Umbria, Lago di Garda, Lago di Como, & Visits with Friends in Empoli & Coccaglio

[susan]

Villa del Balbianello, Tremezzo & Cadenabbia

Thursday, June 30th

I woke up to clear blue skies and a beautiful day. My tour to the Villa del Balbianello, that I signed up for the previous day, departed at 10:30. I stopped at this pretty bar down by the water. I can’t remember the name of the bar now. The lady behind the bar remembered me from my visit the day before. I ordered an espresso macchiato and had a crema brioche. I told her that this was the best coffee I had had in all of Italy on this trip (which was true). She was so happy. Two older men, who appeared to be regulars sitting at a little table nearby, congratulated her.

I arrived at the dock a little before 10:30. Once everyone in the group for the tour arrived, we followed the tour guide to the boat. The tour guide was a woman from England wearing a black and white striped shirt. Our group (a young couple from Toronto, an older couple from San Francisco, six people from England and myself) all boarded the little boat.

The boat had an open roof and very clean glass windows for nice views. There were many wonderful opportunities to take pictures from the boat. The views were spectacular on the way over. We passed by Cadenabbia, Tremezzo, Lenno, and then arrived at the villa. She told us some history and interesting tidbits about various buildings as we traveled along the lake to the villa.

Another woman was there to meet us and take us on a private tour inside the villa. She told us about the four owners (I believe it was four) and then we walked through many interesting rooms. Pictures were not allowed inside the villa. After the tour, we had 30 minutes to tour the gardens on our own and then met the boat for the ride back.

On the way back, we went by San Giovanni, Loppia, and the Villa Melzi (the places I had walked to on Tuesday). It was interesting to see them from a different view.

When we arrived back in Bellagio, I stopped to get a couple of stamps at the Poste Italiane. Then, it was time for lunch! I ordered a pizza at this little restaurant right by the water. While waiting for my pizza, I turned my camera back on to have a look at all of the pictures I just took. The first thing I saw was a message saying corrupted data! I pushed the little arrow to see the next picture and the only picture on the camera was an old picture of Katia, Guido, and myself at Lucca's restaurant.

I was so upset thinking that I had just lost all of the pictures of my visit to the villa! I ate my very delicious pizza quickly, and then waited 15 minutes for the bill. Usually it would not bother me to wait, but I was anxious to see if there was some way to retrieve my data.

Once the bill finally came, I paid it and then hurried back to my apartment to try to see if all the pictures would appear when I tried to copy the camera card onto a CD with the CD burner I had with me. It seemed that the data was all there when copying the pictures. PHEW!!! What a relief!! After the CD was complete, I put the card back into my camera and all the pictures appeared except for the last one.

When at the Villa, I remembered taking out the card before the camera completely turned off and I also remembered a funny noise. Lesson learned! I was so grateful that all but one of my pictures were still there!

Because the day was so beautiful, I decided to take another boat ride to somewhere close by in the afternoon. I have never visited Tremezzo nor Cadenabbia and decided to go there. I took the ferry to Tremezzo. There is a beautiful church with a very cool bell tower (which was not open to climb). There was not much else to do but the walk was beautiful. I also found a great park in Tremezzo right on the water.

When I reached what appeared to be the end of the town, I turned around, retraced my steps and then headed towards Cadenabbia. I passed the famous Villa Carlotta. I decided against visiting the grounds & the villa.

When I arrived in Cadenabbia, the ferry was scheduled to arrive in about 10 minutes. I bought a ticket and then walked a little bit farther into Cadenabbia, realizing there really was not much to see other than some big hotels on the water, so I caught the ferry back to Bellagio.

Once back in Bellagio, I walked over to Pescallo. I was hoping to get a nice picture to blow up and hang on my wall. The views there are so beautiful. No perfect picture, but I really love spending time in Pescallo.

While there, I met a wonderful little family (grandparents, mother, two little children) hanging out right outside of their house. We talked for a while. The grandmother asked where I was staying and then told me to wait a minute. She ran inside and came back outside a few minutes later with a brochure of another hotel that had just been renovated that was run by friends of hers.

That night, I ate at Ristorante Bilacus. I sat at a nice table with a great view. I ordered a very delicious ravioli dish. Because I had a gelato a couple of hours earlier, I was too full to eat more than the pasta dish. Finally, a great place found to eat dinner! Too bad it was my last night. I would definitely return for another meal!

There was a trail of ants marching along the railing by my table as I ate. One somehow ended up on my arm and bit me. Another lady was freaking out as the ants arrived near her table.

I saw the six people from England that were on the tour to the villa with me eating at two nearby tables. Earlier in the afternoon, after returning from Tremezzo/Cadenabbia, I ran into the other two couples on the tour. Small world!

Fun boat rides with beautiful views, wonderful tour of Villa del Balbianello, nice walk in Tremezzo, more peaceful time in Pescallo, and a delicious dinner!

