Rhonda Bracey: At Random

We opted for the easy way out of hilly Torno—via the ferry. But to get my large and heavy suitcase down those 40 steep steps, I had to do a rethink. I’d packed a foldable duffel so it was time to get it out. I put my packing cubes containing only clothing into the duffel—nice and soft and nothing breakable, which meant my hard-shell suitcase was a lot lighter. I then threw that duffel down the steps! Between us, we helped each other get our suitcases down. Getting out of Torno was much easier than getting in. We took a ferry that went a bit later than the commuter ones so that our luggage wasn’t going to be an issue, and found a place to sit inside (it was raining again) where we didn’t have to take our luggage downstairs.

We knew Como was flat, so we meandered from the ferry terminal through some of the piazzas, stopping for coffee/breakfast, but always heading towards the train station. There was an unexpected hill to the station, but we did it! We avoided the steps and dragged our suitcases up the footpath next to the road.

The first leg was a local train from Como to Milan (about 30 mins), then a bit of time at the very busy Milan Centrale station, before catching the high-speed train which went to Florence and Rome and terminated at Naples. But we weren’t going that far—only to Siena. As with all high-speed trains, seat reservations are required if you have a Eurail Pass. Most seat reservations cost us between EU10 and EU20 each, and seemed to only be required for the high-speed trains. And they are certainly high-speed—I think this train did up to 300 km/h.

We knew that the Siena train station was outside the old city walls, and that we’d have to get a taxi to our accommodation. I think the taxi driver realised we were raw tourists as he took us the long way around the outer walls. We paid about EU40 for that trip, whereas all other taxi rides we had to and from the station were much quicker and cost about EU15 to EU20.

Even though it was late afternoon, it was still quite hot when we arrived in Siena. Our accommodation only had one big step to get into, and no more than 2 steps within, so that was a relief!! As were the nice hot showers we had.

Some months ago I’d heard about a restaurant in Siena called La Taverna Di San Guiseppe. But they didn’t take online bookings, so I got our travel agent, who speaks fluent Italian, to call them one night last March and book us for the last night they were open before they took a break—the same night we arrived in Siena. Fortunately, the 300 m distance to the restaurant was only down a steepish hill and not down or up some of the really steep hills in Siena we spotted later.

We had a fabulous meal at La Taverna Di San Guiseppe—no photos because they came out blurry, sadly. We shared our two meals—an absolutely delicious osso bucco (the sauce was to die for and the meat fell off the bone) and their version of spaghetti carbonara, using wild boar (I think) instead of bacon. Just brilliant. I’m so glad we went there. The food was wonderful as was the impeccable service. By the way, there was a very deep wine cellar inside the restaurant they said dated back to 300 BC. Speaking of wine, my sister spotted a EU3,800 bottle of wine on the wine list, so I think they take their wine very seriously!

My sister’s first-ever sfogliatella, in Como

Array of pastries, Como

The high-speed trains all have these very aerodynamic noses (Milan station)

Just down the road from our accommodation was a little hole-in-the-wall place that sold all sorts of stuff, including very fresh and ripe fruit

The hole descends into the wine cellar via some very steep steps (La Taverna Di San Guiseppe, Siena)

The prices at La Taverna Di San Guiseppe weren’t outrageous

The thing about unplanned days is that any vague plans you had can change. So it was today…

We’d planned to go up to Menaggio on the fast ferry from Como (it doesn’t stop at Torno), but you can’t prebook the fast ferry, except on the day. Because tickets sell out quickly, we got to Como fairly early, but we didn’t read the time in the (Italian language) timetable correctly—the ticket seller said that the 11am time was only for feast days/holidays, but we could take the 12.15pm ferry which would get in about an hour later. We asked for a return ticket only to be told that we could only get a one-way ticket and that we couldn’t buy the return ticket from Como, ONLY at the Menaggio ferry ticket office. He asked when we wanted to return and we said we had to be back in Torno around 5pm as our friend was getting picked up to go to Milan airport. He said that the 3:30pm ferry would be pushing it as we wouldn’t get to Menaggio until close to 1:30 and that would be the earliest we could buy the return ticket and they’d likely be sold out by then. Who runs a service like this?????

Anyhow, it was way too risky, so we decided to stay in Como for the rest of the day, and contribute some more to their economy, catching the not-so-fast ferry back to Torno in the afternoon!

