Having traveled by car, plane, train, bus, and foot to get here, we finally arrived in Verbania Pallanza a few days ago. It’s a pretty easy trip, especially since I’ve been here before, but no less it’s a long day having taken off from Newark around 7pm and finally putting our bags down and taking our shoes off here around 3pm (9am EST) the next day.
As per usual, once we got the keys and handed over a large chunk of cash, we barely took a minute to sit down before we headed off to the most important place... the grocery store. Food was desperately needed and at the time we arrived, all the restaurants were on their break between lunch and dinner.
After eating some focaccia, cheese, olives, and wafers, we built up enough energy to make the trek to the real grocery store, the giant Esselunga about a ten minute walk away. Barely awake, still hungry, not feeling great we made a lap around the store to find some things we needed to at least make it through the next few days. As Wednesday was Ferragosto, we weren’t sure if anything would be open so we had to prepare. Highlights for me were definitely frozen porcini mushrooms, fresh figs, and smoked mozzarella di bufala. Kristen was pretty happy to find Illy coffee ground for the Moka pot. We were both excited about shampoo/ conditioner/ soap. We both felt gross after our journey.
The past few days have been more of that, a few more trips to the grocery store once our brains were not so drained from being awake for so many hours. Yesterday I was finally able to get to Vodafone and get a SIM card for my phone. Now we have internet, although connectivity is an issue in the thick-walled fortress of an apartment we’re staying in. Pro-tip: don’t go for American phone companies’ travel plans. If you have an unlocked phone (any Verizon phone) you can buy a SIM. It’s super easy, and for under $25 I can call and text more than I’d ever want to plus I have 18GB of data. I think last time I did the plan from Verizon is was $45 for 500MB!
Anyway, it’s beautiful and quiet here in Verbania as usual. The apartment from La Tua Casa is wonderful. I could definitely live here! More space than I’d need, the kitchen is great and we’re a three minute walk from Lago Maggiore. I highly recommend La Tua Casa for apartment-style accommodations around Lago Maggiore.
Besides shopping for groceries and toiletries, we’ve done a few shorter rides to get the legs going. Today we did our first real ride, a tough one that at its highest point went through a town called Piancavallo. After warming up on the flat road along the lake, there was quite a challenging climb at 9-10% most of the way with some sustained 11-12% sections for about 13km. The entire ride was less than 40 miles but it was a good introduction to the mountains that we’ll get more of in the coming days. The descent was a mix of some not-overly-technical switchbacks followed by a wide sweeping road with long straightaways that encouraged a very fast pace. Once we got back into Intra, it was a short ride along the panoramic multi-use path to the other side of town (Pallanza). Having walked that entire stretch yesterday, we were able to focus on not running into any pedestrians since we were used to the incredible views the entire way.
Perhaps the highlight of today’s ride was running into a bunch of goats. We came across them just as a car was coming from the other direction. One friendly goat was in the middle of the road and didn’t want to move. A German tourist got out of her car and tried to move the goat along but the goat was content to spend some time in the road and make new friends. When the goat moved, it only did so to follow the lady back to her car and see what that was all about. As we passed the goats, they were all in a line with their heads turned around on a set of stone steps. It would have been a great photo but I wasn’t going to stop once we got moving because if all the goats got in the road, we’d still be there. More so than anything we’ve been trying to get adjusted to the time change as well as eating a ton. After Ferragosto passed, the bakery that I love so much opened again. Some of the best focaccia I’ve ever had can be found there, as well as exceptional brioches filled with cream, Nutella, or jelly. We’ve also been eating well from our apartment kitchen. So far we’ve had Fusilloni with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, and Smoked Mozzarella di Bufala, as well as Tagliatelle with Cherry Tomatoes and Porcini Mushrooms. We’ve had some sautéed greens and Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Smoked Mozzarella di Bufala. Of course, tons of olives, cheeses, breads, and figs on the side. It’ll be salad time soon!
Tomorrow we’ll first head to the market in Verbania Intra, which is the biggest one this side of the lake. I hope to find some local vegetables, maybe some more cheese, and hopefully some biscotti. I remember there being some last time I was here. It will be good to give my sweets intake some variety from a sizeable consumption of gelato.
Besides that, we’ll ride something shortish, with the intention of doing about 100km on Sunday.
Seeing as how the internet connectivity is spotty, I may have some issues uploading photos, so we’ll see how that goes. Please be patient.
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