What a great last day on Lake Como & in Bellagio!

Villa del Balbianello

Blog post with more photos

 

[susan]

Boat Ride to Como / Heading to my Airport Hotel

Friday, July 1st

This was my last full day in Italia. I have had such a wonderful trip! I packed up my bags and was able to leave them in the owner's office for a couple of hours which was nice. I went shopping for a couple of last minute gifts and then walked back up and down the steps to Pescallo one last time. I sat for a while taking in the beauty and then headed back to grab some food for lunch.

Final Thoughts on my stay in Bellagio and time on Lake Como: This was my second visit to Bellagio (my first time was a day trip when I stayed in Menaggio). I knew in advance that the town would be filled with tourists. Bellagio ended up being not as crowded as Sirmione though. Still, the presence of so many tourists was felt.

In Bellagio, English seemed to be the main language and was heard more than Italian. Even though I missed more of the "Italian" feel of the town, I still enjoyed my time in Bellagio and thought it was a fun place to explore, with so many wonderful views. I also loved taking boat rides on the lake.

Although it was crowded with tourists, you could easily get away from it all by walking a little way away from the center. Pescallo was my favorite place. I also loved Varenna, as I did on my last day trip visit in 2003.

If I ever return for another visit, I would either stay in Pescallo or Varenna. I also would like to return to visit the north end of the lake a little more on a sunny day and explore a few more of the towns up north.

My studio apartment at Residence La Limonera worked out fine once I swept the place. It was in a good location and it was nice and quiet at night.

Leaving Bellagio / traveling to my airport hotel

After lunch, I went to the boat dock, bought my ticket, and waited for the slow boat to take me to Como. The ride was wonderful. I took lots of pictures on the way of amazing cliffs, villas, and the cutest little towns!

When I arrived in Como, the train station was right in front of me. This is not the regular train line but another private train that you can take to get to Malpensa Airport in Milano (with one change midway).

Before purchasing my ticket, I stopped in this supermarket called something like the Grande Supermercato (can’t remember the exact name). I wanted to pick some food for the plane. Inside, I realized that it was not a big supermarket as advertised and I did not see anything that would last in the heat. I bought some water and then headed back over to the train station to buy my ticket.

I kept forgetting that if you want first class, you have to ask or you automatically get a second class ticket. It didn’t matter for the first leg of the trip though, as there were plenty of seats.

When I got to Saronno, I got off and looked for the Partenza board. This train had different information posted, which was confusing for me. Finally I went to ask a train conductor which binario I needed to catch the train to Malpensa Airport. He told me Binario 6 and off I went.

This train station has escalators up which is nice, so you only have to carry your bag down the stairs. When I got to Binario 6, I asked again and was told the first train was not the train to the airport and to wait for the 2nd train. I am glad I asked because there was nothing posted anywhere.

When my train finally did arrive, it was quite obvious that it was the train to the airport. On the front and perhaps on the side (cannot remember now) there are words saying something like Malpensa Express. I was confused about where to board for 2nd class as the sign by the binario said something about 1st class. When I looked for the second class trains, a woman told me there was only one class. I was not sure if my second class ticket was ok, but it ended up that no one ever checked my ticket.

This train was super fast and soon I was at the airport. I had no idea where to go and so I just followed the crowd which took me upstairs where there were a couple of shops and a little supermarket and lots of signs to many different places.

Now to figure out where to go to get my shuttle! My cell phone came in handy. I called the hotel to find out where to catch the shuttle. She asked me where I was. Just “the airport” was not a good enough answer. I had no idea what terminal I was at or near and so I went back to the little grocery store where I just bought some coconut yogurt and gave the clerk my phone asking her to explain to the woman at the hotel where I was in the airport. They talked for a few minutes and then I got the phone back and was told how to find the shuttle.

The shuttle arrived a few minutes after finding the pick up spot. The man driving the shuttle was very helpful and told me where I would need to go the next day for my Continental flight.

When we arrived at the hotel, Hotel Cervo, I was a little leery. The area did not seem very nice, but I figured I was only staying at the hotel for the night and so it was not a big deal. Unfortunately things became much worse.

I was given a room that stunk of smoke. I am sure I wrote in advance asking for a non-smoking room. My room was on the bottom floor of the older section of the hotel. Across from my room was a little neighborhood which ended up being quite noisy (some sort of construction work going on much of the night). The smell of the smoke was so strong that it seemed as if the person just left an hour earlier after smoking three packs of cigarettes with all the windows closed.

The hotel room had two windows. The window in the bedroom with bars on the outside and a window in the bathroom that opened up right into the parking lot. I opened the windows for about an hour to see if I could air out the room with no luck and then went back to check to see if there were any other rooms available. The hotel was booked and I was stuck in that room. I probably should have tried to switch rooms right away, but most likely I would have been stuck in that room anyways and who's to say if all the other rooms would have reeked of smoke.

