On Friday, we made the almost 4 hour drive to the Rome Airport, waiting for our traveling companions to arrive on Saturday. After a very long rental car pickup process, we were on our way to Tuscany. The ancient villages appeared into view the further we traveled from Rome. After getting lost in the Tuscan hill towns, we finally arrived at our villa for the week.

Podere Pisinano is an old farmhouse at the base of a hill, with the medieval village of Montepulciano at the summit. The home is filled with antiques, modern upscale bathrooms, a nice kitchen, and tons of outdoor space to enjoy the scenery. As I work on this edition of the blog, I am seated outdoors in a covered portico with olive trees, vineyards and cypress trees in my view.

We spent the first evening unpacking, settling in and sampling some of the most famous part of Montepulciano, the Vino Noble.

Sunday, we had a relaxing morning at the villa, then made thee quick 5 minute drive to Montepulciano. What we thought would be 5 minutes, turned into 30+ as we found parking is scarce on a Sunday and we had two cars! After several attempts and splitting up, we all made it to the village.

Montepulciano is one those places that ooze Tuscany! The ancient narrow streets, all going up and up, are lined with wine bars and shops, restaurants and local artisans selling their goods. We had lunch on the main walkway, called the Corso. Some of us tried the local pasta, Pici, which is a thick, long and somewhat curled pasta, which was fantastic.

We continued walking through the village, visiting some churches along the way. We found a overlook, considered one of the best in the village, which looked directly down to our villa! We continued up until we reached the top of the hill and the Piazza Grande. The Duomo and town hall, which have been used as a backdrop for some films and TV, made a circle of medieval architecture.

In the Piazza, we stopped at Cantina Contucci, and two thousand year old winery! We quickly toured the caves under the city where the winery was based and sample six wines! Montepulciano is a red wine drinkers paradise (not super easy for a white wine drinker like me)!

We continued walking through the town and visited another ancient winery for more tastings. After shopping for some wine and expensive pecorino cheese, we went back to the villa to relax in the gardens and pool.

We were able to get a reservation at a restaurant our new Ischia ferry friends from Canada recommended, and this time found a parking spot for dinner. We dined on the terrace overlooking the Tuscan hillside. Some of us tried another version of pici, this time carbonara style, and ended with shared tiramisu.

Monday, our plan is to visit the neighboring town of Pienza, and possibly stop by a vineyard on the return. We are all excited for Monday’s bonus gift: a private chef preparing dinner for us at the villa!

Another early breakfast, and we boarded the Amalfi Coast bus to Positano. The 50-minute bus ride was crowded and took longer than we thought, as the driver had to circle back for gas!! Bob stood the entire trip; he would like noted!

Positano seen as we walked into town

Positano, named for the god of the sea Poseidon, was a favorite site for ancient romans who built expensive villas. It was an essential stop for ancient Greeks as they explored ancient lands.

We were dropped off at the edge of town and descended one kilometer with spectacular views the entire trip down. We arrived in a village filled with a labyrinth of shops, cafes and hotels. The upscale shops of ceramics, shoes, linens and jewelry lined the centuries old alleyways.

The village was very crowded, reminding us of Santorini, with many young couples, college students, but not many families. And a pair of aging college graduates!

We helped keep the Italian economy rolling with Italian suede shoes and linen shirt for Bob, and handmade sandals and earrings for Mary!

We had a lovely lunch beachfront, with the hordes of tourists, of pizza and caprese salad on the Spiaggia Grande Beach.

We toured the Church of Santa Maria Assunta which was built in the 12th century, sits upon Roman ruins and served as a Benedictine monastery. Above the altar, is a painting of a black Madonna brought from Constantinople in the 12th century.

Before leaving the village, we ran across a cart selling granita (lemon slush) where the family has been following the same secret recipe for generations. Bob said Adam and Eve gave the family the recipe!

We caught the bus back to Praiano, which was quicker than the ride into Positano. We played some backgammon on the roof terrace of the hotel and enjoyed a pair of Aperol Spritzs! If you followed September’s blog to the Lakes Region, you’d see we were into Spritz before it was popular!

We had our final dinner in the Amalfi Coast at the Hotel Margherita’s lovely rooftop restaurant. They gave us the best table in the house, which faced the sea and surprised us with an early anniversary dessert and Prosecco! The iconic view was memorable and unlike many we have seen.

Tomorrow we sadly leave beautiful Praiano, Amalfi Coast and Hotel Margherita as we return our rental car on the Rome Airport, spend the night, and wait on some “friends” to join us for Part Due’!

