Italy, Lake Como

There is no umbrella. I have checked every nook and cranny in our apartment (there aren't many) so it looks like we're just going to have run for it today. I know that like an old person I keep commenting on the weather, but it has been really bloody hot. I was starting to think that it was just that we didn't have time to acclimatise but we know what hot days are like. We're having 2-3 showers a day just to cool down. Is it that we've gone soft from having air con everywhere? Domestic aircon in Italy is pretty much nonexistent. It doesn't really cool down at all until the sun sets behind the mountains on the other side of the lake, about 9pm. Last night the threatened thunderstorms finally hit. This morning I can't see across to the other side of the lake, those big mountains make for a pretty ferocious storm. Maybe it won't be quite so hot today. Now, to yesterday. We decided to jump in the car and head north (actually I have no idea if it is north. It is the opposite direction to that in which we usually go though) to a town called Colico. Colico is much closer to the really big mountains we can see from Bellano and at the top end of Lake Como. In fact you can drive around to the other side of the lake this way. John had been recommended a small local restaurant in an out of the way place to eat so we decided to head to that for lunch and see a few other sites while in the vicinity. The cafe for lunch was pretty good, if a bit tricky. It was down a small dead end lane sandwiched between a river and the rock wall of mountains. From my poor translation of signage in Italian it seems that there are grottos in the mountain that lead to a glacier under the mountain and there are places where very cool air is released. There was one next to the cafe. Very pleasant. We were the only non Europeans there and it was a extremely busy, we waited for an hour for a table and weren't disappointed. The food wasn't fancy by any means but was simple good home style Italian food. Yum. I think I could be converted to polenta. We stopped at monastry in Piona that we had thought we might like to see last time we were here but just didn't get to it. Up a few narrow windy roads to get there, worth the visit. A lovely cloister. Next stop an old fort: Forte Fuente. Who knew the Spaniard's were once in Italy? This fort was apparently built back in the Beginning of the 1600's, there's not a whole lot left to see since Napoleon gave it the once over but it was built to stop the Protestants from coming across the mountains from what is Switzerland today, and corrupting the Catholics of Spain / Italy. We had an unusual guide for this visit. A tabby met us in the car park at the bottom of the hill and walked with us all the way to the top of the hill where the fort is located.Read more