Thursday 23 February 2012

Lake Maggiore, Italy

Isola Pescatori , or Fisherman's island lies just off the shore of Lake Maggiore between  Stresa and Baveno and is part of the Borromean island group.

The people that live on the island are shopkeepers, restaurateurs and fisherman. It is quite easy to walk around the island and it doesn't take long either. Lake Maggiore is surrounded by majestic mountains and with the lake in the foreground makes for a dramatic backdrop...

click on images to enlarge...



The first image posted here is a photograph made from Isola Bella towards Isola Pescatori. One can see that the island is very small. In the foreground is a fisherman rowing which looks like a toy rowing boat to me and he is probably rowing to the other side of the lake....quite a distance away....!






This island forces one to slow down and absorb its atmosphere. Life is slow and measured here and one can just sit all day long watching the passing parade, and always there is the backdrop of lake and mountains and the pleasure of knowing that you are sitting on a tiny island in this great lake that stretches all the way to Switzerland.

All the images were made with a Canon 5D2 and a 24-105L lens. This combination, although a bit on the heavy side makes for a great travel camera. The lens has a good spread and with IS can be used almost anywhere and at anytime....

There is a tourist office at the harbour in Stresa where one can get all the info and tickets for the excursions to the islands. They have a very comprehensive website that helped us a lot in planning our trip, not just to the islands, but the whole area around Stresa. The website can be found here....http://www.visitstresa.com/

regards, Ivan...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ivan, you make me nostalgic...when I was student I spent three years at this Lake, Intra, a little norther than Stresa...nice days! And of course beautiful photos, the last one is so special to my eyes...
robert

Unknown said...

Thanks Robert1 We don't have any lakes like these here in my country, so I was bowled over by the natural beauty...I will definitely go back to Lake Maggiore, this time with my whole family and stay as long as I can....