Traveling in Italy – Lake Como

May 5 Saturday

I woke up early, before 7 and it was raining. The clouds were low and I couldn’t even see the tops of the mountains. Lake Como is in northern Italy not too far from the Swiss border and the snow covered mountains that are the Alps.

Sue and I were down at breakfast a little after 8 and the buffet breakfast at our hotel was wonderful. Anything you could want was here and of course the cappuccino was great. I met an American couple traveling through Italy, France and Switzerland. They are from the Bay area of San Francisco and were very friendly and full of information since they have been here for three days already. They gave us some tips based on their experience using the boats and water taxis on Lake Como. Thank you Julie and Fred!

After breakfast my friend Sue and I made a stop at the post office and we were out of there in five minutes. It was the shortest time I have ever spent at an Italian post office, so kudos to the post office staff in Bellagio!

It was still drizzling on and off so umbrellas were on the agenda for the day. We walked to the dock to board the boat that goes to the central towns on Lake Como. We boarded at 9:40 thinking we’ d be in Varenna in 20 minutes. Instead this boat went in the opposite direction, to Tremezzo and Lenno and back. Then I realized that this boat will not arrive in Varenna until almost 11. It’s no problem though since we really did not have a big agenda and no timetable. It actually was a nice way to tour the lake, and who knows, maybe the rain would stop by the time we arrived in Varenna.

In Varenna we browsed the shops which were along the lake and eventually stopped in for lunch at il Molo Bar.

I was cold so a bowl of minestrone soup sounded good. They had patate fritte too, which are french fries so I ordered those too. Sue had soome American coffee and tiramisu. Tutto bono. All was good!

It continued raining on and off so we leisurely enjoyed sitting outside in the covered restaurant. It felt cold and damp but we were out of the rain. We met some Americans from Minnesota and then we walked back to the dock and took the ferry to Menaggio.

More later.