Italy and Greece 2023

Flights and Milan August 29-31, 2023

Tuesday August 29th we left the Ranch and headed to LAX for the night. Spent the night at the Hilton, watched the planes pass in front of the full moon and land one after the other for hours. Early flight to New York on Wednesday morning, hug out at the Admirals Club at JFK while waiting for our flight to Milan. One highlight was that we met a very nice family in the club. The Mom and 3 daughters were traveling back to Italy after a vacation in the USA. Turns out they were from Bologna, where we will be after Lake Como. They shared some great places to see and offered to meet up with us to show us around. Boarded the flight to Milan and after a very bumpy first 3 hours, settled down for a nice flight. Arrived on time, quick run thru customs and off to City Centre Milan. Spent the day walking around town, lunch at Le Grazie near the Centre and started our Last Supper Walking Tour. This was a 3 hour walking tour that started with seeing the Last Supper painting by Leanardo Di Vinci painted from 1492-1495. The next two hours was the tour thru Milan seeing old castles, parks, exhibits and the Duomo De Milano Cathedral. Thuis was started in 1386 and finished in 1965 and the Sforza Castle, a medieval fortress built between 1360 and 1499. We visited the Camparino Bar, where they invented Campari. This is a red Italian Bitter Liqueurs used to make various crafted cocktails. We tried one with orange in it and it was good but not our favorite cocktail. Back to the hotel for the night. Thursday morning we went to the Avis Rental Car agency to get our car and start the drive up to Lake Como.

Lake Como September 1-6, 2023

Glenna did a great job navigating the tricky roads to get out of Milanand of to Lake Como. Beautiful drive up the countryside and took a side trip into the town of Como, this was at the start of the lake. Fairly good size town with windy streets working our way past villas, shops and restaurants along the way to Menaggio. The small town of Menaggio is about 40 minutes from the town of Comoand is a perfect place to start our Lake Como adventures. Checked into the Grand Menaggio Hotel , a typical European room but we did have a king size bed and a fantistic view of the lake. Glenna and I had lunch at a small local restaurant around the corner from the hotel, Dal Tata for a pizza, salad and the smallist glass of wine possible. I guess 6 euros only gets you a 2 ounce pour at this place, needless to say we did not stay for another glass. That evening, my Niece Allison and her husband Duane arrived from Germany for the long weekend. We met up with them and went to Caffe Ventralle on the water in Menaggio for dinner, catching up, a gelato and listening to the jazz orchestra playing a variety of music on the Piazza before calling it a night. They drove in from just outside Frankfurt after a 7 hour drive.

On Saturday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we met Allison and Duane at the ferry terminal, bought our day passes and boarded the ferry to Varena. We did the lovers walk along the shoreline, took some pictures of the town villas and shops them dicided it was time for the next stop. Another ferry ride to Bellagio not far away and started walking around this iconic village. The clear blue water, begonia plants and the bougainvillea was stunning, not sure the pictures will do justice. Lunch at the Bar Florence sitting outside under the shade trees next to the water made for a perfect setting for our Italian meal. Lunch and service were great and that gave us the energy to start our 4 mile walk to the local fishing village we wanted to check out. Up and down several large mountain roads, we finally made it to the harbor. Not really a fishing village but lots of boats in the crystal clear blue crisp water along the docks. Started the long trek back to the town center when after a short time, a taxi van came by and gave us a ride back. Took the ferry back to Menaggio, enjoyed the views and made our way to the Di Vino cafe on the hillside street where every table was at a slant. Didn’t bother us as we had a margarita pizza in honor of Jimmy Buffet who passed away earlier that day. No real margaritas so this was the next best thing. Sunday late morning we went back to Bellagio for a walk around the other side of the town, stopped at the seawall for some pictures and had lunch the La Punta Restaurant overlooking the lake. Glenna and Duane had the Perch and assorted fish while Allison enjoyed a pasta dish and Pat had prosciutto melon that was perfectely ripe and fantastic. Shopping along the way back and on the ferry to Menaggio. We had a couple more days of sight seeing, pool time, driving over the Switzerland border to see Lake Lugano for the day. Beautiful drive over the mountains with stunning panaramic views of the lake and towns along the way. Came across a golf course on at the top of the mountain on the way back, stopped to check it out and have lunch on the patio watching the golfers stroll in from thier hilly round of golf. The Wine Shop in Menaggio, Enoteca RE DI Quadei proved to be a good spot to relax, people watch and have some wine and they provide a very nice charcuterie board with each bottle of wine purchased.

Fun facts about Lake Como:

Shaped like a topsy-turvy Y, Lake Como is renowned for its superb panoramas, terraced citrus gardens, luxury villas overlooking the shimmering water, boat tours and beaches for refreshing swims.

Lake Como, Italian Lago di Como, also called Lario, Latin Lacus Larius, lake in Lombardy, northern Italy, 25 miles (40 km) north of Milan; it lies at an elevation of 653 feet (199 metres) in a depression surrounded by limestone and granite mountains that reach an elevation of about 2,000 feet (600 metres) in the south and more than 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) in the northeast. Lake Como has three branches of approximately equal length (about 16 miles [26 km]). One stretches northward past Colico; of the other two, one stretches southwestward to the city of Como, the other southeastward beyond Lecco (this branch also known as Lecco Lake), with Bellagio Promontory marking the bifurcation.

Next stop is Bologna