Off to Lake Como

After renting the car in Verona we only had a few minor mishaps on the way to Lake Como - nothing more serious than exiting the autostrade then getting on it again and taking the very same exit one more time! Also it's fortunate that roundabouts are made in a circle so you can experience them more than once. And we had a small standoff with a bus on a very narrow road - we lost.

We're staying at a very small village on Lake Como called Faggeto Lorio which, like all the villages along the lake, consists of houses stacked one on top of another starting at water level and making their way up the hill. Very reminiscent of Cinque Terre but not so well kept. You'd be very hard pressed to find a few feet of level ground.

The hills above the lake are lushly forested with deep ravines cut into them. We could see the tops of some Alps peeking (or peaking?) above the hills.

The weather this morning was quite lovely when we hopped on the local ferry boat for a trip to Bellagio which is situated between the two arms of Lake Como. It seemed like the entire shoreline was dotted with little villages and the boat took about 1.5 hours to go a very short distance, stopping at each little hamlet. Bellagio is also a bit more up-scale - a few Maseratis and Ferraris in the lots. Little alley ways that wind up and up with shops and restaurants on many levels.

We then took another boat to visit Villa Carlotta, an elegant house with amazing gardens. 

I'm quite surprised by this entire area - I think with a lake this large I was expecting some beach area but here's a photo of the beach area by our hotel. A little chunk of sand with some chairs you can rent for 5 E a day. And the sand isn't even at the water.

It is very picturesque here although we had a huge lightning storm last night. And I just heard a few large cracks tonight. This is the view from one of the balconies in our room: