We arrived in Como by train. Italian train stations can be weird. Maybe they are weird here in the States too, but since I don't use the train maybe I'm unaware of the process. We exited the train in Como, looking for a bus to take us to Bellagio. Finally, I asked someone for help on how to find this specific bus and he told me to go talk to the lady who was selling croissants and coffee. After I explained to her where I was trying to go, she gave us 2 bus tickets to Bellagio and told us to wait on the steps outside. A little while later, we boarded the bus with our suit cases in tow and were in for the ride of our lives!First of all, we should have noticed that this bus had some serious looking seat belts at each seat. I think they are only for the novice, because during our death defying ride to Bellagio, the only people who almost fell out of their seats were myself and Eric. The bus took us around some extremely windy roads on the side of cliffs. The views were absolutely spectacular, as we were riding along the edge of Lake Como with gorgeous Italian villas lining the shore. That said, the roads were so extremely narrow that the buildings and houses had some sort of protectors on the corners of them, so that when the bus scrapes the sides of them, but building doesn't crack!
When we got off of the bus in Bellagio it reminded me of Dorthy stepping out of her fallen house into Munchkin Land. I think it was the vibrant color and perfectly shaped hedges that reminded me of this. There were these BEAUTIFUL Italian buildings of all colors set beside the mountains around Lago di Como.
Gorgeous awnings were shading lounging patrons as they drank their refreshing drinks at cafes alongside the lake. You could hear the small waves crashing on shore and it smelled like a freshwater lake - which reminded me very much of my summers in Skaneateles when I was young. We made our way to our little hotel - Hotel Centrale. Here is Eric dragging our bags up to the front door:
We were greeted by the very friendly owners and shown to our room. That night, we went out to a lovely dinner of fresh pasta e fagioli, lambrusco and veal.
The next day, we decided to take a trip on the ferry across the lake to Cadenabbia. We didn't have a plan once we got there, so we just began walking. A man who was sweeping the sidewalk of a hotel asked us where we were headed. We told him that we weren't sure, so he told us to follow the road up the hill and we could have a picnic at the church on the side of the mountain. We still didn't know what church he was talking about, so we grabbed a proscuitto baquette, some water and headed up the hill.
Here is a photo of Cadenabbia. Click on the image to make it larger and you can see the church we were about to walk to (circled to the right of the photo) up on the hill:
Along the way we passed a few small towns. These towns had no more than about 10 houses each, but they were all clumped together. The houses looked like they were built centuries ago and the narrow alley ways left a feeling that you were in someone's backyard.
Can you see the church in the distance in the photo below? Click on the photo and look for the tiny white dot on the side of the rocky mountain above the yellow house:
The walk up to the church was incredible. Just on the other side of the mountain is Switzerland and I actually felt like I was more in Switzerland than Italy. You could hear the dinging of cowbells in the pastures as they grazed on the grass. As we walked up higher, I kept hearing a Cuckoo clock. Eric had to convince me that it was an actually bird, not a clock that was making that noise! Who would have known!?
When we finally reached the top, it made the entire hike worth it. We were the only people at the church on the side of this granite cliff overlooking all of Lake Como and Bellagio. We took a few photos and sat down on the bench to enjoy the view and our lunch.
Later that evening we decided to reward ourselves from the hike with a few glasses of Italian wine. We found a little enoteca, which was actually a cave built into the rock and used in the 18th century as a wine cellar! The wines were kept at a perfect, constant temperature.
Taking a ferry into the little town of Varenna:
View of some homes from our little table on the water:
Shopping for a few Italian handbags:
We decided to stay in Lake Como one additional night because we were so relaxed and enjoyed it so much. We found the most perfect bed and breakfast type place - but it was even better than we could have expected. We ordered lunch at a restaurant one afternoon and the lady who cooked our meal and served us mentioned that she also had a room available. We decided that since her hand made pizza was so incredible, we couldn't turn down her offer for a place to stay for the evening. The next morning we met her out front of the restaurant with our luggage and she brought us up 5 flight of stairs (no elevator!) and unlocked a door on the top floor. We weren't expecting anything nice, but the room was so cute!
It was perfectly outfitted with colors that complemented Bellagio with two large windows with green shutters that opened up with street, lake and mountains views.
To make it even better, the food from her restaurant was cooking below and we could smell the sauces that they were preparing for that evening. We mentioned that we had to take the ferry to the train station the next morning, so she said to come downstairs at 8am for breakfast. This is what she served us!
Baked croissants FRESH from the oven with warm jam and hot nutella inside!
She also served us fresh bacon and eggs that were the best I've ever tasted. No preservatives, no additives, completely fresh and tasty.
This was the best breakfast we had our entire time in Italy and what made it even more special is that she served us downstairs with the rest of her family. You can't buy an experience like that!
Eric thinks espressos in Italia are better than anywhere else:
A short clip of our ride from Como to Bellagio!
