Rhonda Bracey: At Random

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