The Castles of Bellinzona

 We were advised by some friends of Jan's to check out the castles in Bellinzona and man(!!!!)  it was so worth it.  There are 3 castles and they date back several thousand years.  They actually have roots as far back as 5000 years, which have been found by archeologists when they were doing some restoration work.  It seems that the mountain passes between France and Italy all meet at this little valley and the surrounding mountains are almost impassable, so they set up defenses in this valley and it has passed from nation to nation depending on who won the battles.  More info on this link

http://en.winkpedia.org.wiki/Three_Castles_of_Bellinzona

 Anyway, it was pretty cool and old!  The defensive setup was totally brilliant, with the high castle to bombard the enemy and the two low castles to block everyone coming through.  There was this cool little chapel that was about the size of an average bathroom, that clearly had been used pretty regularly and had a stone floor and walls, but a very ornate Mary on low wooden furniture.

The trip up the mountain was not without a few hair raising moments, when the van didn't really fit the road and we had to back up to get around the hairpin turns.
 
The surrounding land is mostly farming and cropping and I can only imagine it has been for years and years.  It is heavily terraced, as you can imagine and seems to have crops that are coming on in this early stage of spring.

There is a huge difference already between Italy and Switzerland because Switzerland is SO much cleaner and so much less dodgy looking.  The people look more engaging and not so grumpy and put upon, if they need to serve you, or even speak to you.

 Once we got toward the top of the castle, there was a staircase that had a suspended, see through floor and that was pretty hair raising for a poor vertigo suffering mother.  I do, however, suffer from FOMO's disease, so had to go up!  (Fear Of Missing Out)  it was not pleasant, but it was worth it and you can't really tell from the look on my face that I was thoroughly HATING the whole height thing!

What you can't really see in the photos was how crisply cool the place was.  Totally different from Italy, which was constantly cloaked in a smog laden blanket, preventing you from seeing much further than a kilometre or so and it masked the true beauty of things.

The air in Switzerland is clear and cool and you really can see for miles. 

So, Rhoda- here I am finally in some photos.  In my terror of the heights that surrounded me, I relinquished my camera and finally let someone else have a go!  See how my hand is in my pocket?  It is clenched into a tight, hard ball of stress that you can only imagine. 

.... it was freaken far off the ground!!!!???