One hour north of Milano is a town on Lake Como called Varenna, a small town of 800 people which is our new home for a couple of days. We arrived here, to this non-urban world, via comfortable electric train with a goal to just relax and enjoy the lake.
Como is the third largest lake in Italy and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. It’s been the destination for the rich and famous since Roman times. Think of Lake Tahoe squished in the middle into a long skinny lake, but at a lower elevation, and with warmer water. Both lakes are about the same depth, but Como, being at a lower elevation, extends it’s depth to 600 feet below sea level with the alps towering above it on the north end!
Our hotel used to be a monestary, and is six floors, located far up a steep hillside. Everything in Varenna is built on hillsides! To get to the hotel rooms from the lobby, means taking two different furniculars (inclined-plane-cable-railway-elevators) to get to the rooms up on the hillside above, then a regular elevator up to our top floor room. We have a balcony overlooking this magnificent lake, thanks be to Sue and Rick Steves for informing us of this lovely place!
We enjoyed poking around the small shops in this town, walking the alleys and cobblestone streets over to the harbor and ferry landing, and back again. It was a day of relaxation and no schedule.
We watched sunset from one of the decks at the hotel. A real highlight of the day was meeting Matt and Mary, from Minneapolis, at dinner time and enjoying a converstation with them, as we have many things in common: they are people of faith and attend mainline church, he plays guitar like Dave and I, they used to live in Palo Alto, and they also have two kids, college-age or older, as we do. Having so many similarities, it was comfortable being with them, and they could be good friends if we lived closer. The six of us had a great time talking during a dinner of apetizers on the hotel dining veranda overlooking Lake Como.
Check on the trail from Bellagio to Pescalla about .3 of a mile Lunch or dinner in Pescallo. Great!!