Zurers in Italy 2024
Monday, April 29: Day 1: Como
After a rocky start--our plane from Newark is delayed by two hours and there is some concern about whether it would ever take off--the flight to Milan is uneventful. We even sleep for a few hours. Our luggage arrives promptly, we pick up our car, and set off for Como--about an hour away. The weather is great...sunny and warm.
We do manage to get lost en route to our apartment in the center of Como....the GPS fails us and we are stymied when we end up in one of the main squares--Piazza Volta--which is a pedestrian zone.
We have to call the apartment manager to meet us at a parking lot and walk us to the apartment. The apartment is in a commercial area a few blocks from the lake (you can see a slice of the lake from the balcony). It is spacious, modern, and a bit austere with a kitchenette in the living room.
Once we are on our own, Diana is ready for a nap and I head out to explore a bit in the neighborhood and down to the lakefront. Since it is a beautiful day, there are many people out strolling on the promenade and long lines at the ferry terminal and at the gelateria. There is a lot of construction going on the lake shore; they are building new ferry docks so parts of the lake are behind chain link fences.
But I do manage to get some nice photos of the lake in spite of the obstructions.
Diana has a quiet afternoon resting from the trip while I explore more of the town. Once you are away from the lake and the tourists, Como is another one of the many attractive mid-sized Italian cities...nice shopping streets, a large cathedral, old buildings, and pleasant squares lined with sidewalk cafes.
In the late afternoon, we head out together for the afternoon passeggiata....we walk to the lake, are discouraged by the long line at the lakefront gelateria, walk back towards the duomo, and enjoy our first gelato of the trip--Diana has pistacchio and vaniglia (delicious) and I have one of my standard orders...limone and fragola (very refreshing). Back at the apartment, we sit on our balcony in the warm sun.
I go to the supermarket to get some coffee for the morning and explore other parts of the city which are much more extensive than I had remembered (our previous stay in Como was in the late 1990s).
Dinner is at a nearby Tuscan restaurant - da Rino (many places are closed on Mondays). When we get there at 7:30, there are already a dozen people (some Italians, some tourists) waiting for the restaurant to open its doors. Dinner is excellent after a rocky start. There are only two women working for the ten occupied tables and things develop slowly. I am getting apprehensive as we wait for our turn to get menus and then order. We speculate a lot about what is happening and also wonder about the other diners. It seems like foreigners and one young Italian couple are relegated to the back room. However, when the waitress finally comes to take our order, she is very friendly. The food is terrific...we share a plate of very tasty steak tartare served with caramelized onions and parmigiano cream. Diana has the spinach gnudi (gnocchi-like dumplings made with ricotta cheese and semolina) served with a rich ragu which is delicious and I have the peposo, a peppery beef stew which is terrific. We drink the house wine (an excellent Tuscan red) and the meal is topped off with one of the best versions of panna cotta that I have ever had. Definitely a place to return to....
It is a short walk home through quiet streets and we quickly go to bed hoping to sleep through the night and defeat jet lag. Tomorrow we will start to explore the lake...
Jim and Diana
