Most places I go on vacation, there are clear paths for the traveler to follow. Here in Lake Como -- not so much. From the road, it looks like you're supposed to just drive straight through.
But get out of the car, if you can find a parking spot, and walk around and all sorts of things open up to you.
Today, we walked down from the apartment into Santa Maria. Having read about the bus line that runs between San Siro and Menaggio, I recognized one as we picked our way across the road. More on the bus, later. Across the road, we found a wide public beach. It was practically invisible passing by... Almost as if by design.
Since we knew we wanted to use the bus at some point, I went in search of tickets. I'd read that bars sold tickets, so, since there was one open across the street, I went in and asked. Sure enough, after some some bad Italian/English conversation with the barkeep, I purchased enough tickets for the family to get to Managgio and back. Unfortunately, since it was already 1:30pm, we realized that the limited service on Sunday was going to mean too much waiting around to be much fun. We decided to pocket the tickets to use tomorrow for a full day visiting Managgio/Bellagio/Varenna by bus and boat.
Instead, we decided to explore the local town on foot. We went back to the beach and walking north, spotted a castle. We decided to walk to it. That took us from Santa Maria to Rezzonico. We found the castle, but discovered that it is closed and private. While pondering our next move, we noticed a path marked Via al Lago and surmised that that must mean it goes to the lake. We followed it and found a lovely little public beach and swimming cove. It was much more protected and quiet than the one in Santa Maria at the bottom of our hill. Wishing we were in our swimwear, we settled for toe-dipping and quiet sitting in the shade, watching the people, ducks and swans.
On the walk back, we stopped back in the bar and bought a round of gelato. Walking up the hill, we found a more pedestrian-friendly route that not only led us to a short-cut back to the apartment, but also led right by a playground. My kids break for playgrounds.
So, feeling like I was starting to "crack the code" for Lake Como a bit, we returned to catch up on journal writing and fix another home cooked dinner. As I'm writing this, I'm listing to the the Sunday afternoon family gatherings going on on both sides of our apartment, in Italian, or course. Laura and I are both feeling like we need to institute a similar tradition when we get back home.
We ended the evening sending the kids up to get ready for bed while Laura and I finished a nice chilled bottle of local white wine and enjoyed the view of the fading sunlight on the hills across the lake.
Tomorrow, we resolved to get up early and catch the bus to Managgio to ride the boat to Varenna. Our landlord, Detlef, has recommended a walk around Varenna as the epitome of old villas and gardens near the lake so we are going to go check it out. I've decided that I really don't like the stress of driving around the little narrow streets packed around the lake or squeezing into tiny parking spots. If I can manage not using the car until we leave, that's what I'm going to do.
One last image. I shot this picture of the full moon over the lake from the bedroom balcony before going to bed. This really is a beautiful place.
