Isole Borromee – Part II

We then took a boat to Isola Madre, which is the largest of the Borromeo Islands and is home to another Borromeo family palace and surrounding gardens. As with Isola Bella, the gardens were definitely the highlight of the visit.

A massive 200 year old Kashmir Cypress (supposedly the largest in Europe) is perhaps the most prominent feature of the gardens. It was blown over during a freak storm in 2006 and since then has been the subject of an extensive rescue effort.

It looks a bit odd from this angle, which shows most of the damage incurred during the storm, but the pre-storm pictures were pretty impressive (I unfortunately didn’t take a photo, nor could I find one on line).

And here are some of the Isola Madre’s local residents.

 

After our island tour, we took a boat back to Stresa to visit the city a bit before heading back to Cannobio. Here’s a shot of the exclusive Grand Hotel.

This dog caught my attention as he seemed to be by himself and was thoroughly focused on one thing in particular…the ice cream shop in the adjacent picture. Though I didn’t see anyone buy him an ice cream, from the looks of him I wouldn't be surprised if he’s able to get a tourist to buy him one on occasion.

After returning to Cannobio, we walked around a bit through the narrow streets just off the lakefront.

 

 

We then walked back down to the lake, where I took this photo. I like the view with Switzerland and the Alps in the background.

We had dinner at a restaurant on the lakefront. The view from the terrace was very nice, particularly after sunset as the lake and the sky seemed to be the same color.