Arriving by train from Locarno, Bellinzone's trademarks are not clear at first sight. It's a pleasant walk though down the Via Stazione to the elegant city center. Within a couple of minutes, we found ourselves in front of the lift that goes up to Castelgrande. This lift was seen as an "acceptable concession" by ICOMOS to the site's authentic appearance, but the rest of the restorations were executed a bit too well to the taste of this Advisory Body. What really struck me were the perfectly even stone paths: a huge difference from the interior of the last major castle I visited (Spissky Hrad in Slovakia). The inner courtyard of Castelgrande also holds a restaurant and a sculpture garden, but that doesn't deter from the impressive sight of this castle's high towers.

We walked down from Castelgrande using the main road. A very nice walk, passing beautiful houses. This road ends at one of the central squares (next to the lovely Town Hall). The next goal was Montebello, another castle that can be reached on foot. This is a much tougher walk and I had to leave my mother (whom I was travelling with during this mini-break) halfway - where the railing ended. I climbed on and found Montebello to be more of a 'real' castle than Castelgrande.

The third castle (Sasso Corbaro) was meant to be the last stop on our rounds, but we had trouble finding a direct bus (and were too afraid of having to walk any distance in the scorching sun). So we settled down at a terrace in central Bellinzone for a filling salad and then went to the south of the town. After another rest in the garden of the Villa dei Cipressi, we ambled on to the Santa Maria della Grazie church. I had seen postcards of its interior which looked spectacular. The church exterior (15th century!) almost looked too new to be true, but the iconostasis and the frescoes in the inner courtyard totally made up for that. A sight surely not to be missed when visiting Bellinzone, and a welcome change from the medieval castles and walls.