How do you drive the Amalfi Coast? You rent the smallest car available! Note how the hotel parked our car!!!

We started the day with a beautiful private Italian breakfast high amongst the cliffs of Praiano overlooking the blue water and fast appearing SUN!

Hotel Margherita logo in a cappuchino!!

We left early for the 21 mile trek, which actually took 90 minutes!!!! And we thought Northern VA traffic was bad!!! Lets not mention the tour buses traveling on the opposite side of the road, squeezing the road on both sides! Bob was in 2nd gear, UPHILL, the entire time, while Mary was on the passenger side, not more than 5 feet from the cliff. Boy, those seat belts give you a feeling of confidence! Or not. There were several portions of the road where local police only allowed on direction of traffic to pass, as the roads were too narrow and winding for two lanes.

Duomo in Ravello

We made it Ravello, high in the hills of Amalfi, and scored a coveted parking spot below the Duomo (which cost 11 Euros for 3 hours!). The Duomo was built in the 11th century, was dedicated to St Pantaleone and the facade was lost in an earthquake shortly there after. The bronze doors from Constantinople date back to 1179 and showcase 54 scenes from the Bible. The Chapel of St Pantaleone holds a small ampoule of the saint’s blood which is said to liquify every year on the anniversary of his martyrdom (July 27th for you St. Pantaleone fans!).

When we exited the duomo, the scenery was clouded since we were high in the mountains but cleared after we donated to many shops $$$!!

We had a quick lunch, and headed to the town of Amalfi.

When we finally arrived there, the congestion, due to drivers, buses, motorcycles and a cruise ship in port, made it impossible to find parking. We decided to return to the hotel, and caught the shuttle into Praiano.

We walked around, enjoying the iconic views, had a cappuccino and a Peroni, and walked back to the hotel.

As we sit on our balcony entering this blog overlooking the hill lined with lemon groves and olive trees, it is a breathtaking scene! It is difficult to image on a balcony being 1000 feet above the sea, which is only 150 meters in the distance (per Bob).

We had dinner at The Hotel Costa Diva in their lemon grove overlooking the water and boats. Our table viewed the lemon trees bathed in netting to catch any stray lemons that dropped from the tree.

Lemons so sweet!

Thursday, we hope to take the city bus to Positano, and maybe visit a winery in the afternoon. SALUTE”!!!

After a lovely final breakfast, we were whisked to the Port of Ischia, with advance ferry tickets to Sorrento. On board the ferry, we met a very nice couple from Toronto, who owned a vacation home in Tuscany (why didn’t we move to Canada to get that quality of life). The couple, who of course, travel to Italy all the time, gave us hints and suggestions for the second part of our trip.

Last breakfast on Ischia

The passage was quite rough with swells up to 10-15 feet, so much so, the crew passed out plastic grocery (barf) bags prior to departure. But our varsity stomachs championed the day.

Pit stop in Capri

After a quick stop in Capri, we finished the 85 minute voyage in Sorrento. We found the lift to the top of the port, and made our way to Hertz. Our Fiat Panda, the rental car of choice for us, was brand new!! We were on our way to the Amalfi Coast.

We passed through lemon tree groves with lemons the size of grapefruits. We loved seeing the olive trees, which had netting below to catch the olives as they fall for harvest. The roads were narrow, winding, and steep. As we reached further, the roads were on the edge of cliffs with views to remember.

The road to Amalfi

The traffic into Positano was unimaginable. Only one lane of traffic was allowed through the villages, therefore we were forced to stop for periods of time on the road. The 20 mile trek took us 90 minutes, but it was a pleasant and memorable 90 minutes, and yes, it did rain for a bit of it!

Positano in the rear-view mirror

Traffic into Positano

We arrived at the Hotel Margherita in Praiano, the next village to the east of Positano, and were given a tour and glass of sparkling wine.

Room view

Our room overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea. We enjoyed some wine on our balcony, planned our Wednesday on the Amalfi Coast and basked in the sunshine for the first time since Friday!

We had dinner at the hotel which has a lovely roof terrace with a restaurant. But it was too cold, with the low 60s temperatures, so we had to dine inside, which was a disappointment.

We hope to visit Ravello and Amalfi tomorrow with clear skies and warm days!! CHEERS!!

The day from start to finish was windy, wet and cold. Really, we never had a minute without rain!

