alps – and to secure claim to the lands that are now Ticino. Turns out at one point they’d conquered land all the way down to Domodossola, which was the one place they were required to give back in the Peace of 1516. Who know the Swiss were once so expansionist?
This photo immediately above shows you Castello di Sasso Corbaro at the top, seen through the crenelations on a turret of Castello di Montebello. We shared a glimpse of Sasso Corbaro in an earlier post, taken as I hiked up the other (western) side earlier this day, before walking and bushwhacking back down the east side to get to Montebello. (All of this was necessary because construction was blocking access to the main foot path from town up to this one.) The top picture shows you Castelgrande, the only one I didn’t get to, because after the bushwhacking etc. between these two castles, I chose the Tibetan hanging bridge at sunset instead, as noted in a prior post more than two months ago … in which I promised both to show & tell you more about Bellinzona (promise now fulfilled), and show you the Tibetan hanging bridge (promise still outstanding). The first photo in the gallery below should be showing you both Montebello (closer) and Castelgrande (farther) as seen from Sasso Corbaro. Enjoy these views of the most historically important of Ticino’s lovely cities.
We’re in the hills above Bellinzona, walking toward Castello di Sasso Corbaro, which you can see at the top. It’s one of the three castles guarding three key passes into this valley which gives access to Lake Lugano, into which this stream above and below will flow. (More about all that, quite soon.) Below, you’re looking pretty much west to where you can just make out Lago Maggiore’s northeasternmost arm.
(so much world, so little time....) 