Posts Tagged ‘varenna’

What The Duomo

May 10th, 2009

May 10th

We awoke around 6am, packed, ate breakfast, and then eventually made our way up and down the town stairs to the ferry.  Took the 30 minute ferry ride to Varenna and then the 10 minute walk to the train station.  We waited at the train station for about 45 minutes and then caught the hour train ride back to Milan.  In Milan we stayed about 20 minute walk from the station and about a 20 min walk to the city center.  We only did one of those walks, you guess which one?  Ok, it was the one when we didn’t have luggage to carry (and when we knew which direction to head).  Checked into The Best Western which was nicer than any USA Best Western.  Flat screen tv, wood floors, a nice bed, and our first bidet of the trip (that went unused).

After about an hour of getting in, utilizing the wifi internet, the reception still wasnt done with our passports  or had our game tickets (yep, got tickets to the soccer game!) so we decided to go walking towards the city center.  We didn’t exactly know where we were going, but I figured that eventually we would see a big duomo in the sky.  We did.  They had this long corridor of shops before you got to the duomo square.  I saw a sportings good store and went inside in search of an AC Milan jersey, and an Inter team t-shirt for a friend. We found both!  Hopefully my friend likes the shirt, or else I will keep looking.  I was excited to get the jersey before the game.  It was a little pricey as it was more of an authentic jersey, and not the cheap ones they sell from the generator powered push cart vendors.  In the shop, we talked to two sales people who were wondering if we lived in the O.C (“Don’t Call It That”) and wanted to exchange houses with us.

alduomomilan_smWe then continued on towards the Duomo where lisa gave a hello, a “how you doin” in italian.  We got accosted by street salesman selling their knickknacks, and by others who were selling bird seed.  When we wouldn’t buy the seed, they would throw some near us and then the birds would descend on us.

 

We made it to a street-side cafe, and had a lunch of pizza, and a panini.  Very delicious (channeling my inner Dr. Carlander).

duomocafe

Made the walk back to the hotel, and picked up our soccer tickets.  Face value of 43E, we paid 150E per ticket.  But it would be worth every euro to me.  I changed into my jersey, uploaded some pictures to the computer as backup, and then made our way to the game.

Lowered Heart Rate

May 9th, 2009

May 9th

varenna_smToday we went over to a neighboring town called Varenna.  It was a beautiful town, but much more traffic and busyness than Bellagio  We went walking to explore the town, with an ultimate desired destination of a little beach or swimming.  Although I already had stuck my hand into Lake Como, I kinda wanted to actually put my legs and/or body in.  Spoiler alert:  I would be denied.

I had read about a couple of swimming locations in my Rick Steeves book.  We set off in one direction and we walked miles.  We saw a great bit of the town, and even a town next door.  It was very pretty.  Everywhere you walk, I would look to my side, and there would be very serene views of water, mountains ,and snow capped peaks.  The book said that Lake Como would lower your heart rate and, I must say it is true.  It is very peaceful and serene, and very majestic and pretty.

We walked for a long ways, and took lots of pictures.  We also saw a beautiful rushing river/waterfall coming down the side of the hill towards the lake.
We turned around and made our way back.  We found the first beach the book had mentioned, a little 10×10 rocky patch.  We decided to keep walking for the other one, but not before stopping for lunch.

pizzavarenna_smWe stopped at a little pizzeria, and ordered their 10E lunch special of a pizza and a salad and some frizzante water.  I was a little disappointed that the pizza wasn’t exactly like I remembered.  However, the pizza I ate before, was from southern Italy and perhaps it was just a difference of locale. 

Although, my disappointment (too strong a word), was tempered because it was very good and delicious.  It was an enjoyable lunch, just outside the main town square, near the picturesque old church where weddings were taking place.

After lunch we made it to the other Lido, which was just a big cement slab where you could rent chairs.  Even though it was overcast, we still stripped down to our bathing suits (I thought these were European style) and took in whatever sun we could on  our white bodies.  Well, white except for our noses which burnt a little in the sun on our 2 hour boat ride yesterday.  We ate some gelato and took the ferry back to our town.

pergolawindow_sm

pescallostairs_smWe soon travelled back to Bellagio, made our way to our hotel and rested. 
We have a great view out our hotel window of a really peaceful lake. Our hotel is about a 10 minute walk up and down steep stairs before you get into Bellagio.  We are in a town called Pescallo and it is a nice place away from the center of town, therefore we have a room with a lake view on the back side of the peninsula.  It is family run and they are really sweet people.giantolive_sm

After a little siesta, we headed back towards Bellagio and found our way to an underground-esque wine bar and appetizer restaurant.  We had a glass of wine, some lasagna, and Lisa ate some giant olives.

This Week I'm Thinking About: Jeff Sieck