We arrived at Lake Como after some stressful driving along the Autostrada’s – we hit some heavy rain for kilometers which didn’t help things. We arrived at Como and headed for Bellagio. The road around the lake is extremely narrow and which is challenging in our Land Rover. Cars like to race around the corners and there just isn’t much room for mistakes. We almost ran into the wall several times to avoid oncoming traffic – but luckily we had already pulled in our mirror or we would clearly be missing that part of the car by now.
If you look at a map of Lake Como – you will see the lake looks somewhat like a headless person who has been captured in mid stride. Bellagio is located in the crotch region – a point from which you can take a passenger or car ferry to either side of the lake. This little town is the quintessential Italian experience – you are surrounded by the gorgeous lake on both sides of the town – tall jagged snow capped mountains rise quickly above the lake, church bells ocassionally ring lending an “old world sounds” to the cityscape and narrow streets attract the crowds (especially Americans) – for shopping or just hanging out people watching at any of the cafe’s with outdoor seating.
Yesterday was the first sun we’ve had on this trip; it was sunny only at the beach with large clouds lingering closely by the mountains nearby. Today we didn’t see the sun once. Despite this – the lake and surrounding scenery is certainly pretty – I can imagine how inspirational this scene would look on a clear day.
I haven’t driven the road along the Lake Como, but it’s not the only narrow and scary one, I know what you mean!