Lugano

The plan was to take two days to reach Lugano, due to the fact that it is ~130km away and I need to pass two passes. San Bernadino Pass, at 2100m elevation, is the reason I have taken it easy up to this point. As it turns out, when the sun shines and the panorama is this beautiful, there is no reason to fret over elevation.
Most of the traffic is diverted into tunnel to avoid topping this pass. This means that, aside from some motorbikes, I am relatively alone climbing the switch-backed roads. At one point the road is closed and a road worker helps me bypass 100m elevation, by bunging my steed and I into the back of his van.
And what a magical view from the top.














Once over the pass, I realise differences immediately: all the signage is in Italian, the architecture is more reminiscent of Italian design and there is more of a casualness to everything - roads are not so well maintained, buildings are more likely to be undergoing renovation, the respect for cyclists decreases.
It is great fun to drop 1800m over 60km and it is definitely steeper from the Italian side of Switzerland; a fact that deters me from cycling back the same way.















Wild camping would prove difficult and my legs are still fresh, so I press on to Lugano.

I arrive in Lugano in the evening and get shown around the AirBnB. Alan and Donal have to yet to arrive, so I can chill out a few hours. The reason they have come here for the weekend is that they plan to attend a BitCoin conference being held here.

We spend the following days trekking about Lugano and attending BitCoin lectures and after parties. I am simply happy to have kitchen facilities and a wonderful balcony overlooking the city. Once you step outside the door, everything costs a small fortune. After all, this is still Switzerland and one of the main banking centres to boot. Guchi, Rolex and YSL stores compete for attention on the main shopping streets.






When the guys are busy one of the days, I bike over the border to Como in Italy to see what all the fuss about Lake Como is about. Definitely a cheaper, thereby more accessible, tourist resort than Lugano, and more scenic in my humble opinion.

Lake Lugano

View from Mont Bre over Lake Lugano

Lake Como

Lake Como

Da boyz sophisticatin'