We flew into Milan early June 2016. From the plane, we could see the modern Milan airport and the famous Swiss Alps in the distance.
We stayed in Milan for a few days, a subject of another travel blog, and took the hour train ride north to Lake Como. To make life easier, we decided to stay in the largest town in the area called “Como.” The hotel was just a tad over a ten-minute walk from the train station.
As you come off the train, one needed to take either steps or the elevator down to another level. We saw a couple that resembled us eight years before—carrying way too many bags.
Outside the train station we came across this most interesting statue.
Some writings describe Lake Como as “the most beautiful lake in the world.” The lake itself has an upside down “Y” design. Looking upwards from the south, the city of Como is at the top-left of the “Y.”
Once a glaciated lake, it does expand over 56 square miles and reaches 1,300 feet deep. On a beautiful sunny day, the area is quite spectacular. On our three day stay, we had rain for two of them. It is still beautiful in the rain with low hanging clouds.
Our Metropole Suisse Hotel was, indeed, comfortable.
The bed was the hardest we had in our five-week tour through northern Italy and Switzerland. One could actually bounce a quarter off the bed.
Our view, though, overlooked Lake Como. We had the best room in the house!
The hallways were “old fashion” to say the least.
The staff was friendly and helpful. The young woman at the desk was from Russia and spoke perfect English.
The breakfast was ample and sufficient. Maybe not as elegant as we will have in future trips of Scandinavia.
The matre de had to organize the breakfast room between individual travelers like us, and tour groups.
At the hotel, we met a pleasant man from Ethiopia. He was on a business trip as he operates Pepsi franchise in his home country.
In front of our hotel is a large square. We saw one day a fleet of Toyota Prius. They had driven handicap people into Como that day.
We saw the police to the side of the road. There wasn’t an accident, but they were all working. On what we would find out.
Saving a Swann’s nest!
Right across the street from our hotel was ferry service on Lake Como. There were maps and a kiosk to purchase tickets.
There are two main types of ferries: fast ferries and slow ferries. On our way to the slow ferry, Kathie did slip and fall on the wet silver platform. Luckily, she was not hurt, but heart-rate did increase.
There is also a car ferry for those that drove.
In Como, there is a large modern sculpture out on the lake called “Life Electric on Lake Como.”
The slow ferry would stop at every village along the lake. It was misty and most people were down below.
There were marvelous chateaus along the way and several famous hotels and museums.
We did pass on all our ferry rides Villa del Balbianello.
It was once a Franciscan monastery back in the 13th century. It was used in 2006 for the ending scene in the James Bond movie, Casino Royal.
We wanted to visited this famous Villa, but the day we chose to visit, Wednesday, the Villa was closed.
Our eventual stop, Bellagio, is located where the “Y” splits.
Maybe we just like the name Bellagio as we always visit the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas which has a “Venice” theme.
In our travels, we did meet an interesting couple from New Delhi, India. They were world travelers. We found out that their happy marriage was arranged by their parents. What we found amazing was that they brought all their food with them in a very large suit-case.
Walking through the village, we did come across several interesting alley ways.
One of our highlights of visiting Bellagio was seeing Villa Melzi. This famous villa was built in 1810 in a neo-classical style.
Ironically, the Villa is closed, but the beautiful gardens and Chapel are open. The price of admission was not bad at $7 dollars.
The Gardens are spectacular along Lake Como.
The neo-classical Chapel was special.
In Bellagio, we found an Italian ristorante recommended by Rick Steve, Terrazaza Barchetta. The family dates back to their culinary beginnings to 1887.
We were the first ones there for lunch.
We had a gorgeous view of an ally-way that has been there for hundreds of years.
We thoroughly enjoyed the multi-course meal. We first started off with bread and wine.
We started with an appetizer of mozzarella.
For the main meal, Kathie had roasted vegetables. She added homemade Marinara sauce.
I had the traditional “Linguine pasta alle vongole—clams and spaghetti.” It was absolutely delicious.
We had what we thought as a crispy apple fritter with ice cream.
The management topped everything off with two traditional glasses of Lemoncello.
We were able to have a picture of Kathie with the entire crew at the ristorante.
The following day, we took the ferry across from Bellagio to the picturesque village called Varenna.
The area dates back to the Iron Age from 500BC. This would be an ideal place to stay in our next sojourn to Lake Como.
The village has commanding views of Lake Como and the alley ways are so quaint.
We did visit Villa Monastero which was a convent back in the 12th century. Today it is open to the public.
Not as large as Villa Melzi, but the ambiance still ever present.
By these gardens, we did catch a couple enjoying the day by boat.
We did miss Catello di Verzio. Old castle ruins up on the hill dates back to the late 11thcentury. The castle was used as a stopping point for the Amazing Race.
The city of Como by far is the largest city in the region. We were delighted to find this beautiful old church dating back to 1300 with stunning tapestries, ornate stained-glass and an impressive interior.
We enjoyed walking along the lake’s promenade. There were a number of interesting statues.
We came across a huge WWI monument for all those died during the war.
Inside was a long list of names of those that gave their lives for a war to end all wars. Not far is a Holocaust Memorial.
Along our walk, we found out how they cleaned Lake Como. Ingenious contraption.
Near the mountain is the “Funicolare Como-Brunate” line. Two passenger cars take eighty passengers up and down the 1600-foot mountain.
The Funicular connects to a village known as Brunate. Walking along the ridge road, I came across an old hotel that looked abandoned.
The views are splendid. Unfortunately, I came on a cloudy day. I did manage to take this pic of another picture. It does look quite nice when the sun is up.
