Lake Como, Italy

Thursday 27th August 2020

We left London in the rain pleased to be escaping for the long weekend! We had chosen to fly into Milan and had a £7 flight there with Whizz Air as our original easyJet one has been cancelled but the return flight was still going ahead. As we arrived into Luton airport and hour and a half before our flight left we discovered our plane was delayed by an hour. This meant we left at 9.30pm and arrived into Milan airport at 12.30am. The car rental place shut at midnight so we wouldn’t be able to collect the car to then drive to our accommodation that night in Lake Como which was about an hour and forty five minutes drive away. A little bit of a nightmare. We managed to change the car booking till the next morning and then book a nights accommodation just nearby the airport. We of course had to pay for this mistake which was unfortunate but kinda just part of travelling Europe! When we arrived we decided not to pay the €14 ($24 nzd) for a Uber but instead walk 30 minutes to where the hotel called sleep and fly was. It was a lovely warm evening anyways so it was pleasant after getting off our flight. The owners waited up for us and at this stage it was 1.30am and all we did was shower and sleep. 

Friday 28th August 2020

Lew for some reason decided it was a good idea to ask for a pick up as soon as the car company opened. Aka 7am. Having only a few hours sleep we managed to catch an Uber and make it there for 7.30am. It would have taken us far too long to walk this morning. We were a bit shattered and had even climbed the fence to get out of the Airbnb as we couldn’t work out how to open the gate! I hope they don’t have security cameras to watch it back on.

Drive to Varenna, Italy 

After having some issues with the car which I won’t bore you with we were on the road to Varenna. We chose this super cute town on the side of Lake Como because we wanted an Airbnb we could park at with no issues and the town itself seemed like a good base. The roads are mostly motorways so it’s easy driving until you reach the windy small streets around the city itself. Our Airbnb was up in the hills above the town and had a private garage for our car. We happened to get an upgrade to a blue Audi A4 which was pretty nice but far too big for these small streets! If your driving I would recommend getting the smallest car you can! It makes driving the tight lanes and also parking a lot easier. We showered, chilled out on the balcony which had an epic view over the city and lake before heading down the hill to see the city.

Exploring Varenna & Bellagio 

The weather was atrocious but Lews mum likes to say it is only liquid sunshine so don’t let it ruin your plans! So we didn’t let it. After the walk down the hill we saw a small part of the city but decided to jump onto a ferry and head to Bellagio which cost us €18.40 ($31.50 nzd) return for two people. We were so surprised that when the ferry left the harbour Varenna was the most incredible town tucked around the corner we hadn’t even seen yet as we were based up on the hills. There was a break in the rain and the coloured buildings and bell tower popped in front of the clouds and green hills. The ferry isn’t long at all and before we knew it we were approaching the famous Bellagio. This is the point of the upside down Y that is Lake Como and it’s one of the most visited areas. It looked very much like Varenna but was a bit larger and clearly had a lot more money. The little rows of streets were adorned with flower baskets in front of expensive shops. Before we got into sightseeing we knew we needed food ASAP and stopped off at a little local looking place called La Lanterna. I ordered the spaghetti pasta and Lew got the lasagne with some bruschetta. We realised it was 3pm and we haven eaten much at all today hence why we felt so yuck!

Post lunch we made our way over to the little fishing village of Pescallo which felt like a ghost town. It was very picturesque and quiet on a rainy afternoon. But we could see why this was recommended. 

Some of the main points to visit in Bellagio are the gorgeous streets of Via Giuseppe Garibaldi and Salita Serbelloni which is one of the most instagram worthy shots and you can see it in my pictures below. There is also a highly recommended wine bar here called Enoteca La Principessa which we didn’t visit ourself but I have read about it on numerous blogs so check it out! Browse the shops and the waterfront restaurants, grabs some gelato and just admire its beauty. 

We headed back to Varenna on the ferry as we knew there was still a bit to see in our little city. Not much was open with it being a Friday night but there seemed to be some cute shops and restaurants on the waterfront. One of which we got a handmade xmas decoration from - our tradition I try to keep with all our places we visited. Our future Xmas tree is bound to be very eclectic! 

Saturday 29th August 2020

Again the morning started off pouring with rain and we struggled to get a move on and leave the house. We chatted to Lews friend Jeremy and then hopped in the car to drive just over an hour to the city of Como. This is the biggest city on the lake and we decided to give it an entire day here. Thankfully the sky cleared and we saw our first lot of sunshine for the entire weekend! The roads around Lake Como are mostly highways and very easy to drive. It’s only when we get into the small cities especially Varenna that it’s very windy with tiny roads. So I wouldn’t say its overly hard to drive. We also managed to avoid all toll roads with no issues and just set our Google Maps to avoid them.

Como

Wandering the streets is the best thing you can really do here! The old town is quite compacted with food, clothing and old buildings. The main square around the Duomo is a must see and make sure you stop to look around at the types of old buildings and how they manage to slot in to each other even though they are an entirely different style and age. We headed straight to the waterfront as we were keen to pick up some food before we headed up the funicular. The waterfront restaurants are just gorgeous and after much debate we stopped at Ristorante Pizzeria Funicolare and I had an amazing seafood risotto and Lew has the calzone pizza paired with a small glass of vino. Its a great place to people watch and see boats coming in and out of the harbour.

