Our hike from San Salvatore to Morcote

As you will see below, my friend Sally and I did a very long hike on the one free day I had in Lugano over spring break. Since we were here and the weather was beautiful, we decided to take the San Salvatore Funicolare up the mountain and then hike down the backside to Morcote. Our location in Montagnola is really quite unique and being able to see the view from the top of the mountain really puts things in perspective. The landscape is stunning to say the least. Montagnola is actually on the start of a peninsula that is surrounded by Lake Lugano on both sides. San Salvatore is at the beginning of the peninsula and Morcote is at the end that juts into the lake. The hike was beautiful through mostly wooded areas, but then some clearings where it felt like you were on a farm. Even though the walking was great, we also stopped and had one of the best meals I've had in Switzerland at a small mountain town called Corona...no no beers here. I had heard about a restaurant in this town called Posta and we happened to run right into it while checking out the town. After contemplating what we should have and wondering why she hadn't come back to take our order...our "light lunch" arrived. I guess there was a fialy special and that's what everyone was having. The most delicious chicken in the world, with steamed veggies and mashed potatoes...and some wine of course. I know only in Switzerland do you have wine while hiking. The distance was not grueling, but the persistent downhill stairs were. Our calves were almost shaking by the end of the 4 hours. Once we reached Morcote we had a well deserved gelato and then took a boat back to downtown Lugano. It was a relaxing ride in the sunshine!