Cruising Lago Como

Today was one of our biggest todays since we have been in Italy, we cruised around Lake Como.

On certain days of the week you can get a special deal travelling from Lecco to Bellagio by boat, then Bellagio to Como by boat, and finally Como back to Lecco by bus, all for the princely sum of just 14 Euros each, an absolute bargain. So first thing this morning we made our way to the boarding station, and waited for our private yacht to arrive....have you noticed how we are starting to see all forms of public transport as being our own personal vehicles? Well, it makes us feel good anyway!

Our very own yacht, well almost

Very soon, the good ship Ninfea pulled into the dock and we all climbed aboard for our first leg to the very swish township of Bellagio. When I say Ninfea was taking us to Bellagio, it was, but not straight away, you see this deal was using public transport, so we had quite a few stops on the way.

Full steam ahead

Locals got on and off at each stop

It was quite funny seeing people get on at a larger town on one side of the lake with all of their groceries, then get off on the other side of the lake at a little village to go home.....you just don't think about these things until you see them.

Beautiful Views Everywhere You Looked

You forget that everyday people live and work in these towns

All along the lake there where so many beautiful views, lovely village, and people going past in boats just going about their daily business. The mountains definitely became more impressive the further north we headed and quite magical (yes I know I am gushing just a bit!).

The mountains became more impressive as we headed north

Bellagio approaching

After just under one and a half hours we were docking at our first destination, Bellagio, the home of the rich and the famous, and for the next few hours, their poorer touring cousins...us two.

Your everyday shopping area

Streets either go up or up

You can choose to eat beside the lake

Bellagio is a very picturesque little town, everywhere you turn there is another photo waiting to be taken. The fact the town is built on a hillside seems to give you views just everywhere, and beautiful staired lane ways winding their way up and down the hills.

Frequent rests are needed

Before long it was time to find somewhere to sit for lunch, I had read about a little Trattoria, La Divina Commedia that offered an Italian Buffet lunch for just 10 Euros per head, so we headed to that. It had got very mixed reviews on TripAdvisor, but we found it to be really good and well worth the money. At the restaurant we bumped into a lovely couple, Cynthia and Bernard, she was American and he was French. We git chatting outside of the restaurant and really hit it off, so we decided to share a table and all talk about our travels so far.

La Divina Commedia restaurant

Lunch with new friends, Bernard and Cynthia

After lunch we swapped addresses and said our goodbyes. Lesley and I headed back to the dock to catch the next boat to Como, the second leg of our journey.

Farewell Bellagio

This length of the trip was to take 2 and a half hours, and although the scenery was beautiful, and the mansions impressive, it was a bit too long. The disappointing thing was we were now heading south and the mountains were disappearing and making the way for hills. As a matter of fact, Lecco is surrounded by mountains while Como is only surrounded by hills, I know which one I like to look at.

Heaps of beautiful properties, everywhere!

All the way to Como I had the distinct feeling Lesley was looking out for George Clooney, apparently I fall into a very distant second whenever he is mentioned!! As it so happened the ferry does not go near his house, when we passed it we were on the other shore line, which is just as well as it stopped Lesley peering into his windows.

I think we made twice as many stops on this leg compared to the first, and this was one of the reasons for the trip length. That being said there were still so many things to see and the scenery just kept changing which kept it so interesting, and still more beautiful towns to be seen.

How the other half live

Fantastic location for a restaurant

Kids kept cool by jumping into the lake from this bridge

After some time we could see the town of Como come into view, our final destination by boat.

Como slipped into view

Pulling into Como

The Fenicular We Failed To Ride

Just before we docked I noticed a Fernicular going up one of the larger hills in Como, I really wanted to ride this to the top and see the views, but as it turned out we were far too tired to walk that far, oh well, maybe another time on another trip!

By the time we pulled into Como it was later in the afternoon and very hot, our first point of call was to find a restaurant and drink as many litres of water as we could.

Caffe Ambosiano, our "real" watering hole

After cooling down and rehydrating we went for a walk around Como. I have a feeling that both Lesley and myself have become "Lecco Converts" as nothing we saw in Como came up to what we had experienced in Lecco. This was actually quite disappointing as Como had been one of the main places we had wanted to see for so many years. That being said there were still many nice things to see, and I am sure we missed many more.

Beautiful hotels and restaurants

Como's own Duomo

Piazza Duomo

Archway and Hills

After a few hours we were both feeling quite exhausted, it was time to head back to Lecco. So we went to where the buses were and asked a driver where to catch the bus to Lecco, he pointed, and off we went. We sat waiting for the bus eating ice cream, I started to feel we were in the wrong spot as no-one else was here. So I went for a wander and found a Newspaper stand that sells bus tickets and I checked with him...yes we were in the wrong spot, the one we needed was a 100 metres around the corner and was due to leave in a few minutes. I ran back to Lesley, and we rushed to the stop just in time to see it pulling out. Lucky for us we were able to wave the driver down who kindly stopped and let us on.

Lesson: Do not ask bus drivers for information, always use the Newspaper stand people, who quite often speak English and actually know what is going on with public transport.

Well, one hour later we were pulling into Lecco, a very long day had been had by all, but a incredibly fantastic one as well, one we will remember for a very long time.

 

Posted with Blogsy