Como-Brunate Funicular

One of the main things to do in Como is head up the funicular which has been around since 1894 and takes 7 minutes to reach this stunning location with an impressive view over the lake below. If we had known we would have had lunch up here instead. This is the city of Brunate which was always a holiday destination of nobles families from Como and Milan who built large villas here. It started absolutely pouring down as we begun our walk to what is stated as the best panoramic view of the lake from Volta’s Lighthouse which is approx half an hours walk from the funicular. There is apparently a shuttle that can also take you there but it was a lovely stroll through the old buildings, trees and fresh air. The view was definitely worth the walk but the rain had not eased by this stage and an umbrella wasn’t doing much! We had also decided to just buy a ticket so we could walk down and begun walking back to Brunate to follow the trail down. It was worth the walk but took us about 40-50 minutes to get back to Como. We were rather sodden by this stage and decided to call it a day.

On the way back home we dropped into a supermarket and I picked up some bits and pieces to make hot lemon, honey and ginger drink and also easy veggie omelettes for dinner.

Sunday 30th August 2020

Rain again this morning as I pulled up the shutters which are amazing for blocking all the light and the sound of the torrential rain outside! It also gives us peace of mind that the hornets have no way of getting in! We left at about 11am and drove around the small towns to hike out to the peninsular by the town of Olgiasca which has a romanesque monastery out there. However, constant down pour of rain stopped us from this as we watched the rain radar in the car (yea how cool is this car!) and we could see it wasn’t going to pass anytime soon. We drove out there instead, used the free toilet and did a short tree walk before our feet got wet and we gave up. At this point we decided to drive around to the city of Menaggio but we got stopped by police just before we got there saying the road was closed due to the rain. Instead we headed all the way back around lake to Varenna, parked the car at the local train station and planned on getting the ferry across instead. Before we headed over we picked up some lunch from a wonderful veggie cafe called Natural Mente Varenna food who did a smashing panini for Lew and a salad for me.

Menaggio

The ferry across is rather fun as it gives you a great perspective of the cities and how they nestle in the waterfront/hills with their colourful exteriors. Its very picturesque and I highly recommend you do this at least once in your time in Lake Como. It was a short ride across to Menaggio which is a relatively big town in comparison to Varenna. Instead of sitting down in the sunshine we grabbed some gelato and then hiked up the back of the city to a place called Trincee della Linea Cadorna which provided the most stunning view over the city and Lake Como that we had seen so far. It was quite the hike of 2 hours and we were throughly stuffed by the time we got down and on the ferry back to Varenna.

We wernt sure where on earth we were going to eat out tonight as it was a Sunday and a lot of places appeared pretty darn closed. With a lot of googling and reading reviews we were SO pleased to find the cute place slightly up the hill which we had walked past on the first day was actually open. This was called La Veranda dei pescatori. WOAH. Food was honestly next level and we had the most gorgeous view over the lake with the sun setting on the terracotta roofs of the houses around us. I had the homemade gnocchi with lake fish cherry tomatoes and thyme and Lew had a tasty local favourite which I have forgotten the name of! We finished up dinner with the wild berry gelato with blueberry grappa. We left feeling very full and content with the restaurant we had picked for dinner. There really isn’t anything worse that leaving somewhere not feeling satisfied with the place you have chosen so it was a great way to spend our last night chilling out, slowing down and spending some quality time together.

Monday 31st August 2020

Hello bank holiday Monday! Lew had been planning for the last couple of days to run this massive hill in and around where we were staying. Because the weather had been so terrible he had been waiting for a break in the rain to ensure he didn’t come across any flash flooding or dangerous areas in the mountain. He was gone for a good couple of hours and the run ended up being 18km with 1,032m elevation gain. safe to say I was pleased I didn’t join him. We then packed up the airbnb and made our way back into Milan on the motorway. Lew had been searching for a particular shoe for ages and he couldn’t get them in London. So we found ourselves at a random mall in Milan just to collect these shoes from a particular shop. I feel like on our travels in Europe we have made special trips for shoes numerous times! We like clothing with a particular story don’t we. After spending some time at the mall we grabbed some lunch before heading to the airport for our evening flight back to London. We only have a weekend in Wales and a weekend in Bristol before we leave for NZ on December 5th! So its going to feel like a lot of non travelling months coming up as we finish off the final wedding plans and also travel plans within NZ. Watch this space!

Just a side note:

We had some serious issue with giant hornets I have not even mentioned! We think this was because of the torrential rain and them trying to seek shelter inside our house whilst we very unassumingly ate dinner on the balcony the first evening. I kid you not these things were the largest flying, stinging things I have ever seen in my life. We had 5 of them in the apartment as we were beyond terrified locking ourselves in the bathroom to escape them. Somehow we managed to get them outside using the main hallway exit to the house, the bathroom window and the balcony. We went to sleep the first night with adrenaline running through us waiting for the loud buzzing sound to emerge from the dark. As it was I was in the bathroom the next morning and found one against the bathroom door. I only have videos but just imagine us both hiding in the bathroom very sweaty with a broom in one hand trying to figure out how to get them out of the house without being stung! Oh Como what a treat your were, thanks for the memories.