Lago di Como

With a long weekend ahead, we decided to take a roadtrip to the land of pizza and gelatto. We hit the road early Friday morning from Basel airport – destination Lago di Como, 300 kilometers southeast, or about a 4-hour drive. Since not even the best Justin Bieber songs could keep us motivated to drive it in one go, we decided to stop along the way. First stop: Luzern. A small Swiss town at the border of a beautiful blue lake surrounded by snowy mountaintops. We had an enjoyable afternoon there, walking around in the old town and taking the obligatory tourist pictures at the Chapel Bridge. Beautiful as it was, we were really craving pizza and pasta and decided to hit the road again.

We arrived in Menaggio around 7 pm and set up our tent at Camping Europa. For around 30€ for both of us (including car and tent), this turned out to be quite the deal. After some initial struggles with setting up the tent, we finally had our pizza in the city center of Menaggio and got to stroll around the shores of Lago di Como, watching ferries and little fisher boats pass by as the sun set upon the mountains behind us.

Next on our list was ferry-boating to Varenna and Bellagio. Arriving in Varenna is probably the best thing about it. The views of the little town from the boat are spectacular. Walking into town, through cobble-stoned alleyways and staircases, is a pleasure for the photographer’s eye. Bellagio was less interesting to me, more so because we did not get to see George Clooney.

That evening, we drove to Como where we briefly visited the city but were a bit dissapointed by the amount of tourists and lesser attractiveness of the city. Luckily though, our hotel turned our frowns into smiles.

Night had fallen and our hotel turned out to be in Brunate, a small town up the hill from Como. A quick search on google maps showed the many many hairpin bends to get there. Bend after bend, in narrow streets which just fitted a Fiat, with just the moonlight and the occasional streetlight ahead, I was happy to leave the steering wheel to Pato. Half an hour of sweety palms and armpits later, we arrived at the gorgeous Bellavista Boutique Hotel. Originally built in the 19th century, it has recently been renovated but still maintains its beautiful Art Nouveau features. It was like walking into a Wes Anderson movie scene.