Advertisement
Published: August 24th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Lake Como
View from our patio at Sosta Sul Lago B&B Well after a very active three weeks in Italy and then a busy time returning to the USA and reconnecting with our house, family and "normal" life etc., I have at a last made the time and organized my thoughts enough to put pen to paper on the final blog entries to our European adventure. I say entries as opposed to entry because there is so much from Italy that I have split it into three entries to keep the upload reasonable and most importantly not to bore you with one excessively long blog entry. My plan is to publish this entry followed closely by the other two within the next 7 days. So here goes Italy entry I:
Milan-Lake Como: On July 14th we arrived in Milan after flying in from Santiago de Compostela via Madrid, where because of a delayed connection we were routed to a different airport in Milan causing havoc with picking up our rental car at the original airport which involved a Taxi ride at breakneck speed to make it before Hertz closed at 12 midnight...... I guess with all going well this trip we needed some adventure to balance it.....right?.....well it got more exciting
as we dealt with getting to our B&B at Lezzeno by the Lake as we drove through a tiny winding road along the lake at 1 AM. This road was so narrow that in many cases when confronting on-coming cars we had to decide on the spot who went first! The good news is that at 1:30 AM we arrived safe and sound at our destination where the owner of the B&B in a demonstration of amazing customer service and care was waiting by the road to flag us into the property! Huge Kudos to Giusy and her Sosta Sul Lago B&B! Not only did she wait for us until 1:30 AM out on the road, but the next day she took care of putting all our laundry out on the line to dry, so we could leave earlier to enjoy the lake.... When we got back not only was our laundry ready but also neatly folded ready to pack! We have been very fortunate throughout our trip to meet many nice people like this. Long story, but it had to be told.......So....
Lake Como: Spectacular, an alpine lake with many small picturesque towns on it's banks that date
back 10 or more centuries. (pics) we took the Lake Batello (Boat) to Bellagio, where to Patricia's dismay George Clooney was not waiting for us..... 😊. Bellagio a beautifull town by the lake with small cobbled walkways on a hillside, great shops and good food. At the top of the town we stopped to visit the San Giacomo church, a striking church built in the 11th century beautiful frescoes and altar (pics). And then of course by the Piazza in front of the church we just
had to have a Gelato from Gelateria de Borgho.. our first of many Gelatos in Italy....it's a culinary experience! There we met a nice couple visiting from France, he was from Colombia and she was from Paris; we were surprised of how many Colombians we met across Europe from all walks of life from professionals like these to the guy who rented us a Beach umbrella in Barcelona, or the waitress in Figueres and others that I will mention in further blog entries. After Bellagio we took the Batello again and toured the lake to see
Varenna and
Menaggio two other very picturesque towns by the lake.(pics)
Onto Venice: As the small windy
Nearing Venice
Great Italian Toll Highways! roads are somewhat stressful and exciting, the freeways or Autostradi are excellent, very well maintained and make for easy drives if somewhat expensive with all the tolls. The rest stops are excellent offering the "Auto Grills" which are restaurant/fast food/store combos that span over the freeway so both sides can benefit along with gas stations at each side (pic). Moving around Venice in hot humid July, is an experience with rolling luggage and back packs along the walkways up and down stairs on each canal crossing bridge -no ramps- ..... Patricia was a trooper during the entire trip but here I sometimes got the
look that said
"I signed up for a lot of walking, but not for this" ...but we made and on the other hand our apartment in Venice was great and Anna, our apartment host, who guided us there was great with helpful hints for the city. It is definitely interesting to see a city that has been literally in the water for so many centuries and yet stays upright. The highlight sight of our visit was the Doge's Palace (the Dukes Palace) with it's amazing collections of art, and armament all within an incredibly elaborate building
Market on a boat
Patricia at Impromptu fruit market on a boat .. checkout the gondola passing by! rich in sculptured wood, marble and paintings(pics). We saw some interesting sights, such as St Marks Basilica, the island of Murano with great examples of beautiful glass blowing, and on the daily Venetian live we discovered small fruit markets that would pop up every morning in the Campos or Piazzas as well as right on boats by the canals (pic).
Overall though, and with all respect to those that really like Venice, for us three days was more than enough as this city was definitely the only place in our entire trip where the hustle and bustle of the tourism overwhelmed and literally oppressed the romance and excitement for the city. As Patricia will say:
"it felt like being in a huge airport or tourism hub with canals". And onto Florence and our next Blog entry: Italy II Florence and Cinque Terre.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.126s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 9; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0498s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb