Rest and Relaxation on Lake Como - Magic Lake

Sunday, 11^th August

The mountains and the lake are working their magic and we are taking advantage of the calm and serenity of Cernobbio. It is very different to the other places we have visited, and I intentionally chose Como/Cernobbio as the midpoint of our holiday to have some “down time”. The past three weeks have been marvellous, and we have made the most of every minute, making sure we see and do as much as possible, however, with all the action and the heat, we were feeling a bit weary.

So, today was very leisurely. We ambled down to breakfast. Some of the guests have brought their dogs on holiday with them, and bring them to breakfast. EEEERRRGGGHHH. We didn’t stay long, because a great big poodle slumped down next to my chair. I did not feel comfortable!

Anyway, I recovered! Our clothes were getting to the point where hand washing was just not refreshing then adequately and we wandered off to the “Lavanderia”. We had quite an interesting morning, working out the operating instructions, except we could not get the door of the washer to close. If it’s not closed, it doesn’t work. After about 15 minutes, an elderly gentleman came back to collect his washing and showed us how to close the door. You just slam it with as much force as you can muster, and then it starts. Simple, really. We were obviously too gentle. Anyway we ended up chatting with this man while his washing dried. He told us he was 80, yet he looked about 65 – I’m sure it must be the serenity and the beauty that keeps him so young looking,and perhaps the vino,  and he used to be a ferry driver on the lake. We also discussed the Pope – un buon’uomo, molto buono, and that at 12:00 Il Papa was going to be on television and he had to get home to watch him, how beautiful Australia is, but that  Italy has the culture.

After the laundry we wandered back to the hotel and I rested /recovered on the bed. Dick took off to walk to Como, which is about 5kms from the hotel. He returned amazed by the incredible wealth that is displayed in the beautiful villas and palazzos lining the lake all the way around.

We rested a bit more, and went to a trattoria across the road for dinner.

Our post dinner stroll was to the Villa Erba, where a free Jazz concert was on in a huge pavilion in the gardens. Villa Erba is a magnificent property with lake frontage of about a kilometre.

Overwhelmed by the gorgeousness of it all, we wandered back to the hotel, ready for bed.