Eurotrip 2023 - Day 6 - 7/27/2023 - Lake Como

Somehow we were able to pull off all the plans that we hatched the night before, and with only a couple of minor moments of stress. We left our luggage and the bulk of our belongings at the numa apartment, and packed overnight bags for a day/night in the Lake Como area. First was a metro ride to catch the 8:43a express train to Como from Milano Centrale railway station. Then we walked from Como San Giovanni railway station to the Como docks to catch the 10:10a outbound ferry. We got off at Bellagio after riding for about 2.5 hours. In Bellagio we stopped for some lunch at a random hotel outdoor bar and then made our way to I Giardini di Villa Melzi, a nice lakeside botanical garden recommended once again by Chloe. After strolling through there we made a stop for gelato and headed down to the ferry dock. Fran made a detour to a silk shop while I (eventually) got us a spot in line for the 3:50p ferry back to Como. The ferry arrived late, and we weren't on our way until about 4:15p. The return journey was shorter (closer to 1.75 hours), as this particular route made fewer stops. Back in Como, we found our way to the Airbnb Fran had booked for the night, which happened to be on the same block as the restaurant (Figli Dei Fiori - Osteria) where we had made a 7p dinner reservation on the recommendation of my sister-in-law Rachel.

Selfie in Bellagio

Now to say a bit more about some of those things we did... The ferry rides were nice, but I was ready to get off the boat by the end. I can't help but compare them to the boat rides that we took in Norway last year. The scenery was similar in some ways (water passages with mountains on the sides), but with obvious differences in waterside architecture (no villas in Norway, ha) and weather (it was cooler in the morning, but mid-80s Fahrenheit in the afternoon here). But there were too many people for my liking on these Italian boats. And also too many people in Bellagio. And so many people trying to board the ferry back to Como that they had to cut off the line and leave some off the boat; thankfully we made it on, but we would have sweat it out less if I had done my job and gotten in line earlier as Fran had asked me to. Oh, and the pizza that I had for lunch in Bellagio was pretty trash; but I don't think it's representative of Italian pizza in general, so that's fine. On the good side, the dinner was pretty solid, with Fran once again enjoying it more than I did; though I have to give props to their "cheese plate". We once again ordered more food than we could eat.

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My favorite pictures from the full trip are here.