Bellagio bound (the town, not the casino)

Enough sitting around la casa, lets explore Bellagio (the town, not the casino). Collette made one of her wonderful breakfasts of eggs, fry bread and brie to hold us over until lunch. Today we’re going to walk the town of Bellagio and see all the beautiful people. This is the major tourist stop, besides Clooney’s house, so tour groups abound. But that shouldn’t be a problem now that we are very familiar with the streets and parking situation.

Beautiful day, temp is forecasted with a high of ~80, no rain, but the humidity is killer. Just drinking a ton of water and an occasional glass of wine so keeping hydrated and walking at a slower pace than those following a tour guide.

Typical Bellagio restaurant

Central pier

Promenade on our way to town

Did the 10-minute drive with no problems and found a free parking spot, good for 4 hours so plenty of time for us to wander, have a coffee and pastry, wander some more, have lunch, wander a little more, have a cocktail, head for home for a glass of wine. Pretty much sums up the day!

Quick bit about Bellagio (the town, not the casino). First inhabitants were around 400BC and used the area for worship and trade. Some time after, say around 225 BC, the Romans appeared in Como and decided they wanted the place for their expansion project. Marcus Claudius Marcellus convinced the then owners, the Gallo-Insubres, to hand over the deed to the area using excellent negotiation tactics and killing almost all of their soldiers.

Not giving up without trying, the remaining Insubre joined forces with Hannibal thinking they would get their land back. However, Hannibal reneged on the deal and the Romans spanked them again and kept the area.

Moving right along, many others came to Lake Como over the years, the Lombards (they later moved on to San Francisco and got into building streets), the Franks, the Ottomans and so on, so it’s no wonder why we wanted to come here. Collette and I have been to Bellagio before (the casino, not the town) so we wanted to do a comparison. Here there are a few ruins around the lake but mostly there are small towns with winding streets, at least one if not more cathedrals, and loads of restaurants and bistros. The other, no cathedrals or winding roads but there are a few restaurants, that’s the only commonality in the two Bellagio’s’ we could find.

View from Bellagio

Piazza

Harbor and restaurants

Inside one of the cathedrals in Bellagio

So, today’s Bellagio (the town, not the casino) is a bustling hub of tourism with shops selling every kind of souvenir and trinket you can imagine. Collette found a nice Christmas ornament while I was almost convinced to buy a really cool suit of armor, just couldn’t figure out how to pack it.

Just couldn’t figure out how to pack it!

Scarves for sale. Very popular, especially with the men!

Typical walk / drive way

The walk is a little challenging with lots of hills and winding roads, you also have to watch out for those cars going through the pedestrian area. About every ½ block there is a cobble-stone stairway leading down to the harbor that is lined with shops, wine tasting stores and restaurants. Apartments above these shops all have small balcony’s with flowers, chairs and the occasional pair of pants drying on hangars. Very European.

Shopping walkway

We walked for a couple of hours so time for a meal, or at least something to drink. As with most European cities, the common practice is to find a table at a small bistro, order the strongest, smallest cup of coffee known to man and a pastry. Relax at the table and enjoy your drink and food while watching the tourists hustle to the next stop. It’s really kind of fun except you do have to water down the java!

Another boat-load

Snack time! Coffee and apple/caramel tort!!!

Sidewalk cafe

Up and walking some more until we decide to settle for lunch. Along one of the narrow stairways we found a nice restaurant with a patio overlooking the walkway. Menu prices were reasonable, especially after Iceland, so once again it’s time to eat. Maybe even a glass of house wine.

Ordered off the menu and passed on the buffet.

Just an aside, the waiter gave us a menu and a wine list to read and make our order. On the first page of the wine list, down at the bottom, was a bottle of local wine from Italy, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1997. Sounded good, it’s from Tuscany so fairly local and I like a good red wine, the only problem was it was priced at 1300EUR for the bottle, 230EUR per glass. Collette said to try the house red, 4EUR a carafe, so that’s how the story ends.

Lunch is over, more like dinner since it’s 3pm and that’s when Denny’s starts their dinners, so a little more walking and then head for home. Good day, not too hot, didn’t spend a fortune on armor or wine and still married, all good. I think tomorrow we’re going to do the ferry to Como (the city, not the lake) just need to figure out the ferry schedule.

Few more Bellagio pics

Bellagio ferry

Cheers.