Italy 2019 - Day 9: Como to Verona

Had breakfast outside overlooking the lake again, this morning. It was just about the same view as yesterday, but a tad less cloudy over the hills.

Thankfully, the patio is in the shade in the morning, because it was already hot by 9 AM. We haven't seen rain since the first day we were in Switzerland; not that I'm complaining, but it might mitigate the heat slightly.

We had one last look at Lake Como, before packing up the car and checking out.

The route back to the highway was moderately circuitous, due to the Orrido being smack in the middle of the hill above town.

Our final destination today was Verona, but we made a few stops en route.

Halfway through the trip, we stopped in Bergamo for coffee/tea and a snack at the first cafe we found near the underground parking garage. Then we took a short stroll around before getting back in the Giulietta and continuing to Lake Garda.

Near the southwest corner of the lake, we stopped at Avanzi Winery and Frantoio around 2 o'clock.

Fortunately, they were running a tour of the olive oil production process and the winery, followed by a tasting, at 3 o'clock.

We hadn't eaten much, so we used our spare hour to drive down to the lake's edge and find a pizzeria for a late lunch.

It was brutally hot outside, and even hotter inside the restaurant, so we got a pizza to go and ate on a bench in the shade, overlooking a small harbor.

A few miles back up the road and an hour later, we returned to Avanzi for the tour.

First we got a detailed walkthrough of the olive oil extraction process and equipment.

In addition to growing their own olives, they also accept walk-in olive traffic, keeping a portion of the oil as commission. Apparently some people grow their own olives in their yards, and use Avanzi as sort of a co-op.

Next, we endured the merciless sun for a walk around the corner to the winery.

Again, there was a detailed tour of the facility and process.

The tour ended down in the wine cellars, which were originally built by Mussolini.

There were hundreds of cases of wine, settling (aging?) or awaiting shipment, stacked and wrapped on pallets.

Some of the rooms in the wine cellar used to be concrete fermentation vaults, back when vintners didn't have stainless steel or principles, I suppose.

At the conclusion of the tour, we ascended to the tasting room and sampled a selection of three Avanzi wines. I preferred the Lugana white, but there was also some rosé and a red.

Back on the road, we made it to Verona around 5:45 PM. We met our Airbnb host at 6, and got the (now typical) orientation.

This apartment has a lovely balcony that faces east, as well as a bonus balcony off the bathroom that looks towards downtown Verona.

Unfortunately, it was entirely too unpleasant outside to enjoy the veranda for more than a minute or so.

After getting settled, we walked across the street to a grocery store to acquire some provisions.

Sadly, I couldn't convince Sabrina to take a chance on the €1.75 bottle of wine (currently $1.95 USD).

We returned to the apartment with our spoils of war (the checkout line situation definitely qualified as a battle), and then ventured out again for dinner.

At 8:30 PM, we were almost the only customers in the entire restaurant. By the time we left around 10, some people were just sitting down to eat.

Plans for tomorrow are somewhat in limbo...

Originally, we had planned to just use Verona as a base of operations to see other destinations in the area. For example, we planned to take a day trip to Venice, by train, but there are complicating factors.

First of all, tomorrow's forecast is 100° F, and the idea of wandering around outside all day in that heat is dreadful.

Second, the crowd forecast for Venice at this time of year is 100%. The only way it could be worse, apparently, is if there were going to be cruise ships in port (which there aren't).

Given this information, we kicked around the idea of skipping Venice and going to Lake Garda for the day, possibly swimming somewhere, etc.

However: the forecast for Venice is "only" in the upper 80s tomorrow, so going there would actually be an escape from this heat. Hence, we put the Venice day trip back on the table.

But then... we learned that there's a transit strike planned for tomorrow, involving taxis, buses, trains, ferries, etc. (but not airports). Times vary by mode of transportation and by location, which makes this tricky to figure out. Further complicating the situation, all of the official strike information is only available in Italian.

(There's also an airport strike panned for Friday, which is when we're flying home, but that's out of scope for this story.)

The Airbnb we're in was chosen because it's an easy bus ride to the train station, both of which might now be useless. Even if we could get an early enough train to get to Venice before the strike starts, it's a solid 30 minute walk to the train station if the buses aren't running.

We could, theoretically, drive to Venice. It's about 90 minutes each way, and there's a giant parking garage at the end of the highway, essentially. But if trains aren't running, and everyone else decided to drive in, it could be a miserable start to the day. Also, if that garage fills up, the other parking options are back on the mainland, thus requiring ferry and/or train transport out to the interesting parts of Venice. Bit of a Catch-22, here.

Stay tuned to find out how it goes ;-)

P.S. evidently this kind of thing happens often enough in Italy that ItaliaRail has a FAQ page about it.

Italy 2019 - Day 8: Bellano, Varenna, Bellagio

Slept in today and had breakfast on the patio overlooking the lake. It's hot as hell again, so we planned to spend all day near the water so there's at least some hope of a breeze.