After a couple of hours, the mosquitoes started coming in and so I was only able to leave the window open a tiny bit with the curtain closing off the opening. I also did not feel comfortable leaving the bathroom window open at night because the window was pretty easy for anyone to climb through.

I ate dinner at the hotel. It was just ok. Then, I went back to my room for the night. I am fortunate that this was the only bad experience during my trip. It's just too bad it ended up being my last night in Italy.

If departing from Malpensa in the future, I will definitely look into alternative accommodations and will definitely never stay at Hotel Cervo again! I’m not even going to add a link to this hotel in my resource section. You don’t want to stay there!

Arriving in Como (by boat)

Blog post with more photos

 

[susan]

Two Days Travel Back to Hawaii

Saturday July 2nd

I woke up early and could not wait to get out of that room. I did not sleep well and ended up watching old Italian movies at three in the morning.

For a three star hotel, I was not impressed. The bathroom amenities consisted of a sliver of soap. The buffet breakfast was “ok”. Perhaps it was because I was staying in the older section of the hotel (see previous day's post on my room), but still, I personally would never stay never stay at Hotel Cervo again!

I paid my bill after eating breakfast and took the next available shuttle to the airport. I was very happy to leave that hotel. I am fortunate that this was my only bad experience during my trip. It's just too bad it ended up being my last night in Italy. If departing from Malpensa in the future, I will definitely look into alternative accommodations.

Malpensa to Newark

Once at the airport, it took me a few minutes to figure out just where to go. There was a separate area for oversees flights and an extra checkpoint where each person’s name was checked against a list. I tried to peek at the list wondering just what it said about me, but was not able to see much.

Check in was quite easy. The flight was overbooked and they were offering a night’s stay in a hotel and 500 dollars or euros credit (not sure which) for a future flight, but no upgrade to business class. I passed since I would then have to find arrangements in Houston the following night.

After checking in, I went to get my last Italian coffee, bought a newspaper, and then headed towards the gate. I wandered through a few shops and then waited to board the plane. I ended up sitting next to this woman that was in Italy for two weeks attending a clown workshop in Puglia. She was given a grant for this workshop with all expenses paid, even airfare! Hmm...an idea for a future trip??

The flight was fine except that they did not have my special meal I ordered and the movie screen was not working. I was able to watch the movie for 2-5 minutes at a time and then the sound would go off and a few seconds later the screen would switch to audio station one. This was affecting two rows on the plane. After a while, we all became very adept with our fingers hitting all the buttons to get us back to our movies, holding that remote the entire flight.

The flight attendant came by telling us that he would reset it, and after about three times, he became a little irritated and told us that we were 30,000 feet up and there was not much more that he could do! Yes, we were on an airplane, and thus not on the ground and we did not expect him to be able to solve the problem, but it was the way he reacted that was upsetting. We were not complaining constantly. I guess since it affected about 8 or 10 people, each person saying one thing about the movie screen added up.

I watched Sahara twice, first in English and the second time in Italian, switching back to English during the parts that I missed the first time around. With a little patience, I ended up seeing most of the movie after watching it twice. At least it helped pass the time more quickly.

Newark to Houston

When we landed in Newark, we quickly went through customs and then waited for our bags. I was SO happy to see my bag arrive, since on one occasion I have lost a bag (most likely stolen from Italy) and on another occasion saw my bag two weeks later. I found the place to recheck my bag to Houston, bought a salad and treat at Bon Appetite, and then found my gate. We were told that the flight was full. After everyone was seated, the plane was really empty. I was eyeing the seat I was going to switch to.

While waiting for the stragglers to board so I could make my move, we were told that the Madrid flight was late and many people on our flight were on that flight and so we waited 30 minutes for their plane to arrive. The plane was so nice and peaceful until the people from the late plane arrived. On walked a couple with a crying baby and a screaming three-year old. Once everyone finally boarded, we ended up having to wait 30 more minutes due to a storm down near D.C.

The peaceful, roomy plane turned out to be a full plane with a screaming child and crying baby. Oh well...for a minute there, we were all pretty excited about this flight! At least my movie screen was working and I was able to drown out the noise for most of the flight.

We arrived in Houston an hour late. The walk to the baggage area seemed to be the longest walk I have ever experienced. I think I was just tired from lack of sleep the previous night.

It took 40 minutes for the bags to come out. Once I got my bag, I waited for my hotel shuttle to the Wyndham Hotel. The temperature outside was 100 degrees. I had decided to splurge a little and stay at this hotel. Big mistake! It took 56 minutes for the shuttle to arrive and another 40 minutes to reach the hotel. I was not a happy camper! Because of airline delays, a big group of people boarded my shuttle at the next terminal. They were all being put up at the same hotel for the night due to a delayed flight. This resulted in people sitting in the aisles. I was very surprised that this was allowed.

