Village Italy - 2014
Orta
Saturday, September 20
Orta San Giulio and Lago d’ Orta, Italy
We said farewell to the Cinque Terre and drove north into the southern Italian Alps to the lake side town of Orta San Giulio on Lago d’ Orta.
Lago d’ Orta
After dropping our luggage at the hotel, Lisa took us on a brief walking tour of Orta San Giulio. Following the tour we ate lunch at Ristorante Ai Due Santi on Piazza Motta.
Hotel La Bussola
Ristorante Ai Due Santi
From Piazza Motta, that faces the lake, we could see Isola San Guilio, a small island in Lago d’ Orta with the 12th century Basilica of San Guilio. We spent the next couple of hours exploring Orta San Giulio with mostly pedestrian only streets. The piazzas were filled with umbrella covered café’s, markets and small family owned restaurants. It was a peaceful and tranquil place with few tourists.
Mid-afternoon we toured that lake on a small boat stopping on the island to visit the basilica.
Standing in Piazza Motta with Isola San Guilio in the background
Taking a boat tour of the lake and visiting the Basilica of San Guilio
The basilica dates back to the 5th century. Originally a small chapel was built on the island. During the 6th century a larger church replaced the chapel. Some of the frescos from that church remain in the basilica. In the 12th century the basilica was enlarged with no further changes up to present time. With a guide we toured the grounds and basilica. About a dozen Nuns now live in the basilica repairing old tapestries for the Catholic Church.
Tonight was the last night with the tour group and we gathered a Ristoro Olina for our farewell dinner. We enjoyed a delicious dinner including veal terrine, risotto with saffron and sausage, bake veal rump and tiramisu for dessert.
There was a lively conversation of everything we shared on the tour and Lisa gave each of us a wine bottle corker. Each corker was a different design, made of ceramic; hand painted and came from the pottery shop we visited in Deruta, Italy. It was a great memento of the tour.
Ristoro Olina
After dinner we returned to the hotel, finished packing, set the alarm for 7:00 am and went to bed. It had been a full day and we were tired.
We’ve traveled with a different group on each of our last 8 tours in Europe and they’ve all been great. However this group of 12 couples was by far the most homogenous. All wonderful people interested in experiencing and learning more about the country in which we were traveling
Sunday, September 21
Flying to the United States and home in Rockford
Our first leg of our flight home was Milan to Rome. We left at 9:00 for the 45 minute ride to the Airport.
The Rome to Chicago flight was supposed to leave at 1:05 but didn’t depart until 2:00 in the afternoon.
The plane landed at Chicago O’Hare at 8:00 pm Sunday night. We caught the 8:30 bus to Rockford and were back home by 10:00 pm.
We learned so much about Italian history, customs, food and culture. The entire tour was a WOW experience.
View of Basilica of Lago d’ Orta from the hotel breakfast dining room.
© 2014. 2015 Bill Juffernbruch