Falling in love with Como’s beautiful villages, Menaggio and Bellagio

There have been thunderstorms pretty much every day since we arrived in Italy.

The sky suddenly turns dark in late afternoon or early evening. There is a great crash of thunder followed by a downpour.

In Lugano, we were swimming in the lovely outdoor pool with blue sky above us and warm sunshine pouring down.

And then slowly, big, billowing clouds appeared from over the Alps and the wind picked up and an hour or so later, down came the rain.

Fortunately, this has always happened when we are getting ready to go for dinner. We are inside, looking out, as the sky darkens and the rain starts.

On a couple of occasions, we have heard wonderful rolling thunder and flashes of forked lightening. It has always been very dramatic and atmospheric.

The beauty of it, however, is that it all passes fairly quickly and within a few hours and in the morning the sun is back and the day is bright and we are thrilled to go on our way in the warm sunshine.

From Lugano, we made our way to Lake Como and Menaggio. But on the way, we discovered that the torrential downpour the night before had caused a landslide.

Our driver, Luca, told us that to get us to our hotel in Moltrasio on the banks of Lake Como later that day, we would need to return to Lugano and spend another two hours making our way to our destination.

None of us wanted to do this. So we decided instead to take the boat from Bellagio to Moltrasio.

But we made one small change to our itinerary. Instead of going to Bellagio first, then returning to sightsee in Menaggio, we would reverse the schedule and go to Menaggio first, then to Bellagio and from there by boat to Moltrasio.

Menaggio, where I stayed with a group going to the Dolomites a few years ago, was just as pretty as I remembered it.

The town/village square with its cafes and shops and restaurants remains charming with lovely restful views of the lake.

I forgot to pack a hat when I left Vancouver, so I went looking for a hat to protect my head from the sun. I found a bright yellow hat for 3 euros.

It fit the bill and my group seemed also grateful of having a beacon to look for when we gathered at our meeting points.

After a happy time wandering around Menaggio and having drinks and coffees and a bite to eat in the central piazza, we headed over to Bellagio for lunch and shopping.

These little towns are the definition of relaxation. The moment you arrive here you slip into a very comfortable, restful feeling.

Later in the afternoon, we took a boat ride down the lake to Moltrasio, passing on the way, Laglio, where people pointed out George Clooney’s chateau, although it seemed a little imprecise.

We will have a closer look tomorrow when we go back on the lake on a private boat to visit some key gardens and villas.

The ride from Bellagio to Moltrasio was so relaxing that one of our group – Rudi – forgot to get off at Moltrasio and continued sailing on down the lake.

How he missed the fact that we were all getting off the boat is still a point of amusement but we all laughed when he made it back within the hour aboard a boat headed back up the lake.

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