Videos: Lake Como and Bernina Express

Kevin made three videos of our time in Lake Como. The first one is Menaggio and the west side of the lake, then the second video shows towns on the eastern side of the lake Varenna, Bellano, Bellagio and our taxi boat tour. The third video is our side trip to St. Moritz Switzerland via the Bernina Express scenic railway.

More Lake Como Adventures: Villa Serbelloni Garden, Sanagra Orrido, and Brunate Funicular

We had been thinking that perhaps we hadn't really given Bellagio enough of a chance by just going there for a few hours one morning while tourist season was still in full swing at the beginning of September. Now that we are in the last week of September, we wanted to head over there in the late afternoon and evening to see if the town was still packed with crowds even at dinnertime. Maybe the narrow laneways were more charming at twilight with fewer people? So we took the ferry over, and while we were at it, we booked a late afternoon tour of the Villa Serbelloni gardens. We gathered with about two dozen others at the town square to meet our guide Paola. She unlocked the gate and led us onto the garden path that winds high up the hill that overlooks the town of Bellagio. From up here it really is beautiful.

The Villa Serbelloni is privately owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, but the park surrounding the villa is open for two city-run tours daily. Paola was an excellent tour guide who gave us the history of the home, informing us that it ended up in the hands of the Serbelloni family who eventually sold the prestigious villa in 1870 to a Swiss family who also owned what used to be called "The Grand Hotel Bellagio" right on the waterfront. The hotel owners liked the cachet of the name "Villa Serbelloni" and now that they owned both the villa and the hotel, they renamed the hotel the "Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni". But then they later sold the original villa to an American heiress, who in turn donated it to the Rockefeller foundation in the 1950s. But the hotel owners were allowed to keep the name. This generates a lot of confusion, since there is now a "Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni" which is not actually (and never was) a villa, and the actual Villa Serbelloni. Many people book hotel rooms thinking that they are going to be staying at a villa but they end up at a very luxurious hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant instead.

With all the confusion cleared up, our guide led us higher and higher until we reached what was the old ruin of a castle on the promontory. During the Middle Ages, there was a fortified wall that protected Bellagio and led up here to several watchtowers. The towers were eventually destroyed in the late 1300s after the ten-year war between Como city and Milan.

The best part of climbing up to the top of the hill was the ability to see both legs of the lake at the same time. When we looked to the south we could see the Lecco leg on the left, and on the right we could see the branch leading down to the city of Como. The land in between is the peninsula where Bellagio is located. 

After the tour it was almost 6pm and nearly dinnertime. We had hoped the crowds would be gone but we were disappointed. There were still throngs of people everywhere so we got in the long line for the ferry and called it a day. We gave Bellagio a chance but I can't imagine staying there on vacation and fighting the crowds day in and day out to get a table for lunch or dinner. We are definitely happy we found such a charming "home away from home" in the quieter and equally scenic Menaggio.

On Thursday we decided to get some exercise here on the Menaggio side of the lake. There is a huge park up in the hills called the Parco Val Sanagra that has lots of good hiking trails. So we walked up the hill through Loveno to get to the park and headed to the Belvedere viewpoint. The valley here is cut in two by the Sanagra river (sometimes spelled "Senagra" -- I've seen it both ways, not sure which the locals prefer). Across the divide you can see the small hamlet of Cardano.

We took a pathway down to the river level that led to this beautiful old stone bridge that was once the only way to get between the hamlets of Loveno on one side of the river and Cardano on the other side.

A little further downstream the river picked up speed and broke into several cataracts as it cascaded down the riverbed.

But we hadn't seen anything yet! We followed the path towards the Orrido and were in awe of the enormous gorge that opened up below us. It was hard to believe that this beautiful work of nature had hardly any visitors (we only saw a handful of other couple on the metal walkways). But then again it was a lot easier to get to the other Orrido which is literally right in the middle of Bellano town. 

The Sanagra Orrido takes a little more work to find than the Orrido di Bellano but it was definitely worth the effort!

When we first arrived in Lake Como, we had a list of the things we wanted to do while we were here. Many of those items needed good weather, so we've been slowly ticking all of those things off the list. However, there was one thing that was not only weather-dependent but tourist crowd-dependent: we wanted to ride the funicular in Como city up to the hamlet of Brunate. When we first arrived in town, Como city was packed with tourists and there were long waits of 30 minutes or more just to board the seven-minute journey to the top of the hill. So we skipped it when we first arrived and then this week we took a bus down to the city to check it out. Woo-hoo, no lines!

This funicular has been running since 1894, although I imagine back in those days the cars were probably not bright purple. The track has a 55% grade and rises steeply over the rooftops and trees of Como city.

At the top of the hill we were rewarded with panoramic views of the city below. The immense size of the Como Cathedral's domed roof was impressive.

After taking in the view, we headed back down into town. While we were there we also did a short walk along a part of the lake we missed the first time around. We saw this beautiful monument to Alessandro Volta, the hometown hero who invented the electric battery.

