Bellagio on Lake Como

After hours.....and hours on trains, on foot and even on a hydrofoil, we had left the hustle bustle, beggars and gypsies of Venice behind us and we had arrived in the lakeside village of Bellagio, located on the shores of Lake Como. The lake is shapes like a giant Y, and Bellagio sits on the peninsular that separates the two different “arms” of the lake, so the views from there in all directions are amazing!

After arriving pretty late in the afternoon on our first day, we checked into our hotel, checked out the amazing view from our window over the lake and up to the mountains, and then went for a bit of an explore around town, and sat down our hotels restaurant for what would be one of the best meals so far on our travels. It was funny because we were sitting at The Suisse Hotel, in Italy, eating French food, so I guess the EU is working!

There was something not quite right about this town, and we could not quite put our fingers on it! The following morning i had a revelation as to what it was about Bellagio that was a bit odd..... rangas..... everywhere.... daywalkers, nightwalkers, and even one unfortunate looking nightwalker that we saw down at the port who from the smell of him had wet himself..... not a pretty smell, and we never again saw him out in the daylight.

On the second day, we realised that if we were to get to Nice the following day we had to leave Bellagio on the 6am bus, catch a train from Como to Milan, and then another from Ventamiglia to Monaco, and then another into Nice, which was a full day of travelling, meaning we only had one day left to explore this amazing little villiage!

Team captain Natasha discovered a couple of walking tours, which guided us through the old streets of the town, and then over the peninsular through a few of the other communities which make up the area of Bellagio! The area is full of gigantic villas that for hundreds of years have been the holiday escapes for the rich and famous of Italy, at present, George Clooney, the guy that owns Guinness beer, and Richard Branson (among others) both have a villa located on the shores!

“Bellagio is a small community of about 26 communities, with 3000 residents, and one Australian – my wife” quoted our boat skipper as we took off from the shore to go and check out a few of the villages on the other side of the lake. He was a local who married an Australian woman and he was not short of jokes, some of them were nearly as funny as some of my jokes! When asked where he got the boat from, he convinced an American tourist that he got the boats from IKEA, much to our entertainment, however the Americans just didn’t get the joke, and must have now returned to America searching for IKEA the great boat builder! After a tour around the lake, we arrived at Villa Balbianello, which has been the set of many movies in its day, the most recent of which was the 007 movie, Casino Royale, in which this place plays host to Bond towards the end of the movie. This amazing Villa plays host to millions and millions of dollars worth of ancient art and was left to the Italian Heritage Trust by a wealthy explorer called Guido Monzano, who lived there until he died in the late 80’s. There is a room in the house which is set up as a memorial to his travels with gear he used to get to the summit of Everest, and the North Pole. He was also a bit of a freak, leaving many crazy demands to do with the maintenance of the property, including only cutting the entire garden using hand tools (to stop the noise of powertools), and also that twice a year the crushed white rock, which makes up all of the pathways and roads on the property, is to be raked up and washed so it remains white. These are probably a few of the reasons he died alone with millions of dollars and no wife or kids to leave the estate to!

On our return to the shores of Bellagio, we grabbed a quick French dinner...... at the Suisse Hotel.... in Italy, and called it a day, knowing we had to get up at 5 the next morning to make the 6am bus, and knowing the lack of organisation in the Italian public transport system, hoping that all of the busses and trains would line up and we would make it to Nice the following day!

Check out our Bellagio photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=445667&id=664955104&l=59ada72d9e or CLICK HERE