Here is the video of the day’s photos ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Today was nice because we had nothing planned at all, except to take in the glorious scenery. Once we’d eaten at the buffet breakfast, with our table overlooking beautiful Lake Como, we decided we should go for a walk. We had to put some belongings in the hire car first, which had been valet parked on our arrival the day before. The valet was panicking because he couldn’t find our car, much to the amusement of the other staff. The relief on his face when he found it was a picture!

Walking in the fresh, open air was a pleasant change from the day before, when we had been stuck on public transport for hours. It was forecast thunderstorms but it was looking rather promising. The temperature was perfect for walking so we set off. Leaving Griante, we walked south towards Villa Carlotta. This is a huge villa in the next village of Tremezzo and is over 300 years old. The botanical gardens are open to the public and are popular to visitors.

https://www.villacarlotta.it

We carried on and saw many other privately owned villas and were trying to work out how much they would sell for. We looked at Villa Solo Cabiati, a beautiful place that you can rent out privately from its owners. I priced up a mandatory minimum three night stay in August, and this would set you back nearly €12000. You could really splash the boat out and stay in a junior suite with food cooked by a gourmet chef. This is a snip at €19000 for three nights….

https://www.grandhoteltremezzo.com/en/our-villa/villa-sola-cabiati/

We walked on as far as we could before running out of a path. We saw pedestrians taking their lives into their own hands by walking on the road and this is where we decided to turn back.

It was getting very hot at this point, but we were undeterred and went to catch the ferry to Bellagio for lunch. We bought a €15 day ticket this time, which allowed us to use any ferry on the Lenno-Varenna route.

https://www.navigazionelaghi.it/en/

You could tell it was the weekend because it was packed with visitors everywhere. However we managed to get a table for lunch fairly easily. Bar Sanremo, which gave views of Lake Como, sold mainly paninis and salads, which was just perfect for lunch.

https://www.barsanremo.com/en/

Once lunch was finished we wanted to explore more of the area. We walked around, up cobbled steps and alleyways filled with bars and restaurants at every turn. So many people were milling around so we made a decision to catch the next ferry to Varenna.

Varenna is only 15 minutes away on the ferry. On arrival, we realised that this place was heaving too. The main part of the old town is accessible by walking a path alongside Lake Como which is quite narrow and sometimes made it hard to pass others coming in the opposite direction. Eventually we stopped following others and sneaked off up another cobbled stairway, not really sure where we would end up. It was an effort with the heat of the afternoon sun but were thankful that it opened out into a square where there was a bar. All we wanted to get was some water, but we had a quick beer as well.

Varenna was a nice place but it was just too hot and busy. We decided not to explore any further so we went back to the ferry port. This is where it got interesting because none of the staff gave us the same information when we asked for the best way to get back to Cadenabbia. The ferry times on the board were all in the past, and everything seemed very disorganised. In the end, we caught a ferry to Bellagio as we knew we could get back to Cadenabbia for sure. It was pure chaos with the amount of people asking for directions. It would have been made easier for the ferry staff if information was more accessible!

Cadenabbia was relatively calm when we got back and it was a relief to be in a place that wasn’t full of crowds of people.

Back at the hotel, we got ready for an evening meal at their restaurant. This is on the fifth floor and we could eat outside with amazing views of Lago Di Como and the mountains. Service from the staff was brilliant and they were in no rush for us to go. It was so lovely eating in such wonderful surroundings.

Next, we went for a drink on the outside terrace of the bar on floor four before returning back to our room. As it was now dark we could see the odd flash of lightning coming from the mountains. This was the start of a thunderstorm that happened overnight when we are sleeping.