And we saw a quirky statue in a pretty park that was begging for a photo op. Rather than take the bus back, we took the noontime slow ferry intending to enjoy a leisurely boat ride back up the lake. We had hoped that by this time the tourist crowds would have dissipated, but we were mistaken. The ferry Orione has 472 seats and capacity for 700 total people, and still it was packed with almost no empty seats. By the time we boarded, the only seats left were inside at the middle tables (window seats all taken). We made the best of the situation since this ferry is one of the few ferries that sells drinks and snacks. So we cheerfully sipped beer and prosecco and enjoyed the views as best we could. The ferry just got more and more crowded as we progressed up the lake, stopping in at other towns. Ironically, where do you think all those tourists disembarked? Why, Bellagio, of course!

Outdoor Adventures - Antica Strada Regina and E-bikes to Porlezza

The weather has been absolutely amazing here for the past week. Every day has been full of sunshine but the temperatures have been very pleasant instead of hot. Perfect weather for getting out and doing some longer outdoor adventures. On Monday we hiked the Antica Strada Regina and this morning we rented bikes and headed over to Lake Lugano.

The hike we did on Monday took us along part of the Antica Strada Regina ("Ancient Queen's Road") which was built by the Romans and once connected the smaller towns along the lake's western side. 

The 7 kilometer route took us north from Menaggio to the hamlet of Nobiallo where we joined the ancient road at the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Pace.

We weren't sure how much of the Roman roadworks actually remained -- I'm sure there has been lots of re-building and shoring up of the path over the centuries. The stone walls definitely didn't look new, so at times it did actually feel like we were centurions marching up, up, up the hillside on the cobblestones.

The road winds through the woods and up about 150 meters over the small mountain called Sasso Rancio which overlooks the lake. Through a clearing we could look down on the hamlet of Nobiallo and see the town of Menaggio in the distance behind us.

It took us about three hours to reach the end of the route, in Santa Maria Rezzonico. This town has a beautiful castle right in the center of town (unfortunately privately owned so no way to visit). One of the towers dates back to the 14th century. We had a nice lunch at the only open restaurant in the small town, then caught the bus back to Menaggio.

One of the other popular excursions to do here (if you have enough time) is to rent e-bikes and ride along the old railway line to the town of Porlezzo on the Italian-Swiss border. It's only 13 kilometers from Menaggio, so it's pretty easy to get there and back in an afternoon.

There is a bike kiosk right next to the Conad grocery store in town. It has been a while since either of us rode a bike, and the electronic settings were a little different than other e-bikes we'd rented before, so we practiced a bit on the quiet side streets of Menaggio before heading off along the main road to the start of the bike route. But we got the hang of it pretty quickly and my bike had a neat little attachment to hold my phone so I could take some photos while we rode.

Okay, selfies were tricky, but I did get quite a few nice ones of Kevin going ahead on the route. Did I mention that the weather was absolutely glorious? It was the perfect day for a bike ride! The nice part about this adventure was that the route was almost entirely car-free. There was a short section where we had to get back on a main road, but other than that we only encountered other bicyclists, a few walkers, and the occasional goat or cow.

Parts of the bike path follow along an old train track that once connected Menaggio with the town of Porlezza, which is just before you get to the Swiss border. The railway ran from 1884 to 1939 connecting Lake Como to Lake Lugano. After World War II the train line was abandoned, as there were now more modern roads connecting the lake towns. Before you get to Porlezza, the trail leads you first past Lago di Piano, which is a tiny lake between Lake Como and Lake Lugano.

We stopped here for a bit. Lago di Piano is a nature reserve and a breeding ground for water birds. They had a nice visitor center which happened to be open when we came through, so we could learn about all the birds, fish, and animals that call this place home. The lake and rivers in the area provide habitat for several types of deer, beavers, squirrels and small mammals, and lots of birds including ducks, coots, grebes, swans, and herons.

We continued on along the river Cuccio until we reached the town of Porlezza on Lake Lugano. This lake is partly in Italy and partly in Switzerland. Compared to Lake Como with its many speedboats and loud ferries, this lake was tranquil and still in comparison.

We actually could have continued all the way to the town of Lugano in Switzerland if we'd been willing to bike another hour. But that would have also added an hour to the return trip. As it was, we'd already been biking for two hours and it was lunchtime. So we found a nice spot and enjoyed the late September sunshine and views of Lake Lugano before heading back the way we came.

Speedboat tour and Villa Balbianello

One of the iconic images that comes to mind when you think of Lake Como is cruising around James Bond-style in a flashy wooden speedboat. We checked into prices for hiring a boat when we first got here and were astonished at the going rates for hiring one of the really nice Riva wooden motoryachts. (Riva is an exclusive brand that has been around since 1842 - they are like the Rolls Royce version of speedboats). If you wanted a private tour for a few hours it would cost several hundred dollars and would include a captain (they don't trust the average Joe off the street to drive these beautiful boats no matter how many miles you've sailed). Anyway, we had almost given up when Kevin found a much more reasonably priced non-Riva group speedboat tour leaving from Varenna. We knew we would have great weather over the weekend so we went ahead and made a reservation. The boat was maybe a few notches below a Riva, but it still looked pretty flashy to me!

