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Published: November 2nd 2004
Lake Como
The view from the town square.We arrived in Como on September 19, 2004. After giving up on George, we took an hour bus ride north to the hostel in Mennagio, a lakeside village on the central portion of Lake Como. The bus travels through the small villages along the lake, weaving through incredibly small roads the entire way. If the windows were open, you could touch the buildings we were driving by. At several points, we had to back up to allow other buses to squeeze by. You certainly have to have good depth perception for that job!
Lake Como is surrounded by lush mountains and is bordered by mediterranean villages and luxurious villas. It is clear why the rich and famous choose to vacation there. We stayed in an awesome hostel, La Primula, with Alberto and Roberta (the very friendly staff). The dorms were like any other, but the front of a building had a terrace that overlooks an amazing view of the lake. We enjoyed the view each morning over breakfast. Most of the travellers staying at the hostel were English speaking, primarily Brits, Aussies, Americans and Canadians, of all ages. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and we spent our evenings on
Tracey at the Very Top of Mount Grona
We had to use a cable to climb up the last steep part of this peak. There was goat poop even up here. It's amazing how high they can climb. the tearrace meeting fellow travellers, reading, writing and drawing after great home cooked Italian meals prepared by the hostel cook.
During our first day on Lake Como, we settled in and strolled around Mennagio. The weather was cooler (pants and t-shirt weather) and the water was much dirtier than we had expected. No lake swimming here. We discovered the best Gelato shops in Europe (at which Jason became a regular). The second day, we took a ferry to the northern tip of the lake and enjoyed the view of area and the villages from the water. A good choice as our hang-overs (inflicted by the lovely staff of the hostel) didn't really allow us to do much else. The villages along the northern portion of the lake are more residential and agricultural and most of the fancy villas are located in the central and southern portion of the lake. On day three, we hiked to top of Mount Grona (3 hours out), the third highest peak along the lake. The hike was awesome but unfortunally the views were obscured by a covering of haze, which apparently clears with cooler weather (when the tourists leave). The change in oxygen level
Easy does it!
Two of the nimble bus drivers negotiate passed one another. near the top was evident as our climbing spurts only lasted about 50 feet at a time. Day four, we relaxed on the terrace and read. It was a windy, chilly day, so the haze lifted and the views were incredible. During our last day, we rented kayaks and paddled south for hours, past the villa used in Star Wars 2, to the only island in the lake for a picnic. The paddling was super difficult as we were using old slalom kayaks and the wake of the ferries kept spinning us in circles. Once we figured out how to travel straightish, we had an awesome paddle with only a few near collisions with passing ferries. We left Lake Como by bus the following morning, very relaxed, en route to meet up with Tracey's family in Milan.
The connections are very slow in Africa. We will add more pictures to this and the next few blogs at a later time. We'll let you know when we do.
Lake Como: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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anonymous
non-member comment
JELLO?