From Venice, Italy to Lugano, Suisse

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Our initially planned for Easter trip is to singgah at Milan on the way balik but the, the traffic jam plus that we were unable to find hotel with free parking dampened our mood for Milan.  Luckily, we brought along the laptop and managed to plan alternative trip to Lugano instead.  Oh man, last minute search for hotel is very, very difficult especially during Easter break. Luckily, we found a hotel located at Varese, Italy. It is very near to Lugano, around 40km aje and also cheap at Euro 90 per night... 

Lagi pun, dah alang-alang cross Mont Blanc tunnel yg mahal tu might as well we spent most places yang terpaksa lalu tunnel tu... Lugano is at the other side of Switzerland and two ways can reach it... either a 5 hour plus driving using Swiss highway or 3 hr via Mont Blanc tunnel... 

The Mont Blanc tunnel
We ended our tour of Venice around 4pm and headed straight to Varese while Ita and her family made a stop to Nove before going home to Geneve. As we arrived at Varese around 8pm, the place was shrouded with darkness. We did not anticipate that the hotel is located on mountain top and that we had to use the small winding road along the mountain cliffs to reach there.  On top of the darkness, it was snowing heavily making the journey felt so eerie. 

Colonne Hotel, Varese
Colonne Hotel, Varese


The hotel, called Colonne Hotel, is just a small restaurant hotel at a nook of the mountain. It used to be a small villa built at hillside with cobble stone road just fit for one car to pass by. But the hotel is very charming and we love its deco with warmth and cheerful room compared those ones at Venezia hotel.  In fact, we got balcony with panaromic view of Varese city.


That morning, tengah kesejukan, we check out from the hotel and headed to Lugano in the Italian region of Switzerland to head to our targeted Foxtown factory outlet in Mendeirosa. Here, nothing to say except shop till you drop! the only place in Suisse where you got big factory outlet with so many choices of designer labels!

Foxtown Factory Outlet, Mendrisio...
Balik from Lugano, we decided to use the Swiss highway. memorable journey. the view was so awesome.. its was so cold and snow flakes turun along the highway.... terpaksa melalui one tunnel yg panjangnya 17km... it is called the St Gottard Pass and that it used to be dangerous jugak.. ada case yg kereta kena hempap dek batu batan after keluar from the tunnel... 




Lepas tu our Michelin GPS recommended that we used old road (short cut konon) to Geneva.. rupa2nya that route ikut maountain pass tembus ke Interlaken.... memula decide to follow.. to be adventurous... cantik view dia... old winding road along mountain terasse with snow capped mountain for us to cuci mata   but then..... deng, deng sampai satu tempat... senyap aje.. no human life, no houses, no trees but snow kiri kanan... ada satu penghadang across the road... sign tulis "DANGER, AVALANCHE"... dah kecut perut... terus tak jd adventurous.... said to abahnya patah balik... kang tak sampai Geneva tersangkut dlm snow plak ...




~yatiseman~









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