Because I was the first person on the shuttle, I was the last person off the shuttle when we arrived at the hotel. It took at least 15 minutes to check in (for the express check in). I was so tired when I got to my room that I never left. I never got to enjoy the hotel amenities. Next time, no splurge!

When originally making my reservation, I was told that the shuttle for the airport left every 30 minutes. I called down to the front desk to check on the shuttle, just to make sure, and was not told anything about any changes to the shuttle times. I was told that I just needed to let them know in the morning the time I would like the shuttle.

Sunday July 3rd - Houston to Honolulu

Sunday morning, I took my time getting ready, figuring that I had plenty of time to eat breakfast and then catch the shuttle. When I went down to inquire about the shuttle, I was told that since it was a holiday there would only be one shuttle on the hour. It was Sunday, July 3rd – not a holiday! And even if it was a holiday, don't people usually stay in hotels on holidays?

Instead of taking the 10:30 shuttle, I had to take the 10:00 shuttle, which gave me five minutes to eat something at the wonderful buffet breakfast where I had a free coupon from booking my stay over the internet. The man running the buffet made sure to tell me that the tip was not included. I was so upset with the entire shuttle experience, I was not about to leave a tip for five minutes of grabbing something to eat on my own at a buffet. The shuttle had just enough room for everyone to fit and was not the only person upset with the "hourly shuttle" for the holiday.

Once at the airport, things looked up. There was only a very short line of people waiting to check in. At the e-ticket check-in, I slid my passport into the scanner area as an ID was requested. The screen said that I needed assistance. The woman asked me if I had any other identification. I told her “no”. She asked me why not? You would think that the passport would be more important than all other IDs! She started the check in process over again, which somehow did not involve my ID. I checked my bag and found my gate.

During the flight, I sat next to a man that did not seem to understand that the arm rest was neutral territory. I felt squished most of the flight. I was so happy when we finally arrived back home in beautiful Hawaii!!

Time flew by much too quickly I am already thinking about my next trip...

Except for my last night at the hotel near Malpensa airport and my fights home, I had a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL trip! Italy to me is the most special place in the world to visit! I cannot wait to return!! So many places still yet to see. I hope to return again and again!

I took this photo at the Villa Melzi Gardens in Bellagio. It reminded me of Hawaii!

Final Thoughts & Resources: I moved many of my final thoughts from my original trip report to the bottom of my last post for each area where I stayed. Some of my original resources are no longer available. I have updated my resources to working websites and deleted those no longer working with no alternate websites.

Miscellaneous Final thoughts:

Train travel in Italy: Plan on the train being late and be aware of alternate later connecting trains just in case. I think out of all the trains I took this summer, only two or three were on time and even if the train arrived on time, the train would often sit somewhere on the track during the journey and to would still end up arriving late to my destination. Unless there is a huge difference in price, I traveled 1st class when I could. As a solo traveler I especially I recommend first class when traveling with luggage, whenever possible. First class is usually much less crowded and on most trains, you can keep your luggage by you, instead of having to lift it over the seat or place it on the rack between trains. If buying a ticket at the counter, you need to request first class or you will automatically be given a 2nd class ticket. *I am not including my 2005 thoughts on the reservation system and many of the train types since they have both changed quite a bit. You will now find automatic ticket machines at the majority of the train stations in Italy.

TV: I really enjoy Italian TV! Of course, I don’t spend tons of time watching TV while in Italy, but if I am in my room, I will turn it on. I find TV as one more way to learn more about the Italian culture and to improve my Italian comprehension skills. It was especially interesting to find out more about some of the shows from friends after trying to figure them out on my own… such as Porta a Porta. I could never figure that show out but found out it is quite a popular talk show. Many of the commercials are quite amusing and the game shows are always a challenge to play along with. I actually answered a few questions correctly on the Millionaire show. I also enjoyed watching many of the American TV (telefilm) shows and movies dubbed in Italian and also the older Italian movies, concert specials, a special tribute to the Pope, and my new favorite show, Carabinieri!

Resources:

Ferry Schedules for Lake Como, Garda, Maggiore: http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/

Funivia - Malcésine to Monte Baldo: https://funiviedelbaldo.it/en/

Trenitalia English website: https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Hotel Palazzo Bocci: https://www.palazzobocci.com/en/

Hotel Fortuna: https://www.hotelfortunaperugia.com/en/hotel-fortuna-perugia_1.html

Hotel Eden: https://www.hoteledensirmione.it/en/

Residence La Limonera: https://www.bellagiolakecomo.com/en.../POI-points-of-interest/residence-la-limonera

*My hotel stays were 14 years ago now so things may have changed! Make sure to check current reviews.