Thursday 8th Jan - wanting to see a little of lake Como we chose a train trip to Varenna and a the short ferry trip to Bellagio. This little place, which is very popular in summer is known as the pearl of lake como, sitting at the peak where the two legs of lake Como meet.
After just a short 1 hour train trip to Varenna, our first stop was for a coffee to warm up. We found our way to the jetty easily and bought the tickets for the ferry, having an hour to wait for the next ferry we decided to look around Varenna. A very hilly and pretty town with a lovely promenade walk along the cliff and waters edge.
The ferry across to Bellagio which carries cars and passengers only takes 15 minutes. Obviously in winter this little town is very quite, hardly a sole seen while we walked around the streets. I was speaking with a shop assistant who said summer is too busy, the best time to visit is May or September, so I will remember that for the future someday. These towns reminded me a little of Cinque Terra being built on rocks and cliffs that disappear into the water, with very narrow winding streets and lots of alleys and many steps. I can imagine them bustling with families on holiday in summer. One of the do not signs on the church door was "no ice creams", I hadn't seen that before, it must be a nice cool place to be in summer!
We had a nice pizza for lunch in one of the few cafes that were open, and after a stroll, and Liam practicing his stone skipping on Lake Como it was time to head back to ferry for Varenna to get the train back to Milan.