A couple of days with George Clooney-
Or it might have been if not for a certain event in Venice;-)

Milan to Varenna- a trip to Lake Como. Tiny day packs only, so we were very mobile!

Monday got off to a flying start, literally, because some fool- me - set the alarm to 6.30 pm! We woke about an hour late, so just got a taxi from Piazza Tricolore to catch the next train from Stazione Garibaldi to Como at 8.38. When we tried to validate our ticket the machine didn't work. I figured I'd see one on the platform. Wrong. What about at the other entrance to the platform? Nope. Time was running out so I just asked the guard who rather sarcastically said "Tutto?" Implying that if not all the machines in the station were broken, why was I bothering him.... hmmm. Anyway, he relented and we were on our way through some rather bleak looking suburbs and then into increasingly hilly agricultural land until we reached Stazione Como San Giovanni- one of several Como stations. Cost less than 5 euro each. We had plenty of time still to have a first look at Como (largely closed on Monday) before taking the slow ferry to Varenna. Some quaint old buildings and narrow medieval streets which contrasted markedly with Milan's more modern appearance.

The slow ferry trip we chose was fantastic. It gave us a good look at all the key destinations as it stopped at most of them on its way up the lake. We stopped at Tavernola, Cernobbio, Moltrasio, Argegno, Isola Comacina, Lenno, Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta, Bellagio, Menaggio and finally our destination, Varenna.

The sights were wonderful - small - and not so small villages - most often in light ochre shades - nestled at the foot of soaring mountain sides carved by glaciers out of the twisted sedimentary formations. ( for those interested in a really heavy duty geological blog, check out Kerry Stirling's discussion of the Pyrenees in his blog some time!). There was a slight haze over everything, but we were in full sun all the way. I had to use a bit of enhancement on some of the pix to cut through the glare caused by the haze. Probably one of the highlights was spotting churches and monasteries perched in seemingly impossible locations on almost vertical hillsides. How did they build them? Who used/uses them, and how do they get there? Why?

Coming a close second was seeing the Villa del Balbianello, which featured in Star Wars and Casino Royale. A commanding location on a promontory and an absolutely stunning complex of buildings - and that is only what could be seen from the boat!

Varenna is a town of only 800 inhabitants, but even at the fag end of the season, it looks like that is about tripled. We had booked a room with a view at Piazza del Sole and it was terrific. (Rick Steves fans be warned, he has it quite wrong here when he says there are no views at this albergo - we had a couple of big windows that opened up to uninterrupted lake views. The town is perched on a steep hillside and all the main streets - contrade- are really flights of steps, made from the local rounded stones, which can make walking a little tricky. Our first walk took us around a few of these and down to the boat slips in time to purchase a few lovely hand made ceramics and settled down at Cafe Varenna to have bruschetta with pecorino, rugola and cherry jam ( fantastic combination!) with a Campari soda, followed for Anne by vanilla ice cream with Vin Santo and cantuccini. We also booked dinner at a recommended place - La Vista, a part of the Albergo. Milano- with a terrace with great lake views.

Anne had a rest and I set off in search of adventure. I found a sentiero (path) that formed part of the Sentiero Viandante- the Wayfarers' path. It took me past an old hermitage and then onto a rough and little used path up the hillside to the Castello Vezio. I didn't see a single soul on the way. The fortress was closed by the time I arrived, but other than a very stiff workout, the views as I climbed to Vezio made it very worth the effort. If you look at the cover pic for today you will see Varenna at water level and the Castello at the peak of the hill above. Not a bad little stroll.

We got into what passes for our best gear and wandered down to La Vista for a truly memorable meal. We sat on the terrace lit by candlelight as the light faded over the lake. The mountains on the other side gradually disappeared as the twinkling lights took over the scene, interrupted only by the glimmer of passing ferries, like fireflies on the lake.

The menu was very interesting. We'll post a couple of pictures, that give full menu details, but in the end we decided on a pumpkin soup with ginger, and lake bass with purple mashed potato for Anne, and duck carpaccio and venison cutlets for me. We bought a bottle of wine made in the Lake Como region - Terre Lariane - which uses merlot and San Giovese grapes, and was made by Domaso. It was light and moderately dry and went well with the meal. Desserts were their own adventure. Anne had one called a volcano, made of different kinds of ice cream with a salsa of orange and chilli. I stuck to the cheese plate - 5 different kinds - names unknown with bread and green apple marmalade. I also had a dessert wine - riciotto Di Valpolicella- as an accompaniment. We were surrounded by tourists - mainly Americans - but we had gone for the cuisine and the setting, so that was a small price to pay. We had a 5 minute walk back to the albergo along a narrow lane way - Via XX Settembre - and we were back home, where we continue to watch the lake in the comfort of our own room.

Day two of our stay in the lakes began with a leisurely breakfast in the dining room, where we actually could get wifi, as opposed to the theoretical access in our room. Cheese, ham, bread, jam, Nutella, croissants - the full Italian disaster :-). We then had time for a longer walk through the various alleyways of the town before we took the boat ferry one stop to Bellagio. Built to a similar pattern to Varenna, but probably three of four times the size and much more touristed, with several grand hotels, Bellagio marks the spartivento- the separation of the winds in the Y shaped Lago Di Como. We wandered past the various high priced boutiques along the waterfront, bought a ticket for the trip to Como, and ambled our way to the Punto Di Spartivento, graced by a small boat harbour and a rather nice looking restaurant/bar - which we did not frequent. The park at the point is a lovely quiet place to soak in the view. You can see why George Clooney might want to own a house in this part of the world. (Although, as the world knows, he was otherwise occupied in Venice these last few days!)

We had lunch in a quiet little place near the town square, few tourists in sight, then picked up a couple of gifts before taking the hydrofoil back to Como. Few stops and high speed meant that the trip was only 45 minutes. It began to rain in Bellagio just as we boarded the servizio rapido, and it seemed to have just stopped in Como when we arrived there. Good timing, we think. Como has a few patches of medieval building which we looked at again before walking up to S. Giovanni station by a rather indirect route to catch the 3.22 for Milano Porta Garibaldi.

Since we are back in Milano now, after our fairy tale visit to the Lake, we'll finish up this entry here and pick up Milan again in tomorrow's entry.