Natural honeycomb with dripping honey at breakfast

In the morning, we would not be deterred so we rented a car to travel to the other side of the island.  We first attempted to locate a vineyard that hosted wine tastings and lunch. It was not open. We tried to find a second winery. That one remained lost to us. After we gave up on that plan, in the pouring rain, we drove further around the island and south, to Sant’ Angelo d’ischia. Sant’ Angelo is a old fishing village now filled with upscale shops, beach clubs and some restaurants.

Caprese salad in the village of Sant’ Angelo

We had lunch at Casa Celestino, which overlooked the raging ocean and rain.

After lunch, we returned to the road, this time circumnavigating the entire island. On our way, we drove to the top of the mountain. One last attempt at a vineyard, but as we approached the last several kilometers, a dark cloud enveloped us and we were fogged in at the the top of Ischia. We found the vineyard, but it was closed.

Raging sea in Sant ‘Angelo

We returned to the hotel, walked into town for some so-so gelato, and then remained captive in the hotel due to a coastal squall that just won’t give up. We returned to O’ Sole Mio for dinner after a lull in the rain. It was a very local place and we enjoyed their hospitality and pasta (limoncello, too). With umbrellas overturning, and dodging puddles causing flooding sandals (ill prepared Mary for bad bad bad weather), we made it back to the hotel for our final raining stormy night. We have been amazed at the bad weather in very late May. It is at least 20 degrees below average, with locals in puffer coats, boots, scarves, and wondering what happened to spring!!! In fact, when we left dinner, it was 55 degrees (hence trouble with sandals weather)!

Tuesday, we take the morning ferry to Sorrento, where we pick up our rental car (and hopefully better weather) and begin our Amalfi Coast leg of the trip.

Rain was in the forecast, and it did its best to arrive as scheduled! After a late breakfast at the hotel, overlooking the beautiful flowers and soaked pool, as promised, we visited the Aragonese Castle. A 15-minute walk from our hotel, the Aragonese Castle came into view through the pouring rain. It rained the hardest all day as we walked to the castle!

raining day at the castle

This fortress was built in 474 BC by the Greek, Hiero I. Over the course of the centuries, many different groups, from the Arabs to the Normans, held the castle. The Ischians took over the fortress in the 1300s. The fortress was also transformed into a prison and held many political prisoners. Since the early 1900s, the castle has been empty and open for tourists.

A view back to Ischia Ponte from the fortress

The castle holds many small chapels and churches. A small convent for the Poor Clare nuns prospered at the castle beginning in 1575. The convent housed around 40 cloistered nuns, mostly first-born daughters of noble families, who were sent there by their families so that the family estate could be passed down to the family’s first male heir.

Beneath one of the churches, a cemetery for the nuns is found. They had a macabre tradition of placing the nuns’ bodies on stone chairs exposed, where the other nuns would pray over them for years. I could go into grim details, but its rather sad.

  The sad resting places for the devoted nuns

One of the chapels, the Church of the Madonna della Libera, was built after the last eruption of the volcano, Mt Epomeo, in the 1300s. The towns people prayed to Mary and dedicated the church to her, as Mary protected them. The painting above the altar depicts the Madonna with hands outstretched as she was blocking the lava.

The Madonna Chapel

After touring the castle, the rain eased up and we had our favorite Italian lunch of quattro Fromaggi pizza and Caprese salad at restaurant overlooking the castle and the Bay of Naples.

 Lunch!

We did a little shopping, as the rain began again. We returned to the hotel and tried out the Roman bath in the basement of the hotel. I need one of those in my basement!!!!

The Roman bath at the hotel… luxurious!!!

We had dinner a 1/2 mile away from the hotel, on the beach. The house wine in the pitcher carafe is still the way to go! I tried pasta with mussels and limone sauce while Bob had another quattro Fromaggi pizza, this time, all to himself!

Pasta with mussels

4 Fromaggi pizza for Bob

Mixed salad, Ischia style

Dinner view

We sat on our balcony, as the rain ended at dinner time, and enjoyed the view of the castle, the pool and a bottle of Ischia wine! Tomorrow, we are hoping the rain holds off since we are renting a car to explore the island!!!

Night view of a church by our hotel

Castle view at dusk

Our journey to Italy was on a very looooong Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. Our 3pm flight from Dulles sent us through Frankfurt with a 4 hour delay (mileage plus tickets made a 4 hour stop over acceptable), then on to Naples. Each flight was absolutely packed with very little room to stand or walk around. Lots of families with small children traveling the long weekend, even to Germany!!!

Our Four and half hour layover in Germany was not so bad as we had access to a very good Lufthansa lounge.

