Lake Orta

The mountains turned from possible  shapes to solid towering lumps and slowly came into view acrosstjelandscape -  majestic with clouds sitting on top... then as we rounded the corner the lake appeared gloriously aquamarine blue..

we tried to park🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 at Orta San Giulio - as usual no luck whats so ever so we just headed straight to the campsite.  That, tbh, did us a favour but we didnt realise until later.  

It was an absolute delight to be under a proper shower... not a camping one, not a flannel and the washing up bowl🤣🤣 - good to get the washing done as well - we can go out in public again now. ... just in case you think its all scenic and fun

The campsite Bellavista was good - reasonably priced for the area and not too busy - the peak season here was over so it felf bit more spacious. 

It had good clean facilities and even almost a lake view from where we parked.

 It also offered an unofficial taxi service to Orta San Giulio.  Its only about 4k's down the road but no bus and the town centre itself is completely car free so its bike, walk or camp taxi in... 

We booked for day 2 and spent a pleasant but once again hot afternoon exploring this wonderful ancient little place on the side of lake Orta.  It was good we were able to do it in a day at our own pace - if we had parked the day before we would have missed a lot ...

Fabulous snickerty alleys - some of the houses built over in bridges others nearly touching at the rooftops.  An extremly tranquil vibe... no cars , mottorbike or scooters!! The main square opened onto the lake - very scenic.

There is a tiny island on the lake and a regular ferry service but we decided to explore the UNesco heritage site instead.

In order to fortify ourselves for the walk up the hill we had the obligatory gelatto.. cherry, amaretto and choc ...

The road to the Santurio del Sacro Monte di Orta entailed walking up the main wide street to the big church.

There were some amazing houses on the way.. fab rooftops and chimineys...

Then on further up the hill ( cobbles..full sun..  steep...) more interesting houses - I really want a roof top annexe.....

This UESCO designated site is dedicated to a collection of 20 small chapels each holding life size (and in some cases larger than life) models depicting tableaux of various biblical scenes...

it put me very much in mind of the Bishops Palace Neapoliton Nativity scene they roll out every year -the main difference is the Auckland one is approx 4 x4 metres with 100's of tiny figures tiny figures - and this one  was spread over 20 small chapels with probably same amount of life like figures.... very impressive, very detailed, in parts. 

Much of it dated back to the 17 century - some of it was in better condition then other bits, but it was all quite fascinating. 

The views across the lake were fantastic from the top of the hill

We wandered back to the main drag and refreshed ourselves with a beer... we would have lingered but the pesky wasps had really decided to hassle us - me in particular.. so we drank up, rang for our lift home and chilled out for the evening at camp. Another glorious shower 🤣🤣 and a few beers.... and planning for the next day heading for Switzerland...

...little aside here as I post this...we woke up CHILLY this morning !!!!!