Europe

Como, Italy

day one

We arrived at the Lugano train station. Lugano is right on the boarder of Switzerland and Italy. We were welcomed by a man named Christian who drove us to his wives’ hotel in Como. The drive was beautiful! We drove over a bridge that overlooked Lake Lugano. Switzerland was on one side and Italy on the other. Very interesting!

Once we arrived to our hotel, we unpacked and went on a search for some pizza!! I mean we had to eat pizza?! We just arrived in ITALY! The pizza search was a little difficult…Como’s restaurants shut down at 2 pm and don’t open again until 7 pm for dinner. There were a few little places with pastries and coffee but not much else. We finally found ONE place that had some pizza and it was lovely! After stuffing our faces…we started to explore the city via our feet!

In November, Como is very quiet…more like dead actually! We were able to see the entire little downtown area in about an hour. Like I said above, a lot of restaurants were closed and so were a lot of shops. I would have loved to shop, but other than that, there wasn’t much more to do. After walking through the downtown area we decided to take a walk along the water…man oh man is Lake Como beautiful!! It was peaceful and rejuvenating. After a long travel day, a walk along the water was just what we needed. It was starting to get dark at this point so we continued our walk to the tram where we would go up the mountain to Brutane. The very small city is just above Como, overlooking the Swiss Alps, Lake Como, and all surrounding cities. We had been told by many to do this. Unfortunately, we got up the mountain too late in the evening and couldn’t see much. It was still very beautiful but I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see during the day. Not to mention, it was a ghost town. In fact, I think we stayed in the small village all of 3 mins…we walked around, searching for any signs of life and we found nothing…only the three other people that were on our tram. It was a little creepy…so we headed back down the mountain to Como, for dinner.

We had dinner at place called Ristorante Da Pietro. When we arrived to the restaurant, we were the only guests!! We had to ask our waiter, Ricky, “Where are all the people? It’s so quiet!” He proceeds to inform us that November is the slowest month of the year in Como. From May to October, Como is very, very busy with tourists. The weather is beautiful and there are lots of things to do. November is slow because the weather has cooled down, but there is no snow yet. He said that once December hits, or the snow, whichever comes first, the city will be busy again. We were told that there are over 100 ski resorts in the area! At first we loved the quietness of the city, but I will admit, it started to get lonely. We were seeking a little more life…(which we slowly started to see in cities to come!! YAY!)

Our dinner was amazing!! I had the pumpkin ravioli and Aaron had the mushroom, walnut gnocchi. This evening has been our favorite so far. There was something very special about being the only people in a restaurant, in Italy, with full service, amazing food, and even better wine! We shared wonderful conversation…it was an evening focused on reconnecting. No phones, no distractions, no social media, nothing but the two of us, oh and Ricky, that we became best friends with! We closed down the restaurant at midnight after two bottles of wine and a second course of pizza!! Perfecto!

day two

So, Tuesday was a little rough. Let me preface this with what our original plan for the day was…

We had purchased tickets to board the ferry (which was literally across the street from our hotel) and be taken to Bellagio for the day. The ferry would travel across lake Como, making stops along the way and eventually ending up in Bellagio. Our tickets were for 11 am. We planned to get up early, have a nice, complementary breakfast at our hotel and get on the ferry. Beautiful day!

SO here’s what actually happened…

We set our alarm for 7:30 am. The alarm went off…and we hit snooze…and hit snooze…and hit snooze…(you get the picture). All of a sudden our hotel started to do some construction…in the room next door. The alarm obviously wasn’t enough…but the construction??…that woke us up! We looked at the clock in a panic and realized it was 10:30 am!! I did not want to miss this ferry (we were told it was the only one for the day since it was a slow time of year. And this was our last day, so we were gonna make it!) I told Aaron to get dressed super fast, no time to shower, and go get some breakfast, coffee and waters for the day while I get ready! He leaves and tells me to lock the door behind him.

It’s about 10:50 at this point, I’m almost ready to go and Aaron knocks at the door. I go to unlock the dead bolt and it won’t budge. Aaron is now trying to use the key to unlock the outside lock and we’re now both stuck…the deadbolt and the key. I am completely locked inside our hotel room! I was so sad, guys…I thought, no Bellagio for me.

Let me also remind you that we finished two bottles of wine at dinner the night before, as well as an entire bottle BEFORE we left for dinner. SO we weren’t the happiest of campers if you catch my drift…I needed water, STAT. And now I’m locked in our room!

We eventually realized that we needed some assistance. So Aaron said he would be back to see if there was maybe another ferry and get some help. He came back with two guys and info that there was never a ferry leaving at 11…it was leaving at 12:25…um, okay (I wish you could see my eye-roll right now…)

They eventually got us out of our hotel room. Hallelujah! We finally got some food, water and coffee; we were coming back to life…little by little. Bellagio was gorgeous!!! Also, VERY quiet. Only a few restaurants were open here as well and no shops. It also didn’t help that we were in these areas during the middle of the week. But it didn’t matter…you wanted to be outside in Bellagio. It was stunning. A must-do if you go to Lake Como!

We had dinner reservations that evening at Ristorante Raimondi located at the Hotel Villa Flori. This was a very nice dinner…we got dressed up, had a driver…the whole thing! Our travel agent set everything up for us! Robert, thank you so much!! We had a wonderful time! We had veal, prosciutto (cut at our table right in front of us), lamb shanks, venison, mushroom pasta and a local cheese platter to end the night. It was amazing and such a fun experience! This restaurant was only about 5 miles from George Clooney’s home…we hoped to run into him but unfortunately, we didn’t.

day three

Christian drove us to the Milan train station, where we got on the train to Verona!! The Italy adventure continues…

Where we stayed:

Where we ate:

What we did:

  • Took the tram to Brutane: Beautiful views of the Swiss Alps, the lake and Como
  • Took a boat to Bellagio for the day. Got lost walking up and down all the cute streets, had lunch and came home.
  • Dinner at a nice restaurant on the water: Ristorante Raimondi
  • Walked around the shops by our hotel

(Stay tuned…Verona, Italy is up next)

xoxo, madison naomi

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