Mary arranged for a private taxi to meet us at arrivals in Naples. The driver loaded us up his luxury van, drove us at a chaotic pace to the ferry terminal. From there, we dashed to the terminal while the driver, in his fine Italian suit, ran to get us tickets, as the next ferry was leaving in 8 minutes. We loaded on the ferry, had a peroni and watched Ischia appear through the clouds and haze. Upon disembarking, the advance planning had another taxi driver waiting for us and squired us off to our hotel. This plan was extraordinary, as it removed a lot of the stress late in the trip.

Our hotel, The Hotel Villa Durrueli, was overbooked and required us to stay in a different room than was reserved. We will be moved to our room with the better view tomorrow just in time for the rain! No unpacking so we tried out the roof terrace!

This was a beautiful spot, with chairs and tables lining the terrace! The view was over Ischia, the neighboring island of Procida, Naples and Capri in the distance, but the focal viewpoint was the castle known as Aragonese Castle. The castle is built on volcanic rock and was constructed in 474 BC. We hope to visit the castle tomorrow.

We checked out the hotel pool and found a poolside bar where we spent some time chatting with a British couple from Essex, who are here for a wedding tomorrow at the castle!

We then headed into town for a lovely dinner at a restaurant the bartender at the hotel recommended. We tried a few local dishes including a local fish, white wine and a local dessert called Baba’, which is sponge cake SOAKED in rum!.

We finished dinner with a complimentary liqueur called Rucola, which is made from ‘rocket’ the European term for arugula. It was raining as we walked back to our hotel, heading to bed after a long couple of days.

Sunday’s plans are up in the air due to the forecast of rain! And the rain is supposed to last into Tuesday!!!

The town of Ischia Ponte

Any city is at its best when unexpected weather graces your travels. Amsterdam shined throughout a long weekend in February with sun and spring like temperatures. We found the “Venice of the North” warmer and more welcoming than we expected!

After we made a spur of the moment decision to meet in Amsterdam for Valentine’s Day, with one of us traveling for work in Europe, quick planning was needed. Traveling to Amsterdam was an easy direct flight, arriving early morning on Valentine’s Day. We arrived at our base for our long Dutch weekend at Hotel Sebastian’s, which is located on the outer portions of the Jordaan neighborhood, on Keizersgracht canal.

This chic boutique hotel is just the style we prefer: intimate, classy and quirky, and full of upscale service. While Hotel Sebastian has many canal facing rooms, we chose to stay in one of their rooms facing the gardens, which we read had a larger bathroom. Our idea was, knowing that the hotel had a lovely lounge area facing the canal, we could save some money with a garden facing room but with the bigger bath, and to enjoy the canal, we only had to have a beer in the lounge. Our room had a good-sized double bed, nice lighting, a table and chairs, a Nespresso machine and large windows overlooking the gardens. The bathroom was indeed just the right size, with a tub/shower, but I would not call it large. The room itself was rather small, even by European standards.

Our first plan upon arriving, was our cheese tasting at the famous cheese shop, Reypenaer. The Dutch eat 50 pounds of cheese per person each year! The family owned cheese shop is famous in Amsterdam and has been making cheese for over 100 years. In the basement of the store, is a large sunny room with desks, chairs and cheese guillotines! We tasted six different cheeses ranging in age from 4 months to 3 years. We were asked to describe the color of the cheese, smell, taste, consistency and our overall impressions of the cheese. The longer the cheese is aged, the crunchier the consistency becomes due to crystalized pockets of air. Two of the cheeses were goat cheese, while the remaining ones were cow based gouda cheese. We were served different types of wine with the cheese to change the taste. We were even given a taste of Jeneva, which is a Dutch type of gin, to taste with one of the cheeses. It was a great way to introduce ourselves to Dutch cheese.

We later went on a canal boat tour that showed us the varied architecture and landscape of Amsterdam. We strolled along the canals inspecting shops, cafes and restaurants for the remainder of the day. It was a beautifully sunny and warm afternoon and a wonderful way to spend Valentine’s Day.

The next morning, the February rare sun was still shining on Amsterdam. After a typical European breakfast at Hotel Sebastian’s, we made the 10 minute walk to the Anne Frank House. Advance tickets are required for the tour as it is one of Amsterdam’s most popular sights. The museum was recently renovated and I am told, has become more somber and meaningful. The audio tour is very helpful, and once you reach the annex where Anne and her family hid, you continue through the rooms in silence. The tour is a sobering and necessary lesson, especially in today’s day of intolerance, what can happen when we sit back in silence.

