On the morning of March 8, 2025, Bill and loaded up the Volvo, our luggage, and the dogs, and set off for parts south. First stop was the Tierpension Birkenhof. Noyzi and Charlie both love going there. Noyzi especially loves a week or so there, relaxing with other dogs.

Once we dropped off the boys, we drove south to Vico Morcote, Switzerland, a suburb of Lugano, Switzerland. Switzerland, for those who don’t know, has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansch. When we visited Switzerland in January, we were just over the border from Germany in Basel. This time, we were heading to the Italian part of the country. I don’t know how or why, but I only packed one Type J plug converter. Switzerland, which seems to endeavor to be separate from the rest of Europe in most things, doesn’t use the same types of plugs most of the rest of Europe uses (Type F).

But I wasn’t thinking about that on our drive down to the Lugano area. I was thinking of how pretty parts of Switzerland are, and the fact that our hotel, Relais Castello di Morcote, had both a Michelin mentioned restaurant and a winery, Tenuta Castello di Morcote. Unfortunately, our visit was at the end of the off season, so one of the restaurants wasn’t open. Our full day was also on Sunday, and no wine tastings were available that day. We did have dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, and enjoyed the hotel’s unique charm. It was once a convent, and still has the original floor in a sitting room.

I took some photos on the way down, mainly to pass the hours… and of course, we had an obligatory stop at a McDonald’s for lunch. 🙁 I amused myself by taking pictures of the ads in the pay toilets, which now cost 1 euro! You can trade in a ticket to get a euro off a coffee or something, but we never do that. I usually end up with a shitload of tickets in my purse.

We had pretty good weather. The sun was shining, and for most of the drive, it wasn’t too cold out. I don’t remember any troublesome Staus (traffic jams), either.

We reached Vico Morcote in the late afternoon. To get to the hotel, we had to drive through a narrow village, then up a mountain road with a couple of switchbacks. Bill has gotten pretty good at negotiating these roads, since our first Italy/Switzerland visit in 2008. There was only one close call. A woman in a small car was hurtling down the mountain side in her small car. Bill got a bit tense as they met on the road and squeezed past each other. Then we found a garage, but it wasn’t for the hotel. The hotel garage was by a church, and actually slightly lower than the garage we found. But, once we found where we were supposed to go, we drove up to the hotel’s entrance and offloaded our bags.

The receptionist was a friendly young woman who spoke several languages with aplomb. She showed us to our room, a deluxe room with a garden view. The hotel has just twelve rooms, and they are individually decorated. I’m not sure why I chose the room I did, rather than one with a lake view. The hotel is very close to Lake Lugano, so on the other side of the hotel, it’s possible to score a beautiful view of the water. But, it was no big deal, since guests at the hotel can visit the vineyards and walk around. There’s a spot where one can get stunning views of the lake and mountains, and then tour the castle ruins. That’s what we did on Sunday morning! We were blessed with sun, which is more than I can say for Monday’s weather.

Below are some photos from our room, which was on the first floor. It was a handicapped accessible room, so we had an open shower with grab rails. I included photos of the common areas at the hotel, as well. One thing I didn’t like about our room was that there was a big full length mirror by my side of the bed. I don’t like mirrors, but especially when I’m getting in and out of bed. But, other than that, it was a comfortable place to spend a couple of nights. We did bring our own pillows, but that’s mainly because one never knows how many pillows will be offered at European hotels.

We had 7:30 reservations at the restaurant, and we both ordered the evening’s special, which was a four course meal. I had the char, while Bill had Swiss entrecote. They gave us a bottle of Rose wine from their cellar to take away in honor of International Women’s Day. I swear, I never celebrated that until I lived in Armenia. Of course, with Trump in charge, I’m sure any celebration of people who are rich, white, Christian men will be jettisoned.

Below are photos from dinner. I was just reminded that I took a picture of my fork, because I liked the silverware they had. I am going to see if I can find out where I might buy some myself. 😉 I was less impressed with the chairs we were sitting on, which I found rather uncomfortable. Even if they weren’t a little narrow for my wide ass, they were made of wicker and just weren’t very nice to sit on. But the restaurant does have bench seating that I liked much better during breakfast.

After dinner, we were pretty tired, so we went back to the room. I “hosed off” and prepared for our first night’s sleep in the hotel. This was definitely our fanciest and priciest lodging during this trip, more in line with the types of places I’ve been booking lately.

In the next post, you will get a look at the hotel’s stunning vineyards and castle ruins, as well as our visit to Campanione d’ Italia. Stay tuned.