The weather this morning was much improved from yesterdays
mistyness. Which was nice. We had hoped to go up Monte
Bre yesterday but decided against as the fog/mist would
have spoilt the marvellous views.
Having left our bags in a locker at the station, we opted against taking the bus to and instead elected to walk and bask in the sunshine to Cassarate. The ride to the summit of Monte Bre is in two sections - the first furnicular was opened in 1910 and the second (directly accross the road) was inaugurated in 1912.
From the summit, the clear afforded us an excellent view over
the Bernese Alps and the Alps of Valais. On an excellent clear
day like this it is also possible to see both the Monte Rosa
and the famous Matterhorn - inspiration for the probably equally
famous Toblerone. There
is a restaurant at the summit but it was closed on this visit
- being firmly low season for
Lugano
given the 4-day weekend.
None-the-less, we came for the views and we got them. The views
are spectacular and, with the restaurant in the foreground
of the vista, one can appreciate the scale of the vista which
stretchs in front you.
Having descended from Monte Bre, we headed slowly back to the train station for our final journey back to Zürich From the base of the lower funicular, we headed through the pleasant Parco Ciani and along the waterfront. With the mountain-tops snow capped, bright blue-skies and crisp, fresh January air was a most pleasant experience.
