Day 202: Sacri Monti & Bellagio

Time for some more exploring, on our last day in Como! We headed downstairs, drove back and through the town, then up the western shore of the lake. It's quite long, and very deep, but crucially there are no bridges spanning it - so the communities across the water only a kilometre or so apart are literally an hour's drive away.

Our first stop was the second Sacri Monti we wanted to visit, this time one at Ossuccio. It turned out to be a great stop, because here you had to park the car in a little village near the bottom of the hill, and then walk up as originally intended. It was quite a walk in the sunshine and heat - probably a kilometre or so of mainly steep uphill.

Every few hundred metres there was another chapel containing beautiful baroque statues of the life of Jesus, focusing mainly on the Passion (the last week before Crucifixion). Finally we reached the top, where we were rewarded with a fantastic view back across the lake in several directions. Quite a beautiful spot, and lovely that not many people were around to disturb it.

Back down we went, and continued our drive northwards along the western shore of the lake. We stopped at a highly rated place for lunch, where we ate Italian style and had a two-course meal of primi (pasta) and secondi (meat). We both chose for our secondi the plate of smoked lake fish and polenta (the latter is a speciality of northern Italy). It probably wasn't the wisest choice because after huge bowls of pasta, neither of us were particularly hungry! The fish was incredibly salty, almost painfully so, and the polenta wasn't smooth and creamy like I've had before. All in all, a bit disappointing.

Further north we drove, until we reached the ferry terminus opposite Bellagio, where we could get a ferry back to our side of the lake. Had to wait about 40 minutes for the boat, but it was still far quicker than driving around! Nice views from the ferry as well.

Bellagio is a beautiful little town, though almost entirely populated by tourists. Nice little alleyways with shops of the souvenir variety, and plenty of waterfront restaurants too. Once we'd found a park we wandered around a bit then grabbed a drink and a cake at one of the restaurants. Quite pricey, but that was expected. Lots of Australians around here as well, almost felt like we were back in Sydney at a few points!

Finally done, we hopped back in the car in the late afternoon and drove back south to our villa, sad to be leaving Como and the wonderful view, but definitely looking forward to having wifi again!Read more