From there, we made our way to the start of our food tour through the Jordaan neighborhood. Eating Europe offered the 3.5 hour walking and eating tour of Amsterdam. We met our Dutch guide, Rene, at the historic 400 year old Café Papeneiland and sampled apple pie with whipped cream, all homemade.

Our tour group of 7 was compromised of 6 Americans and an Irish woman. Rene, who is also a chef, coupled his food knowledge with the history and culture of the Jordaan neighborhood as well as Amsterdam as a whole. Along the way, we sampled cheese, sausage from a local butchery, kibbeling(which is cod) and raw herring with onions and pickles from the fishmonger, Indonesian satay, the Dutch biscuit called Stroopwafels, and ended with beer with Dutch pub food of sausage and stamppot, which is like mashed potatoes. I can not recommend the tour enough! With the weather so nice, we sat canal side enjoying several beers watching Dutch life go by!

Our last full day in Amsterdam was meant to be our “Museum Day”. The day before, the Rijksmuseum had open its newest exhibit, All The Rembrandts. In celebration of 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, the Rijksmuseum assembled all of their Rembrandts in one collection. We had advanced tickets, and were lucky enough to see the exhibit on its second day! We marveled at the artwork, along with all the other locals and tourists!

After visiting the Rijksmuseum, we had tickets for the neighboring Van Gogh Museum. This museum was even more crowded and full of school groups. Saturdays are not ideal days to visit the Amsterdam museums, but we made our way enjoying the art, the museums, and again, stunning weather.

After our museum visits, the bartender at Hotel, after noticing we enjoyed craft beer, suggested a neighboring bar which had 50 Dutch beer on tap. Arendsnest is an elegant dark wood bar crammed with knowledgeable beer drinkers. We had six different beers, all Dutch, ranging from a session, to a porter, a stout, and several IPAs. They are served in unique glasses to the beer, in differing amounts so that you can responsibly try a varied amount. The Dutch have a unique way of serving draft beer: they rinse the glass in a sink of running water, and then add the draft beer. This is done to remove any friction on the glass, resulting in a clean pour and a fragrant head.

Amsterdam is a lovely long weekend city. It’s easy to walk everywhere, the language is a nonissue as everyone speaks fluent English, the people are extremely helpful and friendly (while we were consulting a map, a shopkeeper came out to make sure we were not lost), the food is European fun (not to mention the Dutch beer), and the opportunity explore a city steeped in culture and history, is immeasurable. And the canals…… Ahh, Amsterdam, we will be back!!

 

 

 

Our final visit in the Italian lakes region was a stay in the town of Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore. This beautiful truly Italian style lake straddles both Switzerland and Italy and is the second largest lake in Italy. Lake Maggiore was a resort area for wealthy Italians in the 19th Century and remains today as a spot visited by mostly Italians. We chose to stay in the lakeside town of Stresa. The town of Stresa is known for its easy access to the Borromean Islands, beautiful turn of the century hotels, quaint shops and cafe’s and many music festivals during the summer. Stresa had a very local holiday feel, more so than the other Italian lakes we visited, with many sailboats and power boating dotting the lake.

We stayed at the Hotel Royal, a 15 minute walk to the main portion of Stresa. We had a lovely room with many wall to ceiling windows, a very large bathroom with tub/shower combination, a desk and chair, large armoire and a large queen size bed. The bonus of our room was our own private terrace with table and chairs overlooking the lake. The Hotel Royal, full of mostly Italians and Brits, had a very old world holiday feel with a wonderful roof terrace with a view spanning most of Lake Maggiore.

Stresa is an excellent base to tour the Borromean Islands, and the Hotel Royal was aptly situated up a hill from the ferry terminal. We had a little confusion getting on the right ferry, but corrected ourselves and made the short trip across to the island of Isola Bella. The island was packed with tour groups! We ran into many American exchange student groups, I would suspect studying in Milan. Isola Bella is comprised of a massive and ornate Italian villa and incredibly beautiful gardens, all over looking the lake. The Baroque style villa is known for its collection of artwork and ornate rooms. There is even a grotto filled with rooms lined solely in black and white sea shells! The lovely gardens are full of large stone statues, beautiful flower plantings and the local inhabitants, white peacocks. I was expecting more peacocks but only saw a handful.

Later we took another ferry to the island of Isola Superiore, also know as Pescatori. This smaller island is an old fishing village mostly full of restaurants, shops and tourists! The island is lined with cafes in peaceful settings with views back to Stresa. Not much else to do on Pescatori other than eat and shop!

