SwissMinns

Madrid, Spain We traveled to Madrid for a Tuesday meeting I had at our Rivas factory near Madrid.  We left Basel on Friday afternoon and were in Madrid Friday evening. Our Saturday was pretty rainy, so we did some indoor touring, including the Royal Palace of Madrid (we went back there on Sunday to see what the outside looks like in fair weather). The picture below is the front of the palace, with a courtyard facing the Almudena Cathedral: The picture below is from the back of the palace, a garden and fountains that was private, now open as a park: The entry of the palace : I took this picture earlier (last summer), then I didn't realize you are not allowed to take pictures: On our walk on Sunday, near the Temple de Debod, we got another good view of Palace and Cathedral:     Below is the Temple de Debod, which was a gift from Egypt, an existing temple, taken apart and shipped from Egypt to Madrid:  Spain defeated the Turks in in the late 1500

Lugano On Easter weekend, we drove to one of the southern-most cities in Switzerland, Lugano, in the canton of Ticino. We left Langenthal on a rainy Saturday, ran into snow at the entrance to the Gottard tunnel, which caused quite a delay.  The Gottard tunnel is about 16km long, one lane each direction, so it frequently has a long line at the entrance.  It is one of the points where you can cross the Alps, without going over (no other option in winter). We stayed at a reasonably priced hotel in Lugano, the Atlantico, very simple and cute, managed by a very friendly young couple.  Great breakfasts. Easter Sunday, we hiked up Mount San Salvatore, passing on a cable car ride, to the summit. Freaky stairs off the roof of a church, perched on top of San Salvatore: From the top of San Salvatore, looking south, you can see those villages on the hillside (picture below).  One is Carona, which we hiked down to, for lunch.  From there, we went dow