SO, WHERE AM I ANYWAY?
I do not know about you, but when I think of Switzerland, I assume German-speaking Switzerland as that is the predominate language over most of the country.
Maybe I should have had an inkling as I went over the Passo del San Bernadino that things might change, but it was still a surprise to see the exit signs not be “Ausfahrt,” but “Uscita,” the Italian word for exit. So, here I was in the Canton of Ticino, which is totally an Italian area. Pretty much the only thing Swiss was the currency and the flags.
Maybe in hindsight, when I had booked my room in a tiny town called Olivone, and the booking was totally in Italian and I had to use Google translator to confirm that I did have the room, I should have also known? So, loving Italy and being quite a bit more comfortable struggling with Italian rather than German, it was really quite fun.
The place was a sort of historic roadhouse with a bar and ristorante attached. Although over 100 years old, the room was fine and all was good. There were no rating stars over the door, so government rating wise, it was, well, not worthy I guess. But totally a fun experience.
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| Tiny village |
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| On this part of the day, I had made a wrong turn and really was lost. But everywhere is very beautiful so it was OK. |
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| Always a bit scary to drive under these things |
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| In Europe, when you enter a town, the road width is determined by the building placement as they far pre-date cars and such. So, it varies quite a bit,and sometimes you will see corners of buildings cut away to create a bit more room. |
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| Yes, a covered bridge in the Via Mala a dramatic gorge stretch of the Rhine River. |
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| Accessing the Passo del San Bernadino. There were close to 20 of these as the road just snaked up the mountain side. |
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| Starting down from the pass. Very different vegetation on this south facing side. |
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| The road snaking down. The weird structures are air vents for the highway tunnel far below this. |
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| A classic Italian style building in Olivone |
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| The historic chiesa in Olivone |
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| This is from the 11th century, but the clock (newer of course) works. |
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| My hotel, the Albergo Olivone e Posta. |