A sculpture on the shores of Lake Como captures the rays of the sun.
Three weeks in Italy. We must have seen it all, right? Not even close. In fact, we didn’t see a tenth of what Italy has to offer. This amazing country — so modern in some respects — still retains much of its Old World character and charm. We limited ourselves to two areas in the western part of northern Italy — the lakes region at the base of the Alps and the Cinque Terre region of the Italian riviera. Both were spectacular in their own way.
The whole thing started because we got a home exchange inquiry from a couple with a vacation home on the shores of Lake Como, widely recognized as one of the most beautiful places on Earth. They came and stayed with us last fall and that got us started thinking about when we wanted to visit Italy.
We both are Formula One fans. How cool would it be to attend the Italian grand prix at Monza the first week of September? That’s exactly what we did. After a hectic race weekend during which we stayed in Milan, we hopped a train to Bellano on the eastern shore of Lake Como. When we got there, this is what we saw from the balcony of our temporary home away from home. Oh, my!
We stayed three days in Bellano. On the last night, our hosts drove down from their regular home to take us sailing on the lake at sunset. Lots of travelers have been to Lake Como, but few have ever sailed there. Steve, our host, is from Yorkshire, England originally. His grandfather used to say whenever a challenge cropped up, “Be reet”. That’s a colloquialism among Yorkshiremen for “Everything will be all right.” In honor of his grandfather, his sailboat is called Be Reet. We had a lovely sail aboard her.
Bellano is like most towns in the area, a small community clinging to the steep hillside above the lake. Some of the houses were built centuries ago; some are as recent as last week. Our journey from the waterfront was a 10 minute walk along narrow pathways that have been in use for centuries. The scenery along the way was stunning.
Wherever we walked in town, there was something extraordinary to see. We took a lot of pictures.
Finally, here is a photo of me at the helm of Be Reet with the Union Jack flying proudly from the stern while we sailed over to Bellagio. We are extremely lucky that Steve and Cristina came to stay with us last year. Their home in the hillside above Lake Como was our first introduction to Italian living outside of its cities.
Our Italian escapade just got better and better from there.There’s lots more coming, including how we got lost in the woods looking for a train station and had to run across the tracks to catch our next train. Stay tuned!
Rhode Trips 
Looks fantastic!