Thursday, June 30th
I woke up to clear blue skies and a beautiful day. My tour to the Villa del Balbianello, that I signed up for the previous day, departed at 10:30. I stopped at this pretty bar down by the water. I can’t remember the name of the bar now. The lady behind the bar remembered me from my visit the day before. I ordered an espresso macchiato and had a crema brioche. I told her that this was the best coffee I had had in all of Italy on this trip (which was true). She was so happy. Two older men, who appeared to be regulars sitting at a little table nearby, congratulated her.
I arrived at the dock a little before 10:30. Once everyone in the group for the tour arrived, we followed the tour guide to the boat. The tour guide was a woman from England wearing a black and white striped shirt. Our group (a young couple from Toronto, an older couple from San Francisco, six people from England and myself) all boarded the little boat.
The boat had an open roof and very clean glass windows for nice views. There were many wonderful opportunities to take pictures from the boat. The views were spectacular on the way over. We passed by Cadenabbia, Tremezzo, Lenno, and then arrived at the villa. She told us some history and interesting tidbits about various buildings as we traveled along the lake to the villa.
Another woman was there to meet us and take us on a private tour inside the villa. She told us about the four owners (I believe it was four) and then we walked through many interesting rooms. Pictures were not allowed inside the villa. After the tour, we had 30 minutes to tour the gardens on our own and then met the boat for the ride back.
As the boat departed, the views of the villa were spectacular.
As we headed back to Bellagio, we went by San Giovanni, Loppia, and the Villa Melzi (the places I had walked to on Tuesday). It was interesting to see them from a different view.
When we arrived back in Bellagio, I stopped to get a couple of stamps at the Poste Italiane. Then, it was time for lunch! I ordered a pizza at this little restaurant right by the water. While waiting for my pizza, I turned my camera back on to have a look at all of the pictures I just took. The first thing I saw was a message saying corrupted data! I pushed the little arrow to see the next picture and the only picture on the camera was an old picture of Katia, Guido, and myself at Lucca’s restaurant.
I was so upset thinking that I had just lost all of the pictures of my visit to the villa! I ate my very delicious pizza quickly, and then waited 15 minutes for the bill. Usually it would not bother me to wait, but I was anxious to see if there was some way to retrieve my data.
Once the bill finally came, I paid it and then hurried back to my apartment to try to see if all the pictures would appear when I tried to copy the camera card onto a CD with the CD burner I had with me. It seemed that the data was all there when copying the pictures. PHEW!!! What a relief!! After the CD was complete, I put the card back into my camera and all the pictures appeared except for the last one.
When at the Villa, I remembered taking out the card before the camera completely turned off and I also remembered a funny noise. Lesson learned! I was so grateful that all but one of my pictures were still there!
Because the day was so beautiful, I decided to take another boat ride to somewhere close by in the afternoon. I have never visited Tremezzo nor Cadenabbia and decided to go there. I took the ferry to Tremezzo. There is a beautiful church with a very cool bell tower (which was not open to climb). There was not much else to do but the walk was beautiful. I also found a great park in Tremezzo right on the water.
When I reached what appeared to be the end of the town, I turned around, retraced my steps and then headed towards Cadenabbia. I passed the famous Villa Carlotta (see photo of this villa from my boat ride over to Villa del Balbianello). I decided against visiting the grounds & the villa.
When I arrived in Cadenabbia, the ferry was scheduled to arrive in about 10 minutes. I bought a ticket and then walked a little bit farther into Cadenabbia, realizing there really was not much to see other than some big hotels on the water, so I caught the ferry back to Bellagio.
Once back in Bellagio, I walked over to Pescallo. I was hoping to get a nice picture to blow up and hang on my wall. The views there are so beautiful. No perfect picture, but I really love spending time in Pescallo. Most of the pictures I took are similar to those I have already posted. Here’s a different picture…
While in Pescallo, I met a wonderful little family (grandparents, mother, two little children) hanging out right outside of their house. We talked for a while. The grandmother asked where I was staying and then told me to wait a minute. She ran inside and came back outside a few minutes later with a brochure of another hotel that had just been renovated that was run by friends of hers.
That night, I ate at Ristorante Bilacus. I sat at a nice table with a great view. I ordered a very delicious ravioli dish. Because I had a gelato a couple of hours earlier, I was too full to eat more than the pasta dish. Finally, a great place found to eat dinner! Too bad it was my last night. I would definitely return for another meal!
There was a trail of ants marching along the railing by my table as I ate. One somehow ended up on my arm and bit me. Another lady was freaking out as the ants arrived near her table.
I saw the six people from England that were on the tour to the villa with me eating at two nearby tables. Earlier in the afternoon, after returning from Tremezzo/Cadenabbia, I ran into the other two couples on the tour. Small world!
Fun boat rides with beautiful views, wonderful tour of Villa del Balbianello, nice walk in Tremezzo, more peaceful time in Pescallo, and a delicious dinner!
What a great last day on Lake Como & in Bellagio!
shave ice & gelato 