After the St Gotthard’s pass, the first town was Airolo which was still covered in snow.  We saw long lines of vehicular traffic near the entrance of the tunnel on both sides – Easter traffic.  A couple of tiny churches perched on the edge of the mountain.  Can you see one in this picture below ?  It was all downhill from Airolo to Bellinzona (Ticino canton’s captial), and then Lugano.  The whole trip took about less than 5 hours and we arrived at around 3pm.  Lugano is a beautiful town on Lac Lugano surrounded by lush green hills.  More on Lugano in tomorrow’s post.