Woke up around 07:30, decent hotel so a good breakfast although light on the hot food, just bacon and scrambled eggs.
Dumped the bags and walked to the funicular to go up to the 'high city' which is the old town on a hill.
Weather was alternating between sunny and cloudy, around 15c.
Got
to the funicular and there was a massive queue, a tour bus had just
dropped off about 60 students. Had to wait about 15 minutes to go up.
The
town was very old, lots of churches. We went in a couple and because it
was Sunday they were conducting mass. The interiors were incredible -
the walls and ceilings covered with carvings of angels etc and frescos.
Carried
on walking though narrow cobblestone streets enclosed by old, tall
buildings and came across the main street that was packed with tourists.
Bought some stuff from a bakery then headed back down to the hotel,
grabbed an ice cream on the way.
Sat in the hotel for a while using the wifi then walked over to the train station.
Got
the train to Lecco, travelled through some nice hills, then had to
change to a train to Verenna then off the train onto a ferry, then
finally a taxi to the hotel.
Despite being a Sunday there were
trains every hour from Bergamo and we only had to wait 10 minutes at
Lecco. Whoever was running the country made sure the trains ran on time.
Despite being up north in the hills it was warm, t shirt weather.
The
train from Lecco skirted Lake Como, giving some beautiful views of the
hills and lake, similar to Lake Koman, but went in and out of tunnels so
they were few and far between.
However, when it was possible to see the lake - amazing views.
Got
to Verenna, walked down to the ferry to be greeted by mayhem - about
200 people all waiting. Fortunately there were only 4 people in the
ticket queue so we must have missed the rush. Got the tickets and waited
for the ferry and got pushed on by the crowd. Despite this managed to
get one seat.
Bellagio was also hectic, people everywhere. Our hotel wasn't in the town but up in the hills about 3km away, so we got a taxi.
The hotel room was ok, a decent size and the most incredible view of Lake Como, with a balcony.
We decided not to go back into the town because it was so busy and didn't know if we could get a table at any of the restaurants, so ate at the hotel.
We
sat outside, on the terrace with the view of the lake, magnificent.
Song had once again booked a fantastic hotel. We ordered a plate of cold
meats and cheese to share, and I had a beer.
We each ordered a
pizza, Song had vegetables and I had 4 cheeses. The pizzas were huge but
we hadn't eaten since breakfast and I managed to finish mine.
There was an annoying kid in the restaurant so we decided to go back to the room.
Song said she preferred Lake Koman in Albania, but I think Como is better.
Unfortunately the wifi in the hotel is slow and I can't upload to Flickr, so it will be a couple of days.
Tomorrow the weather doesn't look as good, we're going to buy a day ticket to the ferry and bounce around the towns.
