Lake Maggiore Italy

Travelled:58km
Visited:Isola Bella
Stay: Verbania- free parking, no services GPS N45°55.7562' E8°32.9178'

It was an easy drive this morning to Lake Maggiore and the aire in Baveno. It was a good spot to walk from to catch the ferry (€8.50 ea) that would take us across the short distance to Bella Island. There are a few islands to visit from here but both our books (Eyewitness Italian Lakes - thanks Rena) mentioned Bella. It was a beautiful clear day although the wind made it quite choppy. 

On the island there is a palace and its gardens to visit (€16 each). It was built by the Borromeo family starting in the 1600's but due to plagues and wars, it was not finished until the 1970's. The rooms were splendid

 and the man-made grotto rooms were uniquely covered from floor to ceiling with colored stones and volcanic rocks.

 The terraced gardens with its many statues certainly dominated the skyline but also offered a lovely view of the lake. 

After a stroll through the sourronding laneways with the obligatory tourist shops and restaurants, we made our way back to the mainland and had a pizza for lunch.

 Feeling very satisfied we went to have a look at the church. At the tourist office we discovered in the museum, the story behind their famous Baveno pink granite which they mine in the surrounding mountains. 

We decided to venture further north along the lake and stopped in Verbania. The aires (sostas- as they are known in Italy) in the camperstop book no longer existed, so we stopped in a parking area near Lidl where we had spotted other motorhomes. As you can imagine areas like these are very popular and many parkings ban motorhomes. There are usually camp grounds to choose from but what is the fun in that!?