Trips

Thurs., 5/11/23 - Tirano to Lake Iseo

This was another transfer day. After an hour of driving along the twisting roads of the Alps, we crossed the Aprica Pass at 3,000 feet of elevation and stopped for coffee and rest rooms in the town of Edolo.

From the bus
Town of Edolo	Cute carving
Oglio River bridge	Open pit mine - Gravel?
Castle on a hill
After the "comfort stop," we drove on through tunnel after tunnel to eventually visit Bersi Serlini Cellara, a winery in the Franciacorta area. In this area they grow four kinds of grapes for white wines and make a sparkling wine called Franciacorta using the “classical method” - that translates to expensive. We walked through part of the vineyard where the grapes were the size of BBs, then had a tour and explanation of the process they use. This explained why their wines are expensive.
Franciacorta Region - Bersi Serlini Cellar	Figs
Baby grapes
In the cellars	Old grape press
Aging the wine	Aging the wine
Aging the wine	The wine tasting experience included a challenge. We were blindfolded and had to see if we could distinguish, by tasting, which wine was which from among the three glasses presented. Results were interesting. We won't become wine tasters any time soon.
Snacks	We rode through several more tunnels and beautiful mountains to our hotel, the Hotel Villa Kinzica, in Sale Marasino on Lake Iseo.
Views in Iseo	From our hotel window
Isla Loreto	Hydrangeas on the lawn
Fri., 5/12/23 - Sale Marasino on Lake Iseo Today we opted for a day off - rest and recovery, while the rest of the group went off on an optional tour to Brescia. It rained off and on but we did get in a two-hour walk along the lake and up the hill into residential areas of houses and narrow streets. There are evidently some nice 16th century frescoes in several churches, but all the churches we walked by were not open and looked deserted.
Overlooking Lake Iseo	Nice wall decoration
Church of Sts. Peter and Paul dei Disciplini a Curetto	Sun Dial
Church of San Zenone	Church of San Zenone
Church of San Zenone	Red-breasted Merganser duck and ducklings
Compass rose	Surveyor's marker at the center of the compass rose
Isla Loreto	Hand of Fatima on a well-used door
Fancy door knocker
	Narrow streets
Narrow streets	Sun dial
	Church of St. Giovanni Battista
Local train	At 4:30 the group met for a ferry ride across to Monte Isola, a large island in the middle of Lake Iseo. The ferry docked at Peschiera Maraglio, a little touristy village that was once a fishing village. One of our stops was at a shop where a man makes nets by hand for soccer goal nets and basketball nets. It takes 20 meters of cord and only 5 minutes to make a BB net. It takes two hours to make a net hammock. The stop was quite interesting. A lengthy stroll southward along the lake brought us to the Baracuda Cafe for gelato. This stroll also took us past the location where the Floating Piers, an art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were laid out in the lake and out to St. Joseph Island. There were billboards showing the yellow pontoons and lots of people on them. The installation was up for two weeks in 2016.
Peschiera Maraglio Village on Monte Isola	Ferry to Peschiera Maraglio Village on Monte Isola
Peschiera Maraglio Village on Monte Isola
Floats?	Net maker's shop
Bags at the net maker's shop	Sewing machine at the net maker's shop
Soccer goal net	Boxes of nets for specific teams/locations
Signs commemorating the Floating Piers project	Martinengo Fortress atop Monte Isola
Red-crested Pochard duck	Cute little robot lawn mower

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