We said goodbye to our friend this evening—as she has a 10am international flight out of Milan (160 km away) tomorrow, she decided to NOT risk getting a car and driver to pick her up at a very early hour from Torno, instead choosing to get picked up late this afternoon and staying overnight in a hotel close to the airport. Knowing the local terrain and inaccessibility of the town much better now, as well as my own risk profile, I’d have done the same!

My sister and I leave the Lake Como area tomorrow, catching several trains to Siena, so we needed to pack too.

Photos are of various food displays in stores we walked past…

We spent the day in Como. Short version: Como is flat with no steps! We contributed well to the local economy, even me! Weather was but mostly pleasant, with low to mid 20s temps.

Top tip: Never assume the pier your ferry came in on is the same pier as it will leave from several hours later… there’s a (breathless) reason we know this!

Recommendation: Italian gelaterias are just wonderful!

Long day out today in Bellagio at the tip of the peninsula in Lake Como. The weather forecast was for cloudy and mild weather, with light rain expected – ha! They lied…

First was the ~2 hour ferry trip from Torno, which stopped at many of the small villages along the east and west coasts of the left arm of Lake Como. We were sitting outside, but when it started raining a little, we went below under full cover. By the time we got to Bellagio the rain was pretty strong, so along with HEAPS of other people, we swarmed off the ferry into the nearest souvenir-type shop where they were selling rain ponchos for EU4 like hot cakes (we did have our own… but they were back in Torno in our suitcases!).

Bellagio, like many towns here, is full of steps, so up the stairs we went and found a nice little place to have lunch. I had gnocchi, which I’ve rarely eaten because my first experience was pretty ordinary. This was absolutely delicious. The others had the tagliatelle that they said was equally as delicious. But it wasn’t long before the rain came bucketing down! Even though we were outside under an awning, the water came through a little, so we donned our new ponchos again to eat in relative dryness! With our meal, we had fresh-baked focaccia (more like a pizza crust than the commercial focaccia we get in Australia) and a garden salad, followed by creme brulee with a pistachio-flavoured custard.

After lunch we wandered around some of the hilly streets (more steps…), popping into little boutiques etc. No, I didn’t buy anything, though my sister and friend contributed many Euros to the Italian economy!

We decided to take the bus back to Torno to get a different perspective of Lake Como and the villages—it took about an hour. It was an interesting experience being in a big coach on a very winding and narrow road. Most cars did the right thing and pulled over, but a few had to reverse to allow the bus to pass. They did this politely and without any obvious rancour… I’m not sure if Australian drivers would do the same!

We decided to have a drink at one of the local bars overlooking the harbour/ferry dock, and as at the Bar Italia, drinks came with a decent plate of nibblies. That was followed by some gelato (no photos of that as it was so delicious it was scoffed down fairly quickly). With all that food, we decided to skip dinner!

By evening the rain seemed to have dissipated, though it was still cloudy. We’re heading to Como itself tomorrow…

More steps, this time in Bellagio. Also, they were very wet and slippery cobblestones, so you had to watch your step

One of my sister’s purchases was this gorgeous silver octopus ring

Delicious gnocchi!

Afternoon drinks back in Torno – Limoncello spritz

The nibblies that came with our drinks

What I can hear through the open windows on a lazy Sunday morning in Torno… lots of birdsong, a piano recital at a nearby art gallery, some people talking (can’t hear what they’re saying, and even if I could, I don’t understand Italian!). Waiting on a friend to arrive from Poland—she’ll be joining us for the rest of our few days here.

Just took it easy today and hung around ‘town’ after yesterday’s long day of travel and negotiating steps with luggage! We decided the best way to get our friend and her luggage to the house was to meet her at the municipal offices, go down the steps to the area near the ferry terminal, then along the path to the 40 steep steps up to the house—there were now 3 of us to deal with her luggage, which fortunately was only a medium case and a carry-on.

The weather was a little cooler today, with cloudy skies and some light rain.

Bar Italia on the Torno waterfront, where we spent many hours and Euros over 5 days on their food and drink. There were a couple of other places to eat and drink, but they were in the two much fancier (and far more expensive) hotels.

The waterfront area in Torno (ferry terminal is at the end of the pier, where all the people are gathered)

One of the 2 hotels on the water employs a local to move luggage via the steps! Yes, we asked him if he could take our luggage when we were leaving, but no, he could only take luggage for the hotels he was contracted to.

