This morning I had coffee with my tour guide Peter Knapp, after which we went on a walking tour of Lugano's city centre to see some of the historic buildings as well as some of the newer ones.

Later, we returned to the hotel and then drove about 3km to Gandria, a village on the Italian border. We had a delicious meal here at the Locanda Gandriese, then walked around and explored this pretty village, which has only 219 inhabitants.

After that, we drove to Morcote, a village which is about 10km away from Lugano, and walked the small, narrow streets. It reminded me of Muharraq in my country Bahrain.

Our next stop was the village of Melide, where we visited the beautifully crafted Swiss miniature park. The park has been there for 50 years.

The Ticino area offers a unique place for shopping, leisure, mountains and lakes. If you haven't decided on a place to go for a holiday this summer, I strongly recommend you consider Ticino. You won't regret it.

Meanwhile a special thanks to Michel Cavadini from Ticino Tourism for organizing my tour, and to my guide Peter for showing me around.

Ali Mushaima