After my stay in Geneva and my great visit to the Montreux Jazz Festival, it was time to move on. I took a beatiful train journey through Switzerland to Zurich, where I changed trains for the the Cisalpino high speed line through the Swiss Alps to a small town called Bellinzona in the Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino.
This area has to be one of the most beautiful regions in the world and appears in many films where the scenery often looks like it has been inserted with CGI…there´s no way it could be real…
Bellinzona is a small town close to the larger towns/cities of Lugano and Locarno, both on beautiful lakes. The town is nestled in a valley with three large castles strung across the narowest part. It´s quite a climb to reach the highest one, especially in 30 deg heat but well worth it for the views.
Bellinzona, Ticino
July 17th, 2008 § 0
London-Paris-Geneva
July 2nd, 2008 § 0
The first leg of my trip is almost over. I was on the 09:26 Eurostar from shiny St Pancras to Gare du Nord and happily arrived early…to be greeted by muggy wet conditions. Ah well, I had not planned on spending any time in Paris this time as I’m saving it for a weekend break in the Autumn. Anyway, I made my way to Gare de Lyon and sat around reading and people watching all afternoon…trying to get rid of my poorly-timed man flu!
I’m writing this from a rather busy TGV train to Geneva and according to my GPS we’re travelling at around 160mph…not sure about its accuracy but we certainly seem to be moving fast.
Right, back to playing Scrabble in French with some random fellow passengers!
Update: The TGV broke down last night. Something about lightning hitting the points, which I thought was a purely English excuse. Anyway, arrived into Geneva Cornavin about 23.15 and checked in to the Youth Hostel at 23.30.