Pizza from Bar Italia. I wasn’t used to seeing big slices of ham/proscuitto like that—in Australia, we’d chop it up into much smaller pieces

Bar Italia’s virgin mojitos certainly hit the spot on hot days

Torno harbour, with the ferry terminal in that shed at the end of the pier

Torno harbour on a lazy Sunday

Long travel day today on 3 trains, to get from Zermatt to Brig to Milan to Como San Giovanni. Every train was on time and all were great experiences. The Brig to Milan train was a high-speed one, so seat reservations were required in addition to our Eurail pass. We arrived in Torno about 7pm. Torno is only about 7 km from Como but takes about 30 mins by road. It is serviced by the Lake Como ferries, so we thought it would be the perfect place to stay away from the crowds in Como itself.

The house we’d rented was lovely but Torno is an old village perched on the edge of one of the hills surrounding Lake Como so cars can’t get near much of it. The taxi dropped us off on the main road—based on the maps and the managers’ information pack, we’d calculated it was the shortest way to the property. While it may have been, they didn’t mention how many steps were involved! We then bumped our luggage down about 400 steps before we found the house (which was 4 stories and also full of steps!! ). Most of those steps from the main road were long and sloping (and rough!) with shallow risers, so we were continually fighting against gravity, which wanted to take our wheeled luggage down all by itself. It was also HOT and my jeans were soaked with sweat from the exertion of holding back heavy luggage to prevent it from ending at the bottom in a broken pile. I was very glad I’d invested in some silicon wheel covers for my luggage wheels.

After a long drink to cool down and a bite to eat at Bar Italia near the ferry terminal, we walked up to the municipal offices (about 100+ more steps) and watched and followed the video of the ‘no stairs’ path that the managing agency had provided in the info pack for the house. The path started off well, but by the time we got to the point where we had to turn towards the house, the cobblestones were very rough (not good for luggage wheels). But the worst was that the video stopped here with an arrow pointing, yet there were a further 60 steps down to the house at the end of it—the info pack and video did not mention those steps at all. The other route to the house was from the ferry terminal—this was a flat option, with a very good path, but at the end of it there were another 40 very steep steps (with the handrail not starting until about 3 steps up) up to the house. Yes, I counted all those damned steps!!! The house was really inaccessible for anyone with mobility issues, with heavy or bulky luggage, and/or who couldn’t cope with lots of steps.

Side note: I had asked the owners/managers on Booking.com several times in the previous months about the step situation to get to the property and asking for DETAILED instructions as Google Maps and similar weren’t clear as to whether there was a road there or not. They never did answer the question about the steps, and while we got good instructions for getting to the property a week before, including a video of the ‘no stairs’ option, there was no mention of accessing it from the ferry terminal, nor any mention that the ‘no stairs’ option had a further 60 stairs to negotiate at the end! After our stay, when I reviewed the property on Booking.com, I mentioned that the steps would be an issue for anyone with heavy luggage or mobility issues—they had the cheek to respond saying I should have reached out (I did, numerous times) and they would’ve found a more suitable property for us! I call BS on that!

It was a nice house (we had a friend joining us the next day) but because it was an old property with high ceilings, there were 4 floors. The basement bedroom had its own bathroom (which had issues of its own), then there were 30 steps (not the usual 16 or so) to the entry level, where there was another bedroom (with a ‘bathroom’ with NO shower or bath!). Another 30 steps up to the living, dining, kitchen area, which had glimpses over Lake Como, then a further 30 steps up to the top bedroom/bathroom. The steps were all painted black, with no strip to indicate the edges, and no handrails, so they were dangerous too. It didn’t matter where you were in the house, you had a minimum of 30 black steps to negotiate to get anywhere else. Then all those steps outside… Our 5-night stay was going to involve a LOT of exercise!

Finally, the flat bit! We’d come down about 400 steps from the main road by this stage and took a breather once we got to this ONLY flat stretch. We still hadn’t got to the house.

From that flat bit shown in the photo above above, we still had another 60 steps to negotiate to get to the pink house you can glimpse at the bottom of the steps

The flat path from the ferry terminal area, but notice the steep steps at the end — there were 40 of these to get to the house

The 40 steep steps you had to climb when coming from the ferry terminal. Our house is the pink one of the right.

Some of the steps from the ferry terminal area up to the municipal offices—long, sloping steps, with low risers, perfect for losing luggage on!

Bar Italia in Torno gives you a decent plate of free nibblies with your drinks order! We weren’t expecting that but got it each time we had a drink there; one of the other bars we went to did the same, so it might be a Torno thing, or even an Italian thing