La Tinera was an excellent choice for Friday night dinner. It's a grotto style restaurant, so we entered at ground level and smelled the wonderful aromas and then walked down the stairs to the restaurant. The restaurant had several families and was almost full, but there was a table available for us.
One of the specialties for a wild game charcuterie platter and at first I objected to ordering it, but I'm glad we did. There was pheasant salami, dried deer meat, wild boar proscuitto and cotto, and another preparation of deer meat. And Little Geek Girl ate it! For our mains, ZDG had osso bucco with risotto, LGG had spaghetti with marinara and I had the special which was grilled fish, veggies, and potatoes. When we had looked at the menu the day before they had venison stew listed, but we hadn't realized it was a daily special. Lesson learned, if something on a menu sounds good, go that night. We then walked to the main square to get gelato for ZDG and LGG and headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning the blue skies were gone. We took the bus to the train station to put our bags in a locker and then took the funicular down to the city center. On our way through the city we found a stand selling "fritters" which we could not walk by without trying some.
Nutella, apple, lemon, and raisin filled doughballs sprinkled with sugar.
In the middle of the main square some musicians were playing, so we stopped to listen.
We decided to take a boat ride to Gandria for lunch and a walk. As we were waiting for the boat, ZDG snapped a photo of a Swiss seagull. At first we thought only the Ticino seagulls "wore headphones", but we have since confirmed that Zürich seagulls also wear headphones.
During the cold boat ride we had a nice tour of the lake and the "towns" on its banks.
When ZDG purchased the boat tickets he asked the saleslady for a recommendation for a restaurant in Gandria and she suggested Locanda Gandriese. ZDG and I each had bowl of delicious squash soup. Then LGG had spaghetti with marinara (she was not interested in the lasagna or schnitzel available for bambini), ZDG had venison stew with polenta (the stew also had grapes in it), and I had polenta with gorgonzola.
Here's a photo ZDG snapped from the balcony of the restauarant. The balcony must be a lovely place to dine in warmer weather, but after the boat ride we were happy to be inside.
We then walked through Gandria on our way to Castagnola. If we didn't have LGG with us, we probably would have walked all of the way to Lugano, but we didn't want to totally wear her out. (Sometimes it's useful to have her along).
Walking through Gandria.
A cool spigot.
We caught the bus back to Lugano and stopped at the playground at the city park.
Then it was time for some last minute shopping and snack. ZDG and LGG went to the tea room at Münger bakery to get some treats. I went to a shoe store to pick up some socks. Aren't they cute? However, they have some Angora so they're supposed to be hand wash only. Don't send me shopping on my own.
When I joined ZDG and LGG we ordered some drinks. ZDG ordered his espresso and I thought that LGG and I were getting a hot chocolate to share. Somehow I missed the ordering of the Ticinese specialty, Cioccolata Densa. This also came with a generous helping of whipped cream. Yummy!
Originally we had reservations on the 7:40 pm train heading back to Zürich, but we were all tired and decided to try to catch the 6:40 pm train. That required an okay but quick dinner (at Argentino) and then a consultation with the ticket agent at the train station to confirm the train was not full.
We were able to find seats (after a sprint from one end of the platform to the other because the sign had first and second class reversed) and settled in for our ride back to Zürich. ZDG and LGG watched a movie on the iPhone and I napped and read.
Beautiful scenery and delicious food. I think Locarno will be our next city to visit in the Italian part of Switzerland. Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment