Month: September 2023

Best Dish of the Trip

M's Adventures
The view of Lake Como from the train.

Lake Como is becoming more famous for George Clooney than for its other attributes. I only saw it in passing on my way to catch another train. And then, in Tirano, we found an even better dish!

The best dish of the trip. It looks blah but was like being hugged by a block of butter.

The little town of Tirano is a pitstop on the way to catch the Bernina Express, but maybe one should stay a while. We did not. We had an hour. We needed lunch. The tiny square near the train station had two eateries so we went to the nearest one. Little did we expect the food to be good.

This was the train station square.

The house specialty was homemade buckwheat noodles with cabbage, potato, and butter. It turned out to be the best dish of the whole trip.

Classics like proscuitto and fries.

As the restaurant is used to catering to tourists, I managed to get pineapple and ham added to my American pepperoni pizza. This would never happen in Rome! But, here in Tirano, we were two kilometers from Switzerland so the rules against pineapple on pizza don’t apply here.

When I saw that they had pineapple pizza, I thought I would see if I could combine my favorite mix!

The balsamic glazed steak was also something of a surprise. While we were still in Italy, we did feel some of the Teutonic sternness in our waitress. Maybe we are just oversensitive?

Next time, we’ll just come here to eat.

Swiss Food

M's Adventures

Other than cheese, we also had other delicious food in Switzerland. I liked the “cep” mushroom soup.

I also liked the steam carrot, broccoli, and zucchini. But, what was so Swiss were the potato rosti. Oddly, there was real cream on the dishes as well. Yay for that. I approve.

Also, I ate everyone’s pea shoot.

Chur – Oldest Town in Switzerland

M's Adventures

At the end of the Bernina Express, we got out at Chur, Switzerland. Supposedly the oldest town in Switzerland. We mostly enjoyed the ‘old town’ which was only 300-600 years old.

We were there on a rainy spring day which suited us fine. Normally this town is crowded during ski season. We had it pretty much to ourselves.

I didn’t get Swiss fondue but I was tickled pink by the sausage dispenser on the side of the street. Sometimes the necessities need to be easily had, at any time of the day.

Swiss practicality.

The Bernina Express

M's Adventures

If you want to see some spectacular vistas, glaciers, and cute alpine towns, try taking the Bernina Express. We went first class. We had table service and large picture windows that curved up the roof of the train carriage.

Taking this train in the spring allowed us to see both green valleys and snow capped mountains.

The best part was driving through a snow flurry which created an ethereal magical world of dancing flakes and frozen waterfalls.

The staff encouraged us to use the open windows at the end of the carriage to stick our heads out and enjoy the wind. It was refreshing, making returning to the warm carriage even cozier.

The Bernina Express is 110 years old and historic for many reasons. One can learn all about it by using the WIFI audio guide. Or you can just stare out at the passing scenery and imagine the lives lived there, far from the megatropolis of Rome. We dreamed of staying at one of those remote cottages for a few weeks…

The difficult part is that one must have both a reservation and a ticket. Make sure to screen shot those as the phone service may not be so strong up in the alps.

We took the train from Tirano to Chur. The journey was four hours long. They have various tours so one could do this more than once.