We woke up to rain – not heavy rain, just enough rain to make everything wet and to sound really good coming through the open doors. It was lovely to watch over the lake, it made everything a different colour, and shrouded the lake in mist. We took a look at the forecast and it seemed it would clear up in an hour or so, so we made plans for the day. We were going to go to Val Camonica and look at some rock formations and carvings/drawings, but when we looked them up online, it was very different to how the travel book described them. The photos didn’t look all that great, and so we decided to go and look at some more of the little towns around the lake instead.
When we came back from breakfast and were getting ready to go, all of a sudden, a piano accordion started up. Now I can’t say I am a fan of accordion music, but this guy was very talented. He was sitting on the balcony, a floor below us, and just happily playing away. It kind of fit the moment. I leant over the balcony to have a look (all I could see were his socks and his right hand) and watched a guest (a pushy and rude German lady) shake her head and tch tch tch at him for disturbing her coffee. It was really quite lovely though, sitting there looking across the lake, listening to this guy play songs like; “She Wears My Ring”, “Tarantara”, “O Solo Mio” and “Amore”. He played for an hour and was still going when we left – and I can’t say I heard one wrong note in that entire time. Most impressive indeed.
We caught the shuttle bus down to the ferry, and jumped on one going to Como (the town). The lake was beautifully quiet, almost eerie actually, and there weren’t all that many tourists around. The ferry was quiet and we drifted past Villa Carlotta, which was on the other side of the lake, almost opposite where our hotel was. The few tourists that were onboard, hopped off here, and we went on to the next stop instead. We had a fabulous view back towards Bellagio, and could see our hotel in the mist. Once we were off the boat, we walked along the foreshore towards a Villa, which had been used in lots of movies (Star Wars and Casino Royale to name just two) and looked like it would be interesting to see. It turned out that you had to catch another boat to the entrance of the villa, and there was an entrance fee as well, so we decided to just enjoy where we were and then head across to Varenna instead. We stopped at a little café, had an espresso each, and then started to wander again. I got a phone call from Jamie and just yakked for a bit while we walked back along the foreshore.
About 20 minutes later, we were on the ferry and on our way to Varenna. It looked like an interesting little village when we passed it yesterday, so we thought we’d take advantage of the time and have a look around over there. We headed into a little restaurant for lunch and had some pasta with fish, and then walked along the lake into the town itself. There were cafes and gelaterias all along the foreshore, and we headed in behind the ‘main’ street into the alleys and narrow streets behind. All of the buildings were lovely terracotta colours, or pinks or yellows, with colourful flowerboxes in windows and on iron balconies. Every street led to a view of the lake. Varenna is sitting on a little peninsula bit, so all around you can see water and the other mountains. We found a little alley with a staircase leading down to the water, which was on the opposite side of the peninsula to where we landed, so we went for a wander down. As we passed the houses, it opened up onto a fabulous little pebble-beach area with a magnificent view. We sat there for a bit just taking it all in, and then started to make our way back to the ferry terminal. It was a spectacular little town, and it would be lovely spending a few days there doing nothing other than swimming in the lake, eating the lake fish, and just relaxing while sipping some local wine and looking at the incredible view.
We caught the ferry back to Bellagio, in time for the massage we had booked at the other hotel. Mark’s back is still not great, so he thought a remedial massage may help – I got the bonus end of the deal and got an Ayurvedic massage to pass my time while I waited for him *wink*. Sadly though, they both left a lot to be desired. It has helped his back a little, but we miss Elyse’s massages and Neil’s chiro (in a big way)!
We headed up into the back streets of Bellagio to have dinner – we thought we should see more up there again, rather than just the cafes and restaurants along the foreshore. We found a pizza place that looked good, but once we had ordered, it became overrun with tourists and we found we had stumbled across one of those places that are like Chinese restaurants in Australia - you know, authentic food that has been altered to suit the western palate and so is not terribly authentic in the end. So it was an ok pizza, and ok fish, but the bottle of wine made up for the meal.
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