We planned to go see Bellagio for a few hours, which required either: A) driving an hour around the lake, then praying we'd be able to find a parking space, or B) taking a ferry across, from either Bellano or Varenna.

After studying ferry schedules, we decided to drive to Varenna, park near the ferry terminal, and take a boat to Bellgagio.

We definitely lucked out with parking, and got a spot within 50 yards of the docks. The hardest part of the process was finding a pay machine that had a working card reader.

It was just after noon when we got on the ferry for a quick run over to Bellagio.

On the way out of port, we had a great view of Varenna from the water.

The car and passenger ferries both departed for Bellagio at the same time, which appeared to be a source of confusion for every tourist, us included.

Bellagio is on a point that protrudes out into Lake Como, dividing it into an upside-down Y shape.

In the hazy distance, we could see most of the western lobe, where we had driven along the shore yesterday.

It was only about 25 minutes across, so we stepped off the boat during the hectic lunch rush.

We were already hot enough to start contemplating a swim in the cool water,  but we didn't bring bathing suits.

Instead, we walked through town a bit, heading to the point at the end of the road.

The wharf in front of the small marina affords lovely views up and down almost the entire lake.

A nearby boat rental operation was going through a brief training session with a customer. "No license needed!" according to the sign. Quite reassuring.

We considered grabbing lunch at the small restaurant by the marina, but the menu was uninspiring.

Instead, we waded into the choppy water to get some relief from the heat.

We realized that our most promising lunch lead was back where we started, by the ferry dock. There had been a beautiful outdoor setting in the shade, with lake views from every table.

Always a white shirt on pasta day. It was all excellent, of course.

After lunch, we strolled along the gardened promenade, slipping from one shaded spot to the next while dodging the crowds.

There was some sort of large garden/park attraction on the official tourist map that we got at the information desk, but the gates were locked and the building had seen better days.

Undeterred, we climbed up the hill into another park, and headed back into town, now essentially a full terrace up from the waterfront.

We meandered among the narrow streets, briefly popping into shops and questioning why anyone would try to drive a car through the area.

Each street that ran back down to the water was actually a very long set of stairs, offering a peek at the lake between the facades.

My favorite part of the winding alleys was definitely the shade.

We couldn't resist the occasional window-shopping pause, of course.

The town isn't that big; even at our leisurely pace, interspersed with shopping, we had toured from one end to the other in under an hour.

We headed back down to the ferry terminal to see when the next boat back to Varenna was scheduled.

Coincidentally, we arrived at the dock just in time to walk straight onto a Varenna-bound boat.

The people swimming in the lake, in front of the Grand Hotel Bellagio, looked cool and refreshed.

Back at Varenna, we noticed people swimming along the shore, and decided that we should also partake. The custom seemed to be "go in the lake wherever you want".

Nobody was swimming in the small harbor by the ferry terminal, for obvious reasons, but there was an enticing walkway bolted to the cliff face, leading around a corner and out of sight.

At the other end of the walk, just past a few gelaterias, we found people swimming at a sort-of beach area, paved with stones, where owners pull their boats up on shore.

So we joined them.

After our refreshing dip, we headed back to the car, rearranged our gear, and continued walking around Varenna.

As we had done in Bellagio, we hiked uphill slightly, and walked parallel to the waterfront, but one "block" up.

Again, each tiny street was just a long set of stairs leading down to the water.

We found the stairs that ended by the gelato neighborhood, and partook in the ice-cold ritual.

As the shadows grew longer, we walked along the same pathway, back towards the car, but this time not in bathing suits and towels.

Around 6 PM, we fired up the Alfa and returned to Bellano, figuring we'd grab dinner back near the Airbnb access road.

We had heard about Bellano's Most Famous attraction, the Orrido (gorge), and I happened to see signs for it on our drive back to town, We obviously had to see it.

The informational sign really sells it, in my opinion.

After paying €4 each to the world's most bored teenager-with-a-summer-job, we followed the walkway into the gorge.

I believe the green pipe brings vast quantities of water to a hydo-electric generation plant, but don't quote me on that.

Once inside the gorge, the temperature was at least 20 degrees (F) cooler, and also shaded.

We crept along the walkway, drinking in the cool air.

After seeing Trümmelbach falls just a few days ago, the Orrido didn't have much of a chance of living up to the hype, but it was interesting nonetheless.

I only wish we could have descended to the blue pools, to wade into their refreshing waters. Instead, we could only view it wistfully from high above.

After finishing our gorge tour, we wandered around Bellano in search of a restaurant that was open on a Monday night. Many restaurants here don't even open until 7 PM, but even then they exhibit signs of internal life prior to officially opening.

Apparently Bellano isn't big on Monday night dining out, though, so we returned the car and just started driving.

We finished our drive in Dervio, which is the next town up the lake from Bellano.

There, we found a small restaurant/bar at the ferry terminal that was just what we needed after our hot day on the lake.

Tomorrow, we're checking out of this Airbnb and heading farther east, hopefully ending up in Verona by the end of the day.