Summary
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 the opposite side of the lake. Visited Villa Monastero gardens but not the villa itself. The setting right on the lake was beautiful, the Instagrammers and Influencers certainly found it so. The hostess where we’re staying said they are a real problem, only interested in the 5 locations they have to get their picture taken in and never looking up from their phones. Car ferry back to Bellagio, chilled in air conditioned room then a repeat French picnic on the terrace.
Details
Today we’re again up early. We have places to go and Villa gardens to see. From this central point here in Bellagio, getting anywhere requires a ferry and however long you think it’s going to take, multiply by two.
Actually we’re down at the ticket office a bit past 7:30. Buying our round trip tickets to Lenno is quick. At 8:00 we’re in line (with everyone else) at Pier 1 for our ferry. It never shows. Suddenly a short girl from the ferry service says our gate (pier) changed to Pier 3. Inauspicious start but then the ferry went straight to Lenno (skipping the interim stop we’d been told we’d be making).
Upon arrival we have our perennial argument, er discussion as to whether we should stop and try to buy our entry tickets online. I’m on team “we don’t need to, we can buy them at the entrance”. At the entrance there are already a dozen people milling about. It’s 9:10 and the villa/gardens open at 10:00, plenty of time to buy our tickets online. But… they’re completely sold out til next Tuesday. A win for team Karen.
We wait around until we can buy a ferry ticket direct to Varenna, sweet. There’s a boat in five minutes that seems to show up five minutes late. It’s actually a ferry that makes two stops and THEN goes to Varenna. What evs.
We walk to the villa Monastero. It’s a kilometer away with a fair amount of uphill.
At the garden we find “Insta Central”. Lots of posing, adjusting of make-up, multiple shots and different angles. Shoot me now! The gardens are like the country of Chile. The whole thing hugs the water and nothing extends too far inland. It’s nice. Lots of blooms.
We walk to the end and Karen thinks we’d be remiss if we didn’t get a picture of us with Lake Como in the background. She looks at a couple sitting nearby and as if on cue, the girl asks if we want a picture. Please, yes. We get our picture taken on my iPhone and ask if we can return the favor. Yes. It’s a film camera with manual focus. Yikes. Turns out they’re from France, I guess a few cities and get it with Lyon.
Gardened out again (and not wanting to tour the villa) we go have lunch. The place is packed. There are lots of restaurants. Some list “complet” on their chalkboard. Some are obviously full and have a line of people waiting to get in. Up some stairs we find a little hole-in-the-wall place. It opens in two minutes. We’re second in line. Yay!
We sit at one of the three tables outside, all on the stairs. It’s fun and the food is good. We consider adding some fresh basil from a big bushy potted plant they have. Karen reminds me that cats and dogs have to pee. She’s right. It’s then when I see the clear plastic bottle of water set by the plant. The odd way the bottle of water refracts the light supposedly keeps cats away. We don’t risk it.
Post lunch we buy a bottle of overpriced local wine and head for the ferry. It’s early afternoon and the bright sunshine is baking everything. At the port we find the line for the ferry to Bellagio appears to be 200 people long. Yikes. We pay our 11€ (for the two of us) and get in line. We bake and the line barely moves. Karen checks on the cost of a water taxi (assuming we could get one). 150-250€ No thanks, we’ll wait.
When the ferry shows its the car ferry. No cars want to go but they let all in line (a lot of people) onto the boat. They’re trying to get so many people on in such a limited amount of time they’re not checking anyone’s tickets!
At home we enjoy the solitude, the quiet, the cool of the air conditioner. We redo our dinner of last night, but this time we eat outdoors. It’s breezy, like a front is blowing through. We can see the wind gusts kicking up the water on the lake in the far distance.
On the horizon are towering thunderheads that never seem to amount to much. The temperature and cool breeze feel so good we don’t want to go back in. So we don’t. At least not for a while. What a treat!
Photos
