Isola Bella

8/5 Stresa / Isola Bella
We had no plans for the day, rain was predicted so we thought we’d just have a wander and decide later. Our first surprise was the breakfast room which we found in the new annex (hadn’t realised until then that it existed), it’s lovely and fresh, big windows leading to a tiled terrace with a plant-covered wall. The food was fine, fresh pastries and fruit amongst other things so we were happy enough.

It was a mild morning so off we went about 100m down the street to the waterfront and walked to the jetty, took advantage of the weather and a hop on/hop off boat ticket to three islands which also gave us entry to the palace/museums on Isola Bella and Isola Madre. The boats go about every half hour from Stresa, hold maybe 25 people and are pretty fast, very easy. There are also bigger ferries that go beyond these islands, plus private speedboats or boats that take around 45 (a bus-load) and are part of organised tours of which there were several on the islands that we kept trying to dodge.

I’m not going to describe everything we saw, just too much to see and it was all really well worth doing. Best thing is to link good old Wikipedia, do have a quick look at each because it’s not too wordy and gives a good easy history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isola_Bella_(Lago… Isola Bella was our first stop, quite a scrum getting off the boat pushing through a crowd waiting to get on to go to the next island, first on/first served, limited space on the boats of course. The island is about two thirds palazzo and gardens, we went into the palazzo first and it’s huge with so much bling and more paintings of people and biblical characters, rich furniture and draperies, gold leaf…….. Napoleon visited the island and we saw the room he was given, and the alcove where his bed still stands, lovely views out the window looking across to Isola Madre.

Then it was down to the lowest level which is room after room of very odd plasterwork also set with stones, apparently a nice cool place for the residents in summer. There’s a big display of papier maché puppets, a very popular means of entertainment. Then upstairs for more bling and beauty, and a room with one side covered in unicorn and lion-related tapestries with other fanciful creatures also featured including monkeys, parrots, people, and a fair amount of blood – must have looked pretty amazing when new, but now faded to blue tones. In one the lion is being gored by the unicorn’s horn, and in another the unicorn is getting attacked.

We found a decoration that had an akubra on it - see it just to the left of Pete's hat in the photo. Als a hall of mirrors - how many of us can you see?

At last we got to the gardens, well, they’re huge with a couple of main levels, terraces with roses growing, lots of trees, beautifully manicured shrubs, and of course views to the other islands and across to the shore. The lake is quite narrow so you see both sides, and there are boats coming and going all the time.

There was a café at one end, and the main exit went by a couple of fairly tasteful souvenir stalls and continued down into the ‘village’ which really consists of a few houses and probably an equal number of cafes and souvenir stalls. I couldn’t resist the cat shawl, there were several colour combinations so it was hard to make a choice.

It was lunchtime so we chose the Lemon Tree with a partial view of the main ferry jetty and the lake of course, had a tree growing in the middle of it and a very nice owner who asked where we were from then pulled out a greenstone pendant and proudly said his daughter was studying/working in Wanaka, he’d been to New Zealand five times (including Nelson) and had climbed Mt Cook three times! We had a good lunch, lovely surroundings, and the Bellinis were delicious. We weren't tempted to try the New Zealand Sundae for 12 Euro - iccream, kiwifruit and cream.

Please read the next instalment for the second island.Read more