Bellagio

1 September 2013. Lake Como is shaped like a "Y" or like the profile of a running man.

Street

Varenna where we stayed is marked with the red A on the map. Bellagio is one of the stops recommended in all the books we read, so we took the ferry across the lake to see for ourselves. According to Wikipedia, Bellagio has been occupied from the about the 6th century BC. It would clearly be a strategic point for commerce and military action on the lake. In modern times it is a tourist destination. I was told by the ladies on our cruise that George Clooney lives here.  I wondered how they knew that? :-) It is a bit like Varenna, only much bigger. More streets, more people, more shops (especially upscale shops), more restaurants, and did I say more people. The city is built on the side os a steep hill so there are walkways that are very steep with cobblestoned steps. It was amazing to see what shoes people were wearing as they walked the steps. Cheap flip flops, thin sandals, even heels were sighted. Parents were bringing strollers up the hill. It was hard enough for us in good walking shoes without encumbrances to walk up.

Pringles

Pringles are quite popular in Italy. You can buy them in any store and they get served in bars and with lunches. In Bellagio I saw a first—a Pringles vending machine. For one Euro, you could get a small can of Pringles. You even get your choice of flavors.

The food in Italy is good, as you would expect. There is plenty of pizza and pasta. The tomatoes and mozzarella are wonderful. In Varenna, many of the restaurants feature fish from the lake. Wine is plentiful, and cheap. You can get both Coke Light and Coke Zero. We didn't see any Pepsi products. Iced tea (in a can) is available. We tried several versions of tiramisu. Two of them were incredibly good; way better than anything we have tasted in the US where it is made quite different. The gelato is also quite good. We wondered about the difference, if any, between ice cream and gelato. Google to the rescue

Enough about food. We have vowed to not eat for a week when we get home and no pasta or bread for at least a month. 

LunchSpot









Speaking of eating, on our way up the hill Caroline took this picture of the the walkway (it seems overkill to call it a street). At a shop where Caroline had made some purchases, we asked for a lunch spot recommendation. He suggested a restaurant and we went off to find it. As it turned out, it was the one in this picture. We ate lunch sitting at one of the two outside tables watching the crowd wander by, many of them admiring our food. This is one of the places we had the great tiramisu. It was worthy of second helping, but managed to resist the temptation.

After we got back from Bellagio, we enjoyed a relaxing couple of hours in the room. 

We had noticed that the local church had a mass at 6:00 PM so we decided to go. We didn't understand any of the words, but we could follow along in the bulletin and knew when the lessons were being read, when the prayers were being said, and when communion was being served. Interestingly enough, the gospel lesson for the day was the same lesson that I had read in the morning from a lectionary that I follow. There were about 40 people in the service, mostly local people. We didn't take communion since we are not Catholic, but noticed an odd thing. The Priest blessed the bread and the wine and served himself. Then the congregants came to the front and they got the bread, but did not seem to get any wine. Maybe a good Catholic can explain what happened. Here are some pictures of the church.

ChurchExterior ChurchInterior

After mass, we found a nice place to eat supper on a terrace overlooking the lake. We were treated to a great sunset.

Sunset



© Charles Eklund 2012