European Trip 8: Cannobio, Italy

Wednesday 25th September (day 12)

Driving south from Liechtenstein back through part of Switzerland, we opted for the tunnel rather than the San Bernardino pass, which saved us some considerable time, heading for Lake Maggiore and on its western shore, the small town of Cannobio.

Cannobio is a small, picturesque town with quite steep and narrow streets, sloping to the lake shore.

High above the town, is Orrido of Saint Anna (The Ravine of Saint Anna), which we could partially see but did not visit.

To get to the town from where we were parked-up for the night, we had to cross this suspension footbridge, which suffered similar problems to the London Millennium Footbridge when it first opened. It bounced around quite alarmingly as you walked across, especially if your walking pace matched its natural up and down oscillation.

We walked down towards the lake shore. Along the way, we passed many vendors of cheese and other produce, some offering tasty samples.

There is a regular passenger ferry-boat which visits other towns on the lake shore.

It is clearly an old town, with many buildings which are medieval.

Some are adorned with what appear to be very old and faded religious paintings:

Along the water-front, many of the cafes have interesting frontages:

Along some streets, there are also many courtyards to be seen through arched entrances. We found that there was a colourful decorative theme, with lots of large, plastic, primary-coloured animals placed around the town.

We enjoyed a pleasant drink sat outside one of the cafes for a while, watching the world go by before returning to the motorhomes. Altogether a lovely day. Tomorrow, we plan to move a little further down the lake.

Visiting with a Motorhome:

We stayed on a small campsite, “Park Camelie”, which is a short walk away from the town centre. Some basic facilities (water, chemical and waste disposal) and parking places around a central hut, which is where you pay 20 € for the night. The man speaks good English.

Pitches are a bit uneven and can slope a bit, but it served the purpose. The main problem would be for large vehicles as access is very narrow in places, (though there was a huge German motorhome on site while we were there). You might need to watch the overhanging house rooves in places too.