Having stocked up with wine and biscuits we decided to drive close to the Italian/Swiss border and visit Lake Piano. In view of the complications that COVID-19 testing requirements might cause going between countries, we'd already decided not to to try to enter Switzerland but simply have a look.
The drive out of Menaggio involved a steep climb up a very twisty road but once again the standard of driving was very good and once we had reached the top the road was very easy and we quickly reached Lake Piano but decided it was too early to stop. A few miles further on is Porlezza and it is like a giant retail park with hypermarkets and all sorts of shops. Clearly the Swiss cross over the border into Italy for their shopping; there was even a Carrefour.
We'd driven through several short tunnels on the way so weren't too surprised when we went into another one, although it came upon us so quickly neither of us remember seeing an alternative road. Anyway it was a long tunnel, maybe a couple of miles, and when we got to the end we were suddenly at the border. We screeched to a halt and an young, armed border guard wandered over and motioned for us to drive onto the pavement. We explained that we didn't want to go into Switzerland and didn't have our passports with us.
"Do you have any cash?" he asked. Completely taken by surprise I replied "No!" although of course we did. He then wanted to know if our car was rented and asked to see the papers. Satisfied that they were in order he reluctantly allowed us to drive across the pavement and back into the tunnel Italy bound. It was only once we'd got away that it dawned on us he was asking for a bribe!!!
We then found an alternative road which took us alongside Lake Lugano which is 1/3 in Italy and 2/3 in Switzerland. Looking towards the Swiss side, it all looked a bit miserable.
