Bellinzona

We decided for our second day trip this weekend we wanted to go to Bellinzona.

Bellinzona is probably Switzerland's most Italianate town. The skyline of the capital of Ticino is defined by the powerful fortifications, comprising three of the best-preserved medieval castles in Switzerland, which are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Find Out More Here! Also, Debbie had found out there was an open air market on Saturdays, so we left early morning for our adventure. 

3 Castles 

When we arrived in Bellinzona we walked right into the market. It was beautiful. Every where we looked had tents, with people bartering and walking up and down the rows of the market. The different stands had: cheese, meats, purses and bags, clothes, scarfs and accessories, and jewlery. Honestly it was beyond overwhelming, I didn't know where to start. We just picked a point to begin and started looking at the different stands. My favorite ones were the fresh cheese and meat stands, if we weren't going to the castles after the market, I totally would ha

ve bought some for the train ride home. What was interesting about the market is how different their style is than America. Things that went out of style like 5 years ago (like guacho pants) are the hip thing to wear and were at every clothes stand. Also, something I found interesting is the amount of American influence in europe. Many stands had stuff with American flags and were playing popular American music. Also, they were selling shirts with bands, actors, and famous people from the US. Maybe I was trying to be less ignorant and believe America wasn't that a big deal in the world scope, but after visiting a small town like Bellinzona it is eminent we do have a serious influence in pop culture around the world. The best part about the market was as we left for the castles, a street guitarist was playing "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry, that was my senior class song (2011 woop woop)  and it made me feel nostalgic of my high school years. After that we began our trek to the first castle.

Castelgrande 

The first castle we visited was Castelgrande. This is the biggest and most extravagant castle of the three.  To get to this castle we had to climb easily 1,000 winding stairs. By the time we got up there we had to sit down we were so exhausted. We walked through the various courtyards and pathways that lead out of every direction in the castle. It was breathtaking, and incredible that is castle was the backyard of some people's houses. I enjoyed seeing Bellinzona from all different angles and it was great to see so many people admiring the beauty of this castle.

One of the path ways leading out of Castelgrande.

After we had seen enough of Castelgrande, we made our way back down to the town for some lunch and gelato. Afterwards we looked up into the hill and saw our second castle. The walk up the hill was even worse than the stairs from the last castle. It was a hike that was pretty steep. The second castle was called Montebello. It was much smaller that Castelgrande but it has beautiful big courtyards. Also, it was higher up so there was so much to see from up there. It was so peacful with the wind blowing and the beautiful views of Bellinzona, that we joined other tourists and took a nap in the middle of the courtyard. 

Montebello

Train Ride Up

When we finished admiring the views of Bellinzona, we looked for the third castle. We looked up the mountain and it was even higher up than the second one. To me it looked like about a half hour hike, so I decided we take the little tourist train to pull us up to the top. Best 5 franks ever spent. The third castle had the best views of all of them but there wasn't much to see inside. This last castle was called Sasso Corbaro, it had been renovated on the inside into a more modern look, which wasn't as cool as keeping it restored from the original. But man were we high up! The first castle we went to looked like a little dot from how high up we were now!

Sasso Corbaro

After that Castle we hiked back down the large mountain towards the train station. We had a full day of climbing and exploring the castles so we were completely wiped out. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Bellinzona and I strongly suggest going to see the beautiful views from these castles.

XOXO RIVA DIVA