Boat to the Botanical Garden on Brissago Island

 Today was my zero day. The rest of the tour group took a train and bus to Sonogno, but I chose to go to the botanical garden located on Brissago Island in Lake Maggiore. It was a 45 minute ride from the dock in Lucarno. 

Scenes along the way: 

I caught the 8:45 boat, so it was smaller with less passengers.

Richard and Antoinette Fleming St. Leger bought the Brissago Islands and the baroness restored a ruined convent for their home. She then worked on creating a garden, bringing in soil and building boulevards in the gardens which were fashionable at that time. She planted rare and exotic species like palms and eucalyptuses. 

Later because of financial issues, they were forced to sell to Max Emden who replaced the house with a luxurious palace. Fortunately, he retained the gardens. His heirs later sold the Islands to the Republic and Canton of Ticino.

The gardens:

One area reminded me of a "hot" house with lots of lilies:

There were many small lizards scooting around. Apparently, since it is quite warm, they drink the nectar of the grevillea flowers.

This was a cork tree. I found this info online:

Cork is the outer bark of the cork oak tree. Cork oaks are found in forests surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and Portugal is the world's largest cork producer.

 

Lily pads in a pond.

Elephant ears.

In one area, I noticed there was a "mister" which sprayed a very, very fine mist that resembled dry ice. As a result, some of the paths looked ghostly.

The gardens were very artistic with interesting creations throughout the grounds:

This was a funny reminder to behave myself:

Finally it was time to get on the boat back to Lucarno.

The return trip had many more passengers, so the boat had a snack bar and double decks.