Thanks once again everyone for the suggestions. We had an all around awesome trip that had been already nice but really took off with the drive through Switzerland to Lago d’Orta. We stopped several times to marvel at the most amazing views.
Our hotel was indeed in Madonna del Sasso which is on the left side of the lake up the hill. It was an affordable place called Hotel Panoramico which offered very nice value I think, especially as we had a balcony with a view of the lake. There is also a restaurant where we actually dined on both nights because of the damned drive you are forced to do to get up there. The road is crazy narrow and at times steep and the locals can sometimes be quite reckless drivers. The food was not anything fancy but well made and authentic and we enjoyed nice bottles of 2010 Lorenzo Zanetta Boca DOC and a fresh Viglione Roero Arneis. The Boca while otherwise competently made had seen a bit too much oak for my tastes but the Arneis I enjoyed thoroughly - relatively complex, good volume and very refreshing acidity. The 16 € (hehe) price point did not hurt either.
Next day we first headed to Stresa per Brig’s recommendation and did the boat trip. Isola Bella was a bit too jammed but Isola Superiore was quite enjoyable. Overall good cheap, harmless fun. After a light lunch we visited the Villa Pallavicino Zoo which we liked quite a lot as you get very close to the animals and as it is a hillside joint you get some welcome excercise as well. Next we drove to Orta San Giulio which really surprised us with its charm (and there was some incredibly delicious pistacchio gelato!). I think if we come to Lago d’Orta again I will try to book a hotel/b&b in or near this town. When we got back to the parking garage to leave we faced something that would (hopefully) never happen north of Italy. Apparently it is not out of question there to drive your car to the port and then leave it to go pay for the parking. Probably an ok thing to do in the middle of the night but as this was a popular time to leave there was a queue of around 15 people in front of the only pay station, with each and every person paying with cash. I am sure it is not difficult to imagine the yelling, cursing and horn honking that occurred as several people started getting understandably frustrated for not getting out.
Right before our trip we had heard about Ventimiglia being sort of one of the hot spots of the refugee crisis. This had got us slightly worried (not perhaps in terms of safety but just not knowing what to expect) but indeed our B&B was outside of Ventimiglia, once again a bit up the hill, and basically it was only traffic that moved anywhere near.
While driving to Ventimiglia we stopped in Alassio and Sanremo. Perhaps some people might prefer these places to Ventimiglia due to the latter’s “roughness” but being that we had such a nice B&B with an incredible view of the ocean from the balcony we could not have been much happier with our choice. In where we live it is often possible to go to a fully booked restaurant early without a reservation and get a table for two if you promise to be done in let’s say 1,5 hours. In Ventimiglia I learned the hard way that this is most definitely not the case. We went to an empty, well-regarded restaurant right when they opened and were hoping to get lucky. We did not, so we then sat down at the restaurant next door only to see the tables in the first one never being used during the two hours we spent there. I shall not name names but the one we ended up in was truly horrible. Note to self, ALWAYS make a reservation in Italy.
Next day we followed the forum recommendations and visited the towns of Rocchetta Nervina, Apricale and Dolceacqua. Rocchetta was the smallest and the most quiet and quite cool actually to walk around in ancient surroundings. Apricale was a truly wonderful hill town and once again we were positively surprised about the exercise it offered. I was really looking forward to have lunch there but we had arrived quite early and the recommended restaurants only started to offer lunch around 12:30 so we decided to do it in Dolceacqua. There we found a splendid restaurant called A Viassa.
What I have learned about countries like Italy, Germany and France (well, probably applies anywhere) is that often the glassware you see on the tables can be a solid indicator of overall quality and this was indeed the case of A Viassa as well. They had very tempting pasta options for lunch and because of the warm weather we skipped the local red and ordered Pigato, the local white. It was from a producer called Terre Bianche and turned out to be a superb match for the lighter pasta dishes and a properly nice wine in its own right. Quite high viscosity with some peppery power but fortunately not over-powering with the food. Despite being quite rich I would call it even refreshing to some extent, not unlike some modern whites from Catalunya. Dolceacqua itself did not offer too much to do and because of some local festivities we could not find a single place that offered wine tasting that day, except for a co-op that I just did not find promising enough to try.
Second evening we walked to Ventimiglia for a dinner at a beach restaurant called Marco Polo. It was very easy to see why perhaps Ventimiglia is not mentioned as one of the must-see coast towns as it is partly a somewhat rough place, something quite different than what you get when you cross the border. Nevertheless the beach area is very nice and as our table was outside we got to experience the most amazing sunset while eating and drinking. It is a seafood place first and foremost, naturally, with some really surprising things then on the winelist. Mostly everything seems to be well-priced but many would get excited by the weirdly cheap 80’s vintages of Castello di Ama single vineyards, 1982 La Tâche at 700 € or the various older vintages of Mouton priced in the 400-500 € range. All the name-dropping aside, we were looking to drink local so Pigato and Rossese it was. The first was from Cascina Feipu dei Massaretti, a markedly lighter expression than the Terre Bianche at lunch. Different but not necessarily any better or worse and very nice with the splendid seafood risotto. The Caldi Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore is my only experience with the variety thus far and while it was easy to see why it has not become a massive worldwide success I found its rustic purity, savory nature and earthiness quite appealing. The service was mostly really exemplary at this place and while some can find it tacky to end a dinner by asking customers to recommend them on Tripadvisor it can easily be forgiven in this case.
