Day 7: The Voyage Home

I’m going to miss this place. We’ve only been here a couple of days but I really want to come back. Today we caught a train, then a bus, then a plane and finally drove the rest of the way back home. Well worth it.

Day 6: What a difference a day makes

They were right about the view over the valley. It is amazing on the right day. As if to make amends for yesterday, today dawned bright and clear and we headed straight back up the railway to the top, caught the bus and then off again to the Faro lighthouse to see it properly. This is another monument to Volta. And you can climb it. I went all the way to the top and took the photograph above. It is a slightly stitched panorama which I’m rather pleased with.

This is the lighthouse, it looks much nicer when you can see it. We had another coffee in celebration, this time we sat outside and looked across the valley rather than cowering inside. Then we went back down and found ourselves a boat.

For around six euros you can get a “round trip” ticket which takes you to some of the nearer locations. The nice thing about this is that you can hop on and off the boat wherever you fancy. So off we went.

This is Torno, a village around half an hour on the boat from Como. I really envy the people who live here. We had a great lunch and then headed back. And we got to sit at the sharp end of the boat.

I’ve noticed that in Italy cameras are definitely used as fashion accessories. This year the trend is definitely for “big and black”. Anyone who was anyone had an enormous Canon or Nikon SLR round their neck or, more fashionably, grasped in one hand with the strap tied around their wrist.  I only had a small, shiny camera. Perhaps these will be fashion next year.

Day 5: Damp

Today we were bright and early. Even if the weather wasn’t. The forecast said there was a 90% chance of rain. I didn’t like those odds. If you go to Como you must (and I mean must) go up the funicular railway. The terminal was very close to our hotel and so we set off, bought return tickets (good value at less than 10 euros for both of us) and went up the mountain. The views from the top are awesome. I knew this because they had thoughtfully placed some pictures up there that showed the view when you could see it. For us it was nothing but cloud and rain.

So we took a bus along the top to the Faro lighthouse. At one point the bus stopped for us to get out and take pictures of the wonderful view that may, or may not, have been there.  We just sat inside steaming in our waterproofs and watching raindrops race down the outside of the windows. All I needed was a thermos of coffee and some warm cheese sandwiches and I would have been right back to my holidays as a child.

The good news was that we found an inviting little cafe at the top and had a quick drink before bussing back to the railway and down to ground level. The rest of the day centered around places we could go that had an indoors. Like for example Como Cathedral.

This has some lovely stained glass windows and tapestries. They also let you take photographs inside, which is nice. The next stop was the city museum, which was interesting, and then we went along to the Volta Temple, on the shores of the lake.

Allessandro Volta didn’t invent electricity, any more that Newton invented gravity. But he did explain how it worked and did a huge amount of work to make it useful. His work is commemorated in a temple in Como which contains some of his experimental batteries and other equipment.

After a good look round we headed back to our room to freshen up and then out for tea.

Como is a town at the end of a lake surrounded by hills. The weather can change in heartbeat. Just after I took the picture above it rained so much that we were trapped in a bar (a truly terrible experience) by some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen. And I’m from England. We managed to make our drinks last a couple of hours before the rain abated and we were able to head home. The only people we saw on the streets were selling umbrellas. 

Day 4 – Travelling to Como

Today it was time to change location. We got up bright and early and caught the train to Milan. There we changed onto another train and headed off to Como in the Italian Lakes. Como has two stations. One right next to our hotel, and the other one a cab ride away. Of course, trains from Milan Centrale (note the proper spelling with the e on the end) go to the distant station. For us that was the one with S.G. in the name. This stands for “San Giovanni” which might be either the name of a famous railway station builder or Italian for “Long way from Rob’s Hotel”. Either way, after our cab ride we ended up at the hotel.

My travel tip for trains in Italy is don’t use the ticket machines. They tend to confuse you about your route (for example arriving in one Milan station and then leaving from another) and then fail to accept your credit card.  But the folks on the ticket sales desk were unfailingly helpful and pleasant, and left me with a good feeling about where we were going.

We had a third floor room in our hotel of choice, the In Riva Al Lago.  As there was no lift this did mean a bit of a heft with the cases, but the view from our window was worth it.

Although the grey skies didn’t auger well. After unpacking (or more accurately - pushing our cases into a corner of the room) we went out for tea.

These folks to good grub at reasonable prices.

..and they have really cool sugar wrappers too.

Cafe culture by the lake. I could get used to this.

Day 3 – Arts and Crafts

Today was our second day in Venice. We had the air of seasoned travellers as we got our tickets from the correct place and even found a train that had seats available.  We took in a couple of galleries, because I have always wanted to acquire more culture. And it looked like it might rain.

The first was the Accademia. This has some stunning pictures in it. You have to keep reminding yourself that these were made by people slapping on coloured paint using brushes. Very impressive. Then we went on to the Peggy Guggenheim gallery for some more modern stuff.

This sculpture hadn’t been bolted down. I don’t think they are too worried about it moving in the wind.

View from the gallery over the the river

They had this neat sign on the wall. Inspired by all the artistry around me I bought a 5 euro plastic lens from the souvenir shop and held it in front of the camera.

Great fun

Artistic boats

And then, it was time to head back to the train and our tiny room for well earned sleep. We are heading for the Lakes tomorrow.