Lake Como, Italy

Boarding the boat in Como 

Since we had messed up our tour plans the day before, we decided to take the train to Lake Como and tour it ourselves.

We arrived in Como and we were told that we would have to take the bus to the lake. Fantastic. Well there were no buses going anywhere for quite a while, so we decided to try to walk, and we were in front of the lake in about 8 minutes. Glad we paid for those bus tickets! (More people lying to you for your money, always a beautiful thing!)

Exploring Bellagio 

The town was quaint, not quite what we were expecting, but nice. The tourist information people were amazing and in about 5 minutes, we had obtained our boat tickets that would get us up to Bellagio and back. This day was getting better. The only major issue was the clouds, but you can’t have everything...or so we were quickly finding out. So we sat down for a quick snack and glass of wine and had our first amazing plate of pasta in Italy. (The food in Milan is okay at best) It was fantastic and just what we needed. Shortly after, we boarded the boat and set sail across lake Como for Bellagio. It was going to be about a 2 hour ride, so we needed to find a good place to take pictures. About 20 minutes into the ride it began to rain. Even better! So we had a few good pictures, but we decided to head inside to have another glass of wine. At 2Euro, you couldn’t beat it! There was a big storm, downpour, thunder, lightening, the whole bit...but it cleared after a short while and we decided to head back outside for more pictures and fresh air. We were sitting out front for maybe 15 mintutes when the crew starting waving at us from inside the steer house. It was funny at first, but then they asked us to come in the steer house with them, where they offered us food and wine. We had just eaten, but we’ll always take free wine!! So we sat up front talking with the 6 men and their broken English, wondering what they were saying about us in Italian, drinking wine. It was a great way to see the lake, learn about the area, and have fun all at one. When the wine was finished, they asked if we’d like some more...of course we would...and the next thing you know, here come’s Dino (the head chef) with a bottle of Prosecco (champaign)! It was fantastic! We were having a blast, but we were also excited to get off of the boat and explore a little bit.

View from Bellagio

Bellagio

We walked around Bellagio for about 30 minutes, attempting to find a villa, at which we failed. Kim was a bit bummed about that, but we needed to eat! We headed back to this quiet little wine shop that we had seen walking up a path and when we got there, our take was surrounded by pictures of George Clooney. It was great! We shared a slice of lasagna, which was out of this world...cheesy goodness...and had another glass of wine. We had to move quick because our boat was coming to get us very soon. So we took some pictures, thanked to owner and got his card, and headed back to the dock.

George Clooney's Homes

Back aboard the same boat, we found a quiet place to hide from our new friends for a while to enjoy the scenery and take a few more pictures the sun was breaking through the clouds, so the lake looked completely different! It was still beautiful, but in a much different way. For the last 30 minutes of the ride, or so, we sat up front with our steer house friends, making pleasant conversation again. They were telling us about a big festival with fireworks that was taking place this upcoming Saturday, and that we should come back. We would have loved to, but at that point we were planning on being in Switzerland. We thanked them for all of their hospitality and alcohol and headed back into Como.

Back on land, we grabbed a scoop of gellato and continued our walk. We journeyed through the town of Como deciding that this was where we needed to be. If we could just find an investor, we could run an amazing Bed and breakfast on the lake for a great price, and run it ourselves, able to enjoy the beauty of the area everyday. It was perfect. Eventually, dreams in hand, we made our way back to the train station, bus tickets still unused, and boarded our train to head back to Milan. 

Lake Como is beautiful and amazing, everything you would dream it to be. In my eyes, having mountains and water, is the perfect place to live. We saw George Clooney's houses (yes, plural) and many other beautiful villas. It is a beautiful area with many quaint and gorgeous towns along the lakes. Everyone there was friendly and seemed happy. This is a great place to spend a few days and just relax, maybe even honeymoon if the mood strikes. I would visit Lake Como again in a heartbeat!!