Lake Como, Italy...Shall I admit from the beginning that I am familiar with Lake Como primarily because US Weekly talks about George Clooney and his bi monthly visit to his villa there? Embarrassingly, that sparked my interest in visiting the region for our last official big trip. We invited our friends, the Melody's, to join us. They are so fun and always ready for an adventure. Fortunately, they have an nine month old; so like us, are also obsessed with nap and sleep schedules.
Upon researching the area and places to stay, we were a little overwhelmed. There are sixteen villages on the western shore, six on the southern shore and eight on the eastern shore. George is going to be harder to find than first imagined.
We decided on a villa in the town of Menaggio. It is a five and a half hour car ride from Stuttgart, still manageable with a three and a half year old and a six month old, and also has a ferry that runs frequently to and from Bellagio. Although we didn't anticipate the Cinque Terre like roads that we encountered after we crossed the border from Switzerland. They were narrow, windy (with crazy motorcycles buzzing up both sides of the car) and just plain scary to drive. But once we arrived safely, we knew that the white knuckle drive was going to be so worth it.
We spent our first day hanging out and exploring the quaint town of Menaggio. The second day, we took the ferry over to Bellagio, walked the town and had lunch there. That afternoon, we rented a boat and explored the lake. Such amazing villas! (We spotted Richard Branson's villa which can only be accessed by boat and rents for 150,000 euro a week).
The next day was dark and rainy. We decided to head to the town of Tremezzo. CM read about a wine bar that was a little difficult to find but had a great wine tasting. After another fantastic lunch we headed up a narrow staircase and down an alley and there it was:"Cantina Folly."
This place is not to be missed! Bevin and I (after a while the husbands took one for the team and headed home with the "older" kids) spent five hours learning about Italian wines. The perfect "rainy day, I'm in Lake Como" activity.
We spent the next day recuperating from said rainy day activity, but also exploring other small towns along the lake like the town of Lenno. We never found George, but we did find great gelato. And for one three year old I know, that ranks a whole lot higher.
