San Giovanni

This morning the bus left the hotel at 8.00am and drove us the 60 minutes to Bellano, a town on the eastern side of Lake Como, from which we caught a ferry to the famous and beautiful town of Bellagio, right at the geographical centre of lake Como. The town, like most in this area, is built on the shores of Lake Como, the surrounding hills of which plummet spectacularly from about 800m above the lake into the water. The mountains seem further back from the lake are up to 2500m above sea level. The lake is said to have been carved out by a glacier over many years.
Bellagio is a famous town on the lake and we spent several hours wandering through its streets and to the peninsula which reaches right out into the middle of the lake and from which the are almost 300 degrees views.
We ate a pasta lunch overlooking the lake.
After lunch we caught another ferry to the western side of the lake to visit Villa Carlotta, a famous large villa built in the early 19th century for an aristocratic Italian family. The villa has been a museum for many years, and is an insight into how the upper class maintained large stately homes in this region hundreds of years ago. The gardens are also extensive and well maintained. There were a large number of huge trees in the garden the must be at least 200 years old, including an impressive cedar of Lebanon which is huge in height and girth.
We caught a ferry back to Bellano, then the bus back to Como, admiring the amazing tunnels through the mountains that must have taken years and millions of dollars to build. We also respected the skills of the bus driver on the switchback turns climbing the mountain out of Bellano.
We had a late dinner in Como before heading off to bed after a big day beside the glistening freshwater of Lake Como.Read more