Blogs from Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy, Europe

Dopo il lockdown la quarantena, e dopo la quarantena niente: bloccato a casa! Ecco allora qualche interessante escursione da compiersi in giornata dalle parti del Lago di Como.... MONTE COLMEGNONE (1383m): Partenza dalla Chiesa di Santa Marta a Carate Urio (280m). Il sentiero è ben segnalato e, passando dai Monti di Carate (765m) e dal Rifugio Murelli (1200m), conduce alla vetta in poco meno di due ore. La discesa può avvenire anche verso Laglio, dirigendosi verso Nord e seguendo una mulattiera precaria e mal segnalata che scende al lago passando prima da un grande prato e poi dai Monti di Germanello (530m). Occhio ai cinghiali. SASSO GORDONA (1410m): Dal Rifugio Murelli l'ampio sentiero che arriva dal Monte Bisbino prosegue verso il Rifugio Binate (chiuso) e da lì, in meno di un'ora, una mulattiera porta alla cima ... read more

Friday 27 September 2019 : Santa Margherita to Varenna, Lake Como Today we head north to Varenna, Lake Como. Decide that its too far to lug our bags with all those hills if we’re getting on a train, so a taxi €25 for a 5-10min ride. Those wonderful fast trains ($118AUD prebooked), except that today, our train was late. So when we got to Milan for our connection, we needed to sort out another train. No biggy as it turns out, an hour to sit on the kerb and eat our packed lunch, toilets, drinks and off we go again. The last part of the journey has beautiful scenery, we’re getting very excited. The trains are so comfortable, we were concerned with the distances, but its not a problem. We were met at the train station ... read more

We are staying in Lugano, Switzerland but we are very close to the Italian border. We decided to drive to Lake Como. The first town we come to is Menaggio. We stop here and walk through the town. I buy a Christmas ornament, a globe with pictures of Lake Como. It is a cute town with a promenade along the lake. We then head to Villa Del Balbianello, this villa has been used as a movie set for many movies including Star Wars and the Bond film Casino Royale. Darn the villa is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We decide to visit another villa in Tremezzi called Villa Carlotta. This is a beautiful villa overlooking the lake and has large gardens. We spend hours here checking out the villa and beautiful gardens. In 1843 Princess Marianne ... read more

We were up early this morning so that we could catch the 8.23am train to Varenna which is approximately half way up the eastern side of Lake Como. This regional service departs from Milano's Central Station so we had to take a Metro train from our B&B early enough to make the connection. Although we arrived at Milano Centrale yesterday and caught the Metro to the B&B to familiarise ourself with how to get about on the trains we still thought it best to allow plenty of time to get confused (or lost?) doing it in reverse. Our early start also meant that we missed the 'and breakfast' part at the B&B this morning. They do breakfast from 8.00am, but Bernie wanted to leave by 7.30am so we ate the fruit, etc that we bought at ... read more

We rose early to go by taxi to La Cattdrale di San Giovanni Battista (Chuch of Saint John the Baptist) in Turin to see the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. We were amongst the first to enter this peaceful place. The shroud is encased in a special box to protect it. Once a year it is taken out during a special worship service, so we saw images of this special burial cloth. Tears came to my eyes as I prayed & contemplated on Jesus death on the cross. The love He has for us! Then we joined up with the rest of our group for a boat ride on Lake Como. The beauty of the Italian Alps create the perfect backdrop to the villas dotting the lake. No wonder so many celebrities want to live here! ... read more