Onto Como….

We packed up in record time (we’re getting really good at this now!) said our goodbye’s and left the site around 9.30 a.m.

We’d already programmed the Satnav to take us to Camping Golden Sheep (!) at Domaso at the top of Lake Como, and expected it to be a relatively short hop of about 2 hours.  Unfortunately the Satnav seems to have developed a mind of her own (Karol’s certain it’s a ‘she’!) and after 20 minutes we still hadn’t left San Felice, as ‘she’ kept giving us conflicting directions. This wasn’t the first time ‘she’ had done this – it seemed as though she was giving us a different road out of the area every time we went anywhere. Having ended up in a supermarket car park to turn round (our decision not hers!) we set about re-booting her, and checking the map – we then headed for the motorway at the foot of Lake Garda and ignored her instructions until we knew we were on the motorway and heading in the right direction. Apart from the usual procession of speeding lorries passing us, all went well until she told us there was a holdup on our route, and offered us an alternative.  We accepted the new route, which then took us through some lovely scenic countryside, albeit on very windy roads.  We eventually arrived at Golden Sheep some four and a half hours later, somewhat frazzled!

Golden Sheep is a new campsite, run by three sisters, and is fine, other than it’s a bit cramped, and they have some funny rules about the use of hot water.  We can only wash up and do laundry (with hot water) between certain times.  With the washing up you get 1 minute of hot water every 10 minutes only once the light above the taps is ‘on’ – otherwise it’s hard luck!  We’re also back to no toilet paper, and a token to operate the shower (one a day!)  However, we have the best piped music thus far in the shower blocks.  They are also painted ‘Threlkeld kitchen yellow’ which makes us feel at home.

The main reason we wanted to come to Como is because we spent our honeymoon here almost 40 years ago. In those days it was a 6 night Cosmos package holiday in a 2* hotel, and it took us 36 hours each way on a coach from London Victoria to get here. How times have changed – now we are camping in a caravan! Anyway we have fabulous memories of our stay here in 1977, mainly hazy as we had discovered Italian white wine which was incredibly cheap in those days. We are delighted to find that the area is just as beautiful as we remembered – it is busier of course, but the scenery of the lake with the Alps in the background is sensational.

We had a quietish day on Friday, just getting our bearings, walking and visiting the tourist information, then set off on Saturday to go to Cadenabbia, where we had stayed on our honeymoon. From there we could get a boat to Bellagio, something we had also done all those years ago.  We had a bit of bother with the parking meter once we got to Cadenabbia, as it wouldn’t accept our credit card, but then some helpful Italians told us there was a free car park just behind us, so we parked there instead, depriving the council of €8!

Lake Como is shaped a bit like a bloke with no head or arms.  Cadenabbia is on his left hip and Bellagio is in his crotch, so it was only 10 minutes on the ferry to get there.  You can take your car on too if you like – it’s a bit like catching a bus at home, no fuss, just straight on and then they’re off!

It was another beautiful day, so we set off to ‘do’ the Bellagio Walking Tour which we’d picked up at Tourist Information.  This took in all the sights, including a panoramic view from the ‘crotch’ where there’s a confluence of all three parts of the Lake.

This area is called the Punta Spartivento, which means the point where the wind divides, and is a very good description! The walking tour was great, just a couple of hours, but long enough to take in the main historical buildings and the stunning views – we happened to be in the main square, Piazza San Giacomo, at 12 o’clock and were treated to an amazingly loud chiming of the church bells – it went on for ages. We were pleased we’d decided to be foot passengers and not take the car as there was very little parking and we saw lots of frustrated drivers going round the narrow streets looking for somewhere to park. There has been an injection of American money to Bellagio as the Rockefeller Foundation now own the Villa Serbelloni and its Grand Hotel – probably why we heard quite a few American voices!

We stopped for a delicious pizza lunch at a cafe down a side street then headed back for the ferry at about half past 3. We walked along the lake side at Cadenabbia, past the Villa Carlotta with its botanical gardens, and tried to picture the area as it when we first visited.

We weren’t even sure if we could remember which hotel we stayed at, but eventually agreed on one which is now called the Britannia Excelsior – it has certainly had a massive facelift  since we stayed there, and I think it has also changed its name as that isn’t ringing any bells – it must be our age!

This whole area has quite a history, as it was home for many of the Faschist regime in the second world war.  Indeed Mussolini was executed on Lake Como after being captured by partisans whilst trying to escape.  You can understand why they settled here – after all if it’s good enough for George Clooney…..(we didn’t bump into him by the way, much to Karol’s disappointment.)

We had a lazy day by the lake on Sunday, then set off for Sorico for a walk on Monday. Sorico is about 6km north of Domaso, and we are actually moving the caravan there next week as we could only keep our pitch here for 2 weeks.

The walk takes you up the mountainside along an old mule track and gives fantastic views of the lake and surrounding countryside from Selva, a small village near the top.

It was so peaceful, the only sounds were the crickets and the birds. The way back down was through a small hamlet, the path actually descends between maybe 50 homes, all beautifully maintained, before crossing the mountain road 5 times. It doesn’t look as though much has changed in these mountain villages for a long long time.

We are clearly not in as good shape as we thought, as both of us had shaky legs on the way down – more exercise required I think!

After the walk we drove to the top of the Lake following the Satnav to take us to the nearest decent sized supermarket as we needed to stock up a bit.  We spent a couple of hours doing so in the air-conditioned shopping centre, and then headed back to Camping Golden Sheep for a late lunch (four o’clock) and some sun.  A quiet evening BBQ followed and the final episode of Series 4 of 24.  We know how to live!