Lake Como

When we woke for our last day of our European adventure, I believe we were all ready to go home. The trip had been amazing but we were now satisfied, more than a little tired and looking forward to our own beds.

However we still had one last treat awaiting us – a day trip to the beautiful Lake Como with, who knows, a glimpse of George Clooney?

We chose a 10 to 11 hour day trip by City Discovery which now seems to have been bought out by Veltra. We caught the metro from Duomo to Cadorna FN where we were to meet our tour guides at 8.15am in time for departure at 8.30am.

Everything went remarkably smoothly despite many people gathering in the square outside the metro station, awaiting tours for different destinations. We received our audio sets and lanyards and were soon on board a comfortable coach heading to Lake Como.

Our two Italian female tour guides were very informative and friendly. They weren’t too dominant so we were able to relax on our one and a half hour trip to Lake Como but they interjected with interesting information at different times along the way.

They reminded us that as we were going to Lugano for our final destination of the day, we would need our passports. Not that they are usually checked, they assured us, but if we were checked on the border, we wouldn’t be allowed in without passports. Switzerland is not part of the EU which is easy to forget as you cross border after border throughout Europe. They have their own currency, the Swiss franc, but they also accept Euros. They make it very easy to transition from EU countries into Switzerland but it is important to always remember that their laws are different and you could be refused entry without a passport.

Fortunately, we had our passports with us, although as our tour guides suggested, they weren’t checked by the Swiss border control.

spectacular lake como

When we arrived in Lake Como, we had time for a snack and a wander before boarding the boat for our 2 hour cruise across the lake. We had a coffee at an outdoor café in the square which was okay but typically for Europe, was ruined by the smell of smoke from a nearby table. It is something that you have to get used to in Europe unfortunately as the percentage of people who smoke over there is significantly higher than in Australia (although nowhere near as high as in Eastern European countries – check here for some interesting stats! https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/world-according-to-tobacco-consumption/). The biggest difference we noticed is that smoking is permitted in most restaurants which is uncomfortable for most of us who have enjoyed smoke-free dining for between 10 to 20 years in Australia.

Anyway, we were soon heading back to the wharf for our boat trip around Lake Como. The boat was big enough for everyone to sit comfortably. We chose an enclosed area below and were able to secure two tables with plenty of room for us all.

As we crossed, the Lake, the scenery got progressively more and more stunning. Our tour guides diligently pointed out famous and interesting places along the way via our audio equipment which we listened to on and off as we wanted. They pointed out the house where Star Wars was filmed, George Clooney’s house (which was surprisingly small for a mansion!), Gianni Versace’s former villa and the villa where famous scenes were filmed in the James Bond movie, Casino Royale. It made for an intriguing piece of sightseeing.

More stunning however was the actual scenery. Lake Como is absolutely beautiful – you can see why it is in demand amongst the wealthiest people in the world. We took photo after photo to capture the deep blues and purples of the water and surrounding mountains which were sprinkled with delightful villas along the water’s edge. Totally delightful.

beautiful bellagio

The two hours on the trip went surprisingly fast – especially as there was a bar where we could enjoy a glass or two of red as we admired the view. By lunchtime, we had arrived in Bellagio or the Pearl of Lake Como as it is known. Here we had plenty of time to wander around on our own, do some shopping and have some lunch.

After a short wander to get our bearings, we settled down for lunch at a lovely al fresco pizzeria and bar, Splendide Bar. Sam and Nick had scrumptious looking iced chocolates full of cream and ice-cream while we enjoyed something a little more savoury. It was very pleasant and the service was good.

As the bar didn’t have a bathroom, they directed us over to a very grand hotel across the road, Hotel Excelsior Splendide. I felt like a fraud ducking in there to just use the facilities but upon later noting the name, it is likely that they are part of the same organisation. Either way, they didn’t seem to mind us popping in.

After lunch, we discovered the charm of Bellagio and totally fell in love with its winding, cobbled paths up and down the hillside. They were full of little boutiques, interesting souvenir shops and beautiful privately owned stores like jewellers, art galleries and shops selling chocolate, cheese and other delicious specialty foods.

Up and down the winding streets and alleyways were mopeds, quaint places to sit and observe and lots of wonderful hanging plants and flower baskets. Bellagio really is a very pretty town, made even more lovely with the backdrops of the lake and surrounding mountain.

lovely lugano

From Bellagio, we were collected by a coach and took the drive across the border into Lugano in Switzerland. It takes less than an hour to get to Lugano across some pretty major roads – we found out later that many Italians live on the Italian side of the border but drive into Switzerland each day to work in Lugano as the salaries are so much higher in Switzerland. It certainly is a well-trekked route.

The town of Lugano is dominated by the stunning Lake Lugano and the multitude of peaks and valleys of the mountains framing it. Very beautiful indeed.

In the historic centre, the two main shopping streets, Via Nassa and Via Pessina, are very chic. They are lined with high end boutiques like Hermes, Versace and Cartier as well as exquisite chocolatiers and food stores. We couldn’t resist buying some wonderful Swiss chocolate although the prices were quite exorbitant. It just felt like the real thing, so beautifully packaged and presented – and we were nearing the end of our holiday so we were a little freer with our money.

Overall, we found Lugano to be a very sophisticated area with elegant buildings in the Italianate Lombardy style and mediterranean squares. It is a city however – in fact, it is Switzerland’s third most important financial centre and the largest town in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. As a place to live and work, I have no doubt that it would be a wonderful town with divine lake and mountain views but for us, it came nowhere near Bellagio in our rankings. The small town prettiness and charm of Bellagio just blew us away.

After wandering around the rather expensive shops, we actually found we had too much time on our hands in Lugano whilst waiting for our return coach. We stretched out a drink in a small café/bar overlooking the lake and were glad when we finally boarded the coach to make our way back to Milan. We hit the evening traffic with thousands of people making the daily commute back into Italy and it felt like a long journey home.

We were back in Milan not much later than 7pm however and were back at our hotel within 20 minutes or so. After compressing everything into our now very tightly packed suitcase, we took a short stroll to the last Italian restaurant of our trip, again recommended by the lovely lady on reception at our hotel, The Square Milan Duomo – Ristorante Da Bruno.

I guess this feeling however could have been tainted by the fact that they added the cost of large rounds of drinks from the table of locals behind us to our bill. I have sometimes been surprised at the cost of meals as we travelled throughout Europe and have let it go after a quick tally in my head but on this occasion, something felt wrong and I reviewed the bill in detail. The manager quickly apologised and explained it was a mistake and reduced our bill accordingly but I will say that this is the only occasion I can ever remember when eating in a restaurant when so many of another table’s orders have been added to our bill. The way the staff treated us and were so friendly with the other table of locals, made me highly suspicious of their intentions and I can’t say that they adequately reassured us that it was a mistake. We enjoyed our meal but I would certainly not go back.

It didn’t ruin our last evening though and as we made our way back to our lovely hotel for the last time, we enjoyed our last view of the Duomo and were ready for a good night’s sleep in the best beds of our entire trip before our trip back to Australia.