Angera, Lake Maggiore

Thursday 19th May

After a very rainy night (John says it was very heavy and noisy around 1am but I didn't hear a thing!) and showery early morning, it had dried up by 11ish and we set off to cycle the couple of miles to Arona town.  Our Rough Guide had said that Arona didn't have a lot going for it, but that Angera on the opposite side of the lake was worth a visit.  So we parked the bikes and took the 5 minute ferry across. 
 
We kind of expected a row of the usual restaurants along the lakeside (planning to have lunch somewhere), but here it was quite different - very very quiet and hardly anyone around.  Any restaurants we saw were closed.  So we found the Tourist Information and the lady there gave us cards for 2 'wonderful' restaurants - we wandered along the narrow little streets as directed but couldn't find them at all!

 But we did eventually find a tiny pizzeria with just 6 tables and a spiral staircase up to 2 more tables and a loo suitable for the disabled.  Er .. spiral staircase??  They served up excellent pizzas so we came away happy.  It stayed rather cloudy all day, so not too good for photos, but we did walk up to La Rocca, a well-preserved 12C castle high up above the town and also sat in a park beside the lake watching the swans.