Traveling Catch-Up : Our First Trip to Switzerland and a Weekend in Italy

We have quite a bit of catch-up to do with this blog since we've been busy with a combination of settling in and traveling around and haven't had much time to write about either one!

We arrived here in Leuven back in June, shortly before the feast of Pentecost, and right away we booked our tickets from Brussels to Basel, Switzerland so that we could be together with friends to celebrate the feast. Less than two weeks after arriving in Belgium we were ready to move on to our second European country of 2013.

one of the many businesses inside the Brussels Airport

Robert is no stranger to Switzerland, having spent time a couple summers doing research near Basel. There he became good friends with a Greek family at the same church where we also have a few expat friends who are parishioners. It's a small world! We were all very happy to celebrate Pentecost together. 

We didn't really take any photos on this trip, unfortunately...but fear not, there will be lots of Switzerland pics coming soon when we post about our second trip to Switzerland. Stay tuned for splendid views of the Alps! 

Robert enjoying breakfast at the airport

The next weekend, we caught a very early Saturday morning flight to Milan, Italy. We had to catch the first bus of the day to make it to the airport on time, and we were rather amazed to find the bus more than half full...of students heading home after a long Friday night out. Sometimes we forget that we live in quite the university town! So we didn't get the restful bus ride we had hoped, but at least we got to the airport with plenty of time to make our flight.

a church on our way to the lakes!

We arrived smoothly at Milan's northern airport, picked up our rental car, and headed further north toward Italy's beautiful lakes. We didn't have much of a plan for the day other than to eventually end up in the town of Orta San Giulio on the shore of Lago D'Orta, where we had a dinner reservation thanks to a recommendation from some friends in Brussels.  

So we headed north, following our trusty Google Maps print-out....and without much of a map other than that, we ended up taking a few detours. At least in this part of Italy, no matter where you go you're definitely taking the scenic route.

 Our drive took us through some beautiful stretches of countryside. In one wooded stretch we even saw a deer on the side of the road. (Unfortunately we caught too short of a glimpse to get the camera out in time!)

We also passed through many small towns with beautiful buildings and a number of lovely churches. The architecture in the towns reminded us of Greece, especially the many balconies in the multicolored apartment buildings. 

Our first stop was the scenic town of Arona on the shores of Lago Maggiore. We parked and walked along the docks, enjoying the beautiful weather and amazing views of the lake and surrounding hills. 

We saw people out boating, and lots of people out flying as well. Robert was, of course, particularly interested in the latter. 

[Remember to click on the photos to view a larger version!]

After spending some time enjoying the scenery, we continued on west to Lago d'Orta, to the town of Orta San Giulio. 

Orta San Giulio

We had heard from our friends that this small lake was blessed with the combination of being especially beautiful AND being relatively free of tourists. We wholeheartedly agree! Foreigners were definitely few in number -- we heard Italian being spoken by almost everyone. Just because it was free of tourists didn't mean it was free of vacationers, though...we were surrounded by plenty of Italian families enjoying a lovely day at the lake. 

Hills around Lago d'Orta

One of the many little shops selling specialty food items.

 After taking a quick turn around the town, we settled on a restaurant in the square by the harbor where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. The quality was high, the ingredients fresh, the views stunning, and the prices low. You certainly can't beat that combination!

Enjoying a delicious scoop of gelato!

the square by the harbor

As we ate, we had a splendid view of the lake's tiny island, Isola San Giulio, where the local saint after whom the town and island are named ended his earthly life. San Giulio (Julius of Novara) was an area missionary priest who lived during the second half of the fourth century. His relics are found in the crypt of the basilica on the island which was once part of a large seminary. The buildings now belong to a Benedictine monastery. 

view of Isola San Giulio from Orta San Giulio

We spent the afternoon enjoying the weather and the beautiful lake, and before we knew it, it was time to go to dinner. Thanks to our friends' recommendation, we had reservations at a little restaurant on the island. They came and picked us up in a boat, which was pretty neat!

making our way out to Isola San Giulio

on the boat

our little boat, docked at the restaurant

We had a delicious dinner and then went for a short walk around the island. Italians eat every late -- when we were leaving the restaurant (close to 10:00 pm) there were still plenty of people arriving! And Orta San Giulio was full of people, including families with young children. No early bedtimes around here! We were pretty tired, since we had left so early for the airport, so we drove back toward Milan to our hotel to spend the night. 

delicious food!

fresh fish from the lake -- delicious!

The next morning we dropped our rental car off at the airport and caught the train into Milan. We made it just in time for the start of Liturgy at a little Russian church in Milan. The church was so packed full of people that we had to stand in the doorway (which is probably a good thing, considering that it was so hot and full of candles that I'm not sure how everyone inside wasn't fainting!). 

on the train from the airport to Milan!

After church we made our way over to Milan's main attraction -- the Duomo. The fifth largest cathedral in the world, the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) is overwhelming in its size and majestic Gothic architecture. We were impressed by how strictly the dress code was enforced: a number of women in line were turned away for having bare shoulders or knees or for having too low-cut of a neckline. 

outside view of the Duomo

Pictures aren't allowed inside the cathedral, but we took plenty of the outside. Robert elected to climb up to the roof, where he got some great shots while I waited below.

Anya waiting at the base of the Duomo

a view down into the courtyard where an NBA expo was going on!

the impressive roof

Modern Milan's skyscrapers

Next we made our way to the church of St. Ambrose of Milan, where we saw some pretty neat old inscriptions and beautiful mosaics, and venerated the relics of the saint in the crypt under the altar. 

We had dinner and headed back to our hotel to get some rest before our very early Monday morning flight back to Brussels!