This past Saturday, we took a day trip to Stresa which is located in northern part of Piemonte. It’s located on beautiful Lago Maggiore.
Carlo joined his company’s Recreational club and this was an excursion that we thought would be fun. It’s only 2 hours away by bus and it was a really good deal. The price included the bus, the boat ride & lunch at a restaurant.
So we packed a bag with essentials for Valentina and were out the door at 6:50am!
on the bus!
Our first stop was at Isola Bella. It’s one of the 3 islands on Lago Maggiore. The palace on this island is beautiful and the Royal garden was amazing! This Palace actually belongs to the Borromeo family- a royal family in the Lombardy region with ties also to the Catholic church. Margherita de’ Medici (mother of Saint Carlo Borromeo) was the sister of Pope Pius IV. The family still vacations here every summer. They raise a flag to let everyone know that they are on the island.
our boat to Isola Bella
in front of the palace..
our first family picture!
Unfortunately, we were not able to take any picture inside the palace and by the time our tour ended, it was raining. Somehow, we managed to remember everything for the baby… but forget to take our umbrellas. So, we walked very quickly through the garden and then stopped at the bar so that I could feed VJ.
fountain at the Royal Garden
resident peacock!
After the tour, we hopped back onto the boat and it was onto Isola Superiore for lunch. It rained the entire time we ate our lunch and afterwards as well. We were lucky enough to find a covered patio for me to feed Valentina (it was already 3 hours from the last feeding) and the lady who owned it was nice enough to let us sit there without having to buy anything. Once Valentina was done eating, we had 10 minutes to spare until we had to meet back at the boat so, we walked for a few minutes and enjoyed the island.
We ended our trip with some free time at Stresa which is the town we were in. Luckily, the rain had stopped and we were able to enjoy a walk downtown. However, it was still cold so, we had to make sure that Valentina was nice and warm.
still sleeping..
No matter how cold it was… we had to have gelato!
We really enjoyed this trip! It was a great way to spend some time exploring Italy and the best part was that we didn’t have to plan anything.. everything was done for us! We’ll definitely come back with my parents when they visit and maybe they’ll be another organized trip we can go on!
texasmomintorino.com 
What a beautiful corner of the world.
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I remember passing Stressa when I took the rail from Geneva…I'm saving my pennies so we can buy a house there.
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What an awesome getaway. and V is already a worl traveler!!! Too cute
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Great pics!
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Lovely photos! I've never been to Stresa.
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