Ticino, Switzerland. Photo storytelling, 11 October 2019.
Especially during the summer months the frenzy of thousands of cars on the highway heading north comes to an abrupt end as they get stuck in the omnipresent traffic jam south of the 16.8 km long Gotthard Road Tunnel (map, Wikipedia), which connects the swiss-italian part with the swiss-german part of Switzerland.
This time we wanted to make it better and decided for slow travelling to the North having a break here and there and everywhere, avoiding the motorway and taking our time.
Denti della Vecchia
Did you know the Denti della Vecchia, the massive geological mountain formation near Lugano – a true hiking and bouldering paradise? In all those years I must have made thousands of images of the beautiful Denti della Vecchia – but today the scenery was absolutely spectacular with the sunrays and shadows in the sky.
A few kilometers further northwest our daughters Cécile and Olivia asked to take a cool swim in the Verzasca, a small mountain river – hmm … the water was 12°C cold … but if they really want, please – feel free.
Valle Verzasca
A good spot for having a cool swim in the Verzasca is about two kilometers up the valley from Lavertezzo. I would avoid Lavertezzo – it’s usually too crowded. But if you are there of course you must have a look at the old ponte (bridge) and the beautiful rock formations in the water!
At our spot we were nearly alone and enjoyed the cool water and the bright sun on the rocks in the Valle Verzasca.
Later on we circumvented the traffic jam at the Gotthard Road Tunnel and instead chose the normal road to Airolo, where we had a fantastic Fondue in the Caseificio del Gottardo (their website is in German or Italian).
Why not driving afterwards over the Gotthard Pass (map, Wikipedia) instead through the Gotthard Road Tunnel – and if – why not taking the famous old Tremola San Gottardo route up from Airolo to the Gotthard Pass? Nowadays nearly everyone prefers the motorway and the Gotthard Tunnel (and the traffic jam 😉 ), and those who decide to drive over the Gotthard Pass, they usually take the new and modern road to the Gotthard Pass and only a very few (f.e. our family!) take the old Tremola San Gottardo route.
Tremola San Gottardo
What a fantastic road the Tremola San Gottardo is – I would highly recommend it – if you are not too scared by the narrow and sometimes slippery pavé road.
It was already late in the evening when we winded up over the Tremola San Gottardo. And it was worth every hairpin bend! Cécile and Olivia even decided to run up a few bends – there was no traffic at all except us, while my wife Arlette and myself forgot the time photographing the stunning mountains around us.
We will take the same route again – for sure.
Photographs: RICOH GR II, GR Lens f=18.3 mm 1:2.8. .DNG RAW format.
Edited in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Please let me know your comments below – thank you!
Photographs: RICOH GR II, GR Lens f=18.3 mm 1:2.8. .DNG RAW format.
Edited in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
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Uh wow, very nice pictures! Beautiful! The last one is fantastic!
We did well, we took our time!
Thank you a lot! Yes, agree – I would do the same again.