Following the thunderstorms during Saturday night, we woke to a wet and dull Lake Como. We weren’t too bothered as we were leaving today for the next part of our journey, to Bergamo. The sun came out as we went for breakfast and we’re given the best table in the hotel: five floors up with the most amazing views of Lake Como that I could never tire of.

We checked out and followed the sat nav back through the winding roads along the west of Lago Di Como. There were a lot of cyclists on the road so it was pretty tricky trying to overtake, with it being a single lane each way. A yellow Fiat Panda was also stuck behind me and the driver was being very aggressive in his driving, so that made things worse. Eventually we got onto the motorway so he was soon past me.

Driving the motorway was easy and there was nothing to note until we got to Bergamo. The navigator, who shall remain nameless, decided to direct me through the one way system past the duomo (cathedral), instead of the normal road. Some of these side streets were very narrow and there was a time when I wasn’t sure if the car would get through. Some people were looking at me as if to say “what are you doing here?”….We did laugh about it but I must say that I panicked a bit when I saw a police car near the duomo!

Anyway, despite the hiccup, we found our way to the hotel. It was boiling hot but we couldn’t check in as we were too early. We left the car and followed the receptionist’s directions to the old town, the Città Alta.

Bergamo is close to the Bergamo Alps, and is the only city with 4700 hectares of parkland. The town has two tiers: the upper, older città alta, and the lower, modern città bassa. Our hotel is in the Medieval città alta, which is easy to navigate on foot. It took only a few minutes to get to the main area and we managed to get a restaurant table for lunch in Piazza Vecchia even though it was very busy.

The Lalimentari restaurant did amazing pasta dishes, as well as polenta and other Italian specialities. It was a great place for people watching and food was reasonably priced.

https://lalimentari.it

When we’d eaten we wandered through the cobbled streets of the Città Alta, which is surrounded by sixteenth century Venetian walls. That’s something to investigate more tomorrow. We wanted to go back to Hotel Funi so we could check in and have a quick shower.

The room was lovely and clean, and we soon made use of the facilities there to get ready to go out for the rest of the day.

We headed out again and spent a good hour or so at a couple of drinking establishments. The first one was Al Donizetti, a really nice bar and restaurant. We sat outside and watched the world go by and then went on further to Location 58 where I had the best porn star paloma cocktail ever.

https://dishcovery.menu/app/restaurants/a5a4b35e1fcd5fbf540e8e8a9b8bb4a0/a-la-carte-menu

https://www.facebook.com/Location58cittalta

We’d kind of decided where we would eat when we had been out the first time, so Mimi La Casa Dei Sapori was our restaurant of choice. It was traditional in style, with arched ceilings and small wooden tables and chairs. We were taken to the best table in the house which was next to a door that opened onto the street. There was plenty to choose from on the menu and we went for local dishes including polenta. JC had polenta with both starter and main. I did kind of say that it would be rather filling, but he pressed on….My beef tartare didn’t have much sapori (flavour), it needed seasoning and more pickles. Service wasn’t the best here as there were young inexperienced staff but everything was pleasant enough.

https://damimmoelina.com/en/mimi-2/

Back on the busy streets we saw plenty of historical buildings including the beautiful Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (duomo cathedral), Palazzo Della Ragione, Piazza Vecchia (main square) and Cappella Colleoni (church).

We also saw the Lavatoio di via Lupo, an outdoor wash-house in the shape of a white marble tub that has an elegant cast iron cover. This was built in 1891 to compensate for lack of running water in people’s houses. It was able to process dirty water in a time when there had been a regular cholera epidemic every summer in Bergamo, due to lack of adequate facilities in the Città Alta, Two other similar lavatoio were built for this reason in Via Boccola and Borgo Canale.

As the sun was going down we decided to head back to our hotel and get some well earned rest. We will make the most of our time in this beautiful city and do plenty of sightseeing on Monday.