Lake Como – Picture Perfect.

As we skirted Como, and caught our first glimpse of the lake it took us all by surprise. It was so beautiful it appeared to be a scene from a calendar. The mountains were high, craggy and blue and the tiny villages nestling around the edge of the lake were shades of red and ochre. Yachts and ferries were plying back and forth. A narrow road winds around the lake and traffic moves very slowly, and in fact often comes to a standstill when large vehicles have to squeeze past each other. The buildings are right at the edge of the road on both sides, so finding a place where two buses can pass each other requires some backing up and manipulation. We spent 30 minutes waiting but no one was complaining too loudly because the view was superb.

We are staying in Menaggio (Men-aHHHH-jee-o) which is about half way along on the left hand side of the lake. Actually finding the house was a bit of a drama, but it is a great house only 4 minutes walk to the main square. Menaggio appears to be the only lakeside town with a square as most just come to the waters’ edge. The piazza is open, on one side to the lake and connected on the other side by a narrow road to the rest of town. It is surrounded by restaurants and cafes as well as small shops and has a very relaxing feel to it. We just love sitting there and watching the passing parade.

It is a relief to leave the car in the garage and go everywhere by ferry. This is the definitive Lake Como experience. Boats and ferried criss-cross the lake in every direction to every little town, and so far we have visited Bellagio and Varenna. Bellagio is called ‘the pearl of the lake’ because it looks so pretty from the water and has cobbled alleyways filled with boutique shops selling up market bags, shoes, jewellery etc. We thought it was pretty but oh so crowded. Varenna was a different story and we fell in love with it. It is below a sheer rock face and has a long, shaded lakeside promenade, and a calmer, more peaceful atmosphere. Having lunch at a table beside the water will be a nostalgic memory.

Lake Como is home to some extraordinary lakefront villas which have been there since the 1500’s being improved with each new owner, or else turned into exotic hotels or conference centres. George Clooney has a place somewhere we believe. One that we visited was Villa Monasterio which was a former monastery in 1208. It was sold in 1569 and the Mornico family built a villa. The gardens are exquisite. They are terraced and planted with beautiful trees, very large and some sub tropical. There is a waterfront loggia and a Moorish pavilion , and a few Roman columns lying around, which we knew were original. The way these gardens have been designed, and the ingenuity required to blend with the natural surroundings is what taste is all about. They have reached a level of perfection that the whole world envies.