Greetings from Lake Como! I spent Friday August 30th through Sunday August 1st in Lake Como with Rachel, Tyler, and Romas (all Tulane). Our Air BnB was in a small town called Mandello del Lario and was absolutely wonderful. The owner left us a binder full of recommendations for the whole region and even baked us cookies! Friday: We took the train from Milano Centrale at 6 on Friday straight to Mandello del Lario for just 6 euros! After checking in, we walked through the town and stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I had a pizza diavolo (margherita pizza with super spicy salami) and a local blend of red wine. After dinner, we walked over to the local festival that the Air BnB owners told us was going on down by the lake. I was expecting a cute town celebration. Instead, the town hosted a music festival called Sonica. It felt like every young adult within the town was dancing to Middle Eastern EDM Music. I am not sure who was performing, but apparently he is fairly famous. During the set, we walked along the lake and around the park. There was this zip line sort of thing that we also tried. As his set ended, the entire crowd started chanting this song that is kind of like encore. It was so cool to stand in the crowd with all these people chanting, dancing, and enjoying themselves as they tried to will the performer for more. We couldn't help but smile every time we realized that we were truly in Lake Como experiencing this small music festival. Saturday: Our day started bright and early at 8:30 for breakfast at a local pastry shop. After breakfast, we went back to the Air BnB to change to swim in the Lake. In the same park with the music festival, there was a public "beach" area called Lido. I put beach in quotes because it was entirely pebbles and rocks, but the views were beautiful, the lake was perfectly clear, and to enter was free. We swam the entire morning before two of our new friends (Dylan, Boston College and Merel, from Amsterdam) arrived from Milan. They swam while we changed and planned out the rest of our day. All 6 of us took the train to Varenna where we met Gaby and explored. Varenna was absolutely beautiful and was recommended to us by the Air BnB. We ate lunch right on the lake and walked around the town for a few hours, taking in the breathtaking views. From Varenna, we took a ferry to Bellagio. Bellagio is known as the "Pearl of Lake Como" and is also where the Clooney's vacation villa is located. We walked around for another few hours, exploring the different cobble stoned streets, hilled alleyways, shops, and views of the Lake before starting our trek back to Mandello del Lario. Once back in Mandello, we all took another dip in the Lake to cool off and relax before Dylan, Merel, and Gaby traveled back to Milan. Rachel, Tyler, Romas, and I went to dinner at another recommended spot, Galli & Gufi. We shared a white pizza and a burrata pizza for appetizers and each got our own main meals but tried everything. The main courses were Risotto (Mantecato di riso Carnaroli), a special Beef Tartare chopped right at the table, Pasta with squid (Calamarata con zucchine, calamaretti e pistacchio), and a traditional meat cooked on a long stick (Tzigoiner all valtellinese; manzo e pancetta (a piacere) avvolti su legno di acero e cotti alla griglia secondo tradizione valtellinese, accompagnato da patate saltate e verdure all griglia). I also enjoyed another two glasses of local house red wine. To end the night we had the chefs trio and tiramisu for dessert and a shot of limoncello. We had such a wonderful and delicious meal together, we will definitely remember it long past others. After dinner, we went back to the festival which was even more crowded the night before with a more normal performer (mixed in to the Italian songs was a rendition of "Get up, Stand up" so maybe not normal but more normal than the EDM). Sunday:
On Sunday, we slept in a little later before checking out of the Air BnB. We went back to the same breakfast place and walked around Mandello del Lario for a bit. It was so nice out that we decided to take one final dip in the lake. The lake was truly so spectacular, pictures and words can't do it justice. Best moments: This trip to Lake Como was the perfect start to a semester of weekend adventures. I would not be surprised if swimming in the lake remained one of my favorite experiences, nor if the meal Saturday night remained one of my favorites as well. Ranking the towns, I enjoyed staying in Mandello del Lario as a starting point, Varenna was the most beautiful, and Bellagio had the best views of the lake. Super excited for my next adventure! Thanks for reading:)
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October 2019
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