Northern Italy Day 5: Lake Maggiore, Parma

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, popped into the small church on Isola Bella, and got a round-trip ferry ticket from Stresa to Pallanza (with the ability to get on/off). Because of the abbreviated train schedule (due to track work), we didn't have time unfortunately to visit the other Borromean Islands on the ferry -- Isola Superiore (aka dei Pescatori) and the largest of the three, Isola Madre, which has another Palazzo Borromeo (with an English garden). Instead, we went to Pallanza (Verbania) where we walked around for about an hour (the lady working at the ferry ticket office let us leave our bags there) along the waterfront and then in search of what the internet told me was an amazing croissant somewhere on Via Ruga. I tried two different bakeries and was extremely disappointed. 

If you have time, you can also take the ferry to the Villa Taranto Gardens, which according to its website, is considered the most beautiful garden in the world, created in the 1930s by an ex-pat Scot, Captain McEacharn.

We took the ferry from Pallanza back to Stresa, walked around a bit in the cute town there, had a great gelato at K2, a drink on the piazza where live music was playing, and then walked over to the train station -- which isn't doing so well -- to catch the train to Parma (via Milan, €17.35 per person, about 3.5 hours total). In Parma, we stayed at the Mercure Parma Centro hotel... which I do not recommend.

We had a good dinner near the hotel at Ristorante La Greppia, and then went to bed early in preparation for Day 6. 

Bottom line: As with Lake Como, I wish we had spent more time at Lake Maggiore! I would have liked to see the palazzo on Isola Madre and also visit other parts of the lake - the bit from Stresa to Pallanza is just a tiny portion of the lake, and it would have been great to have a few more days - or a week - to explore other towns on the lake!