Hydrofoil on Lago Maggiore by Callavetta
It's drizzly and raining on Lago Maggiore - what to do? Take a boat ride!.My first full day in Locarno was met with drizzly weather. No problemo! I walked through the drizzle along the wonderful promenade to the dock from which the boats depart for all of the ports along the beautiful Lago Maggiore. The view from the water gives one a completely different perspective of the region. While a drizzly day leaves low, whispy clouds hanging on the hillsides and ruins plans to take one of the cogwheel trains or gondolas to the top of the mountain, it offers a beautiful view of the little historic towns and villages along the lake.
For this trip I took the hydrofoil, a two hour ride from Locarno to Stresa (in Italy). Slower boats make more stops and can take up to 5 hours to get from the northern most part of the lake to this popular Italian destination. The boat also stopped at Isola Madre and Isola Bella, two islands with luxurious gardens and castles (along with requisite restaurants).
Stopping in Stresa, I strolled around the cobblestone streets, shopped for beautiful Italian pottery, antique jewelry, and bought postcards (all that I could afford in this pricey enclave!). I had a wonderful lunch of fresh grilled vegetables, calamari fritti and a small jug of good Italian red vino. While I waited by the lake for the return boat I watched workers with a crane move a huge palm tree onto a barge for tranporting out to one of the islands. Italian skippers tried to hustle tourists into taking their boat over to Isola Bella, just offshore.
