2026 – Europe

Best laid plans… got the 1st ferry of the day to Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) then missed where to queue for the palace/garden visit. Had a nice wander the through the old streets and a coffee before joining the still very long line with many tour groups. The palace personified wretched excess (DJT would love…

Garden redemption day! Visited Villa Taranto in Verbania, “one of Europe’s greatest botanical gardens” according to AI. Some things were past their peak (rhododendrons 🥲) but there were plenty of things blooming. Had an awesome sushi lunch then drove to Bevano where we left the car and ferried to the third (of 3) Borromeo island…

Headed to Lake Como and the Italian Alps and the town of Bellagio. The winding drive was beautiful but hair-raising much of the time with oncoming drivers zipping around the corner in our lane at high speed. Stopped in Nesso to see the Orrido di Nesso. This involved about a million stairs down to the…

Took an early ferry to Tremezzo, across the Como Arm of the lake, to Villa Carlotta and its famous gardens. ChatGPT really steered us wrong when we were planning this trip in terms of when the rhododendrons would be in bloom and we (again) missed most of them. Very disappointing! We had a really nice…

Took an early ferry to Lenno to visit the Balbianello Villa and garden. Made a rookie mistake by not making sure we could get tickets until after we arrived and walked the 25 minutes uphill to the entrance. They were completely sold out so we executed Plan B and took another ferry to Varenna on…

Leaving Bellagio we took a gorgeous drive down the other side of the peninsula with views of Lecco Arm of Lake Como and the Orobie Alps on the opposite side. They’re very tall and dramatic but it was too hazy for good photos. Off to Malcesine on Lake Garda. Incredible drive along then UP and…

Enjoyed the view and breakfast. Drove along the lake to Riva del Garda at the far north end for a stroll to the beautiful III November piazza and coffee. We debated driving back down the western coast but chose the inland autostrada in the interest of speed. Turned out to be a gorgeous route through…

Breakfasted at our hotel then took a nice long walk before the crowds arrived. Scott went into the newer part of town to do some shopping while I scoped out lunch and dinner possibilities. This being the penultimate day of our trip and seeing as how I have been extremely disciplined in my food choices…

Breakfast then golf cart ride to our parked car. Drove to the Parco Giardino Sigurtà, an enormous garden (mostly) on the way to our final hotel, near the Milano Linate airport. It was beautiful with massive, perfectly manicured lawns, huge trees and plenty of flowers. We walked 5 kilometers and didn’t cover the whole thing.…

I can’t even…