Based next to the ferry terminal is the gondola station which brings you to the top of Mount Mattarone. Two different gondolas and a chairlift are required to reach the top, along with a change in cars. Somewhere along the ride from the first gondola to entering the second, our tickets were lost. Trying to get assistance from non English speaking Italians was difficult, but we made it to the top. At 1500 meters, the views back over Lake Maggiore are incredible. Along with the fantastic views, the top holds a mountain top toboggan ride which rims the top of Mount Mattarone. There was a very long line for tickets, but we made the toboggan run like a pair of old Americans! But having done a similar ride in Appenzell, Switzerland, this pair of old Americans were pros!

Since Lake Maggiore’s shores also encompass Switzerland, we made a day trip drive to the Swiss lakeside town of Ascona. The lakeside road from Stresa to Ascona is full of villages filled with terracotta rooves, church spires and charming osterias. We passed over the swiss boarder with very little fanfare and arrived in Ascona in time for lunch. The village of Ascona is resort town with a strong artist community. The village is stunning with pastel colored Swiss buildings filled with flower boxes and rimmed by the Alps!

 

Stresa is filled with wonderful ceramic shops who will wrap and ship home anything you would like. The restaurants with pasta and limoncello warmly welcome visitors with a smile. The many piazzas full of outdoor cafes make Stresa a perfect base to watch Italian life go by on the shores of the stunning Lake Maggiore.

Who has not dreamt of spending an afternoon touring the gardens of some luxurious villa, wasting the day away on Aperol spritzes, and marveling of the scenery of Lake Como?  Then say “Ciao, Bella” to Bellagio, like we did a few months back!

After a couple of wonderful days on Lago Iseo, we next visited the pearl of Lake Como, the famous Bellagio.  We made the two hour trek from Iseo in our rented Fiat, where for the final 30 minutes, we clung to the cliff edge on a two lane road with stupendous views.  Drives like this are some of what we travel for!

As we approached Bellagio, the number of people in the medieval streets was unnerving.  We seemed to be the lone driver in the narrow passage ways, which made us feel like we were running against the bulls in Pamplona!  The narrow one way road was used by all pedestrians for foot traffic in the village, between shops and restaurants.  We knew our hotel had very limited parking, so we held our breath and said a few Hail Mary’s, in hopes of not having to repeat the trip!  With divine luck, we found a parking spot right in front of our hotel, Hotel Metropole Bellagio.

The Metropole Bellagio is the oldest hotel in the village of Bellagio.  It is situated right on the shores of Lake Como, and nestled in between two of the ferry stops.  We had a lovely corner lake front room with our own private balcony.  The room was a pretty shade of yellow with a large armoire, two night stands, a desk and a comfortable double bed. The bathroom was typical European size with a tight shower and sink.  The balcony was accessed by floor to ceilings French doors which easily opened for a breeze and view of life on Lake Como.

After checking in, lunch by the lake was in order followed by some light shopping in the village.  Bellagio is known for its silk and scarves and ties were on the today’s list.  Bellagio was crowded with day trippers, but by late afternoon, it returned to a semi sleepy Italian village, full of glamourous shops and spritzes, showing why it is called the Pearl of Lake Como.

Our first night, we had dinner lakeside at the Metropole’s main restaurant.  We had reserved ahead of time and were given the best table on the terrace: a table for two which jetted out from the terrace for privacy.  Dinner was wonderful and only outmatched by the view of the lake, with the sun setting behind the mountain range.  We followed up dinner by enjoying the roof terrace with some wine and music.

One of the best things about Bellagio, beside the awe inspiring beauty, is its location on Lake Como.  With the many ferries traversing Lake Como, it is a wonderful base to explore the other villages.  We traveled to Varenna the next morning to visit the beautiful village and explore the stunning gardens of Villa Monastero.

After touring Varenna, we took another ferry to the village of Menaggio, while not as picturesque as Varenna, we enjoyed lunch in the Piazza Garibaldi.  The following day, we took a ferry across Lake Como to tour the beautiful and famous Villa Carlotta, which is located next to the lakeside village of Tremezzo.  The ease of crossing the lake from village to village is a very real draw of staying in Bellagio.

 

We spent three wonderful days at the Hotel Metropole Bellagio and in the village itself.  The upscale and ritzy shops, restaurants and stunning beauty make Bellagio a perfect base to visit Lake Como.  And Bellagio show us why its nickname is a gem:  The Pearl of Lake Como.