Tuesday, 14 April 2009

• Easter in Italy

  I arrived in Milan Bergamo airport on Thursday night to discover all of their cash machines were broken and no one was able to withdraw any money all night.  This was my first taste of Italian culture.  It didn't leave a good taste in my mouth.

  But things began to improve when K arrived and we sorted out the car hire.  I watched with amusement while a tanned skinny assistant with spiky shiny hair banged away on his keyboard while telling us about our upgrade (to a slightly fancier looking Fiat, which drove badly anyway), and where and how to find it (we had to take a shuttle bus to the car rental carpark, and the airport was tiny!).

  Navigating hairpin turns and very lean streets on our way to Bellagio, one of the many villages surrounding Lake Como, meant a long and stressful drive for K, who was nevertheless happy to drive for the whole weekend. He even brought his own satellite navigation system, which means I didn't have the thankless task of reading maps, and we didn't have to argue about getting lost (which has happened so often when I had to navigate).  I am such a lucky girl.

  Lake Como

  

  On the first day we began exploring Bellagio, we ended up shopping. It's not like I bought a lot (just a pair of earrings and 2 pairs of shoes), and I thought they were great buys. But I really don't need 2 more pairs of shoes. And K didn't need another belt and a pair of shoes. Ah well... we were on holidays.

  The scenery when we drove around the lake was absolutely amazing. Definitely recommended, if you can afford the car hire.

  

  After seeing a good number of villages around the lake, I am so glad we decided to make our base Bellagio.  Como, the biggest village in Lake Como, was ugly and commercialised. The other villages seemed pretty quiet during the day with nothing much to do. Bellagio was pretty during the day, with many shops (albeit targeted at tourists) and restaurants with really good food. What am I talking about? Italian food from its source is of course gonna be out of this world.

  

  We began our 2-gelato a day habit from Bellagio. It was simply impossible to resist the array of flavours in Italy.  I've tried about 10 flavours in 4 days.  Pretty insane, I must admit.

  

  Even though K was immensely hopeful, we didn't get to meet George Clooney in the flesh or manage to work out which of the mansions in Laglio actually belonged to him. But we did see an autograph he left in a restaurant we were eating at in Laglio.  He seemed to enjoy eating out a lot when vacationing in Lake Como. I don't blame him.

  Cinque Terre

  

  It was my suggestion to go see Cinque Terre after seeing pictures and hearing rave reviews from a friend in Prague who was there last May.  Thank God I listened to his advice.

  In the picture, I'm posing before Vennazza, the prettiest island out of the 5 in Cinque Terre.  Pity we couldn't find accommodation here.

  

  We stayed at Corniglia instead, pictured above.  It's surrounded by tiered mountains all round. We stayed in an apartment, owned by a very elderly lady who struggled climbing up the steep steps leading up to our apartment, moaning all the way up.  It was fun communicating with her in a combination of Italian, English and German, and I was very impressed by K's ability to understand Italian, even though he spoke none.

  We hiked from Corniglia to Vennazza and then to Monterrosso, where we chilled out in an outdoor cafe. I was so wasted after a tiny glass of Limoncello, I tripped over the chair when I tried to get up to leave and took the chair down with me.  The bruises on my knees took days to heal!

  

  After a nap in the train, I felt so much better and was excited to explore Manorola (pictured above), the smallest island wedged between Corniglia and Riomaggiore.  It took us less than half an hour to walk around this island, and so the next logical thing to do was to head over to Riomaggiore before sunset.

  

  Riommaggiore is the biggest out of the 5 islands, and was also the most crowded when we visited.  As it was the last island we visited, we spent the most amount of time there, exploring, resting and watching sunset with the other tourists lounging around.  We decided afterwards to have dinner there, which was tougher than we thought.  The first 4 restaurants we walked into were full, and we only got a table in the 5th restaurant because I was thick-skinned and decided to walk into it to see for myself.  After we sat down, there was a queue outside our restaurant for the next 2 hours or so.  It's completely understandable, since the seafood at this family restaurant was fresh and well made.  If K and I weren't stuffed with gelato from Manorola and running out of money, we'd be ordering more dishes from the menu.

  Lake Maggiore

  

  The last day of our trip was spent in Luino, a village about 30 minutes from the Swiss border and by Lake Maggiore.  You can catch a glimpse of the Swiss alps from the village, as pictured above. We were there to visit a friend of mine from Prague, Mr Knighthouse, who was there holidaying with his parents. 

  

  Mr Knighthouse, having holidayed in Luino for the last 15 years, knew all the best places to go for sweets and pastry, and we of course stuffed ourselves full of the fattening stuff.  I try to justify all these indulgences by telling myself I have no idea when I'll be back in Italy next.  But then it was a sorry excuse, as Mr Knighthouse has extended an invitation to visit Luino again in summer, and to stay at his parents' holiday home.  This is going to be a difficult invitation to turn down after such an amazing holiday in Italy.

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