Posted by September 28, 2016 – Lake Orta, Italy
We left the hotel at 9am. Simona said that we would take a “choo choo” when we got to Lake Orta. It turned out to be a small motorized train. Our local guide was Cosetta. The train took us up a mountain road to Sacred Monte di Orta. We walked uphill until we reached reached a church. The view of the lake and the island was beautiful. The guide talked to a friar who lived next door to the church and he agreed to meet us. The church and it’s grounds are dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. The friar gave us all a blessing and wished us safe travels. The grounds contain 20 Chapels each depicting an event in St. Francis life. We went in 3 of the chapels.
We took the choo choo train down to the town of Orta and boarded a boat to Isla Giulio. The island has 90 cloistered nuns and 2 other woman who are year-round occupants. In the summer many villas on the seaside of the island are occupied by their owners. It was a very peaceful walk around the island. The cloister is in the center of the island with a walkway between it’s wall and the villas. On the cloister walls are a number of signs with positive sayings about silence and isolation.
When we returned to Orta, we had a huge lunch and time to wander around town.
This was our last day in Italy. Tomorrow we travel to Interlaken Switzerland with a stop in Zermatt.
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