We took the ferry over and had a nice lunch in Varenna, then met up with Luca our boat captain. There were a total of 12 guests aboard, but the boat was roomy enough for everyone. We zipped off over to the Como leg of the lake. Sitting in the back with the engine roaring and the warm sun on our faces, Kevin and I felt a little bit like movie stars.

Luca stopped the boat a few times to admire several villas before dropping us all off at the very beautiful Villa Balbianello.

The boat tour included a guided tour of Balbianello, which in my opinion is probably the prettiest villa on the lake. The garden is breathtaking.

A Cardinal bought the property in the late 1700s and built a home here on this narrow peninsula that juts out into the lake. From every angle, there are spectacular views of the water and surrounding mountains.

The Cardinal built several structures including an elegant loggia, which is an Italian word for an outdoor covered walkway or corridor.

The loggia connects two rooms -- a library and a music room (that is now used as a map room). The rest of the villa is in a separate building (but connected via a cool secret passage).

Through the years, the villa was owned by the Visconti family and even an American general before it was held by its final owner, a wealthy Milanese businessman named Guido Monzino. Monzino had no heirs so in his will he gave the villa and its property to the Italian National Trust to be preserved as a museum with stipulations that everything in the house be left exactly as it was in his lifetime. Given that he died in 1988, some of the rooms in the villa are furnished in a decidedly 1970s style. He was an avid collector and explorer and even went to the North Pole and Everest Base Camp. There are museum-type rooms showcasing his collections and memorabilia.

It was Guido (...can I call him Guido if I didn't actually know him personally? It's a fun-sounding name to say so I'm just going to go ahead with it...)  It was Guido who built the secret passages and tunnels as an escape route from the villa rooms down through the bedrock to the boat dock. This was back in the 1970s during the wave of violent kidnappings by the communist Italian terrorist group the Red Brigades. They were an anti-establishment leftist guerilla group who committed some high-profile kidnappings and murders. Luckily for Guido he did not need to use the escape route during his lifetime, although it was later confirmed that his name was actually on the Red Brigades' target list. Hard to imagine fearing for your life while living in this beautiful and seemingly peaceful place.

This villa has been used in several Hollywood films, including Star Wars episode two "Attack of the Clones" and the James Bond film "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig. This place definitely gives off a cool James Bond vibe. I can just imagine 007 sipping a martini -- shaken, not stirred -- while watching the shadows creep up the mountains at twilight.

After the guided tour we had some free time to wander around the gardens and take more pictures.

Then we headed down to the small dock (via the regular stairs of course, since the secret passage is off-limits for tourists) where Luca picked us up and we jetted off like 00 agents. Cue the Bond theme...

Bernina Express From Tirano to St. Moritz

Here in the north of Italy, we are so close to the Italian Alps we can see the peaks on a clear day. We know that the Swiss Alps are just a little out of sight, less than 2 hours by car. We don't have a car, but we did some planning and realized we could do a quick one-night trip on one of the scenic Swiss train that goes through the alps, the Bernina Express. It's a very popular excursion and you have to reserve seats in advance. So we kept an eye on the weather and chose a good window for (fingers crossed!) no rain and clear skies, and booked round-trip tickets and a hotel.

The Bernina Express starts in Tirano, Italy and goes north into Switzerland, stopping at a few stations and terminating in either St. Moritz or Chur in Switzerland. The schedules for the Chur leg didn't work for our timeframe so we planned to take the scenic train to St. Moritz, spend the night, and return the next day also on the scenic train. But first, we had to get to Tirano. This involved getting up early, taking a ferry to Varenna, and catching a northbound regional train along Lake Como and then eastward through the Valtellina valley to Tirano. Even though we weren't on the "official" scenic train yet, this was still a very scenic ride. The Valtellina is a wine-growing region and from the train we could see vineyard terraces climbing high into the mountains.

We arrived in Tirano mid-morning and our Bernina reservation wasn't until 4:06pm so we had time to grab a cappuccino and a brioche at a cafe. The pastries look like regular old croissants but they are filled with richly flavored pastry cream. Kevin's pistachio one was even more delicious than my chocolate-filled one.

We exercised some restraint and took only photos of the rest of the goodies in the pastry case, instead of ordering one of each as I wished I could do...

Hyped up on sugar and caffeine, we set out to explore the town of Tirano for a few hours. Tirano is just on the Italian side of the northern border with Switzerland. The main attraction here in town is the beautiful Basilica of the Madonna of Tirano.

In 1504 a local man in a vineyard saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. She promised him that she would save the local people from the plague if he built a church on that spot in her honor. The shrine was built, the plague miraculously avoided the town, and there was much rejoicing. The interior of the church is ornately decorated and the highlight is a massive carved wooden organ supported by marble pillars so that it appears to be floating in the air.

We still had plenty of time before our train, so we walked for twenty minutes to the other end of town to check out the Palazzo Salis, a 17th century palace that was built by a local noble family. The Salis family still owns the palace and has opened it to the public as a museum. It is really awe-inspiring inside -- every ceiling is a work of art.   

The most impressive room was this dining hall, the Saloncello. The ceiling looks much higher than it actually is due to an illusion created by the artist who painted it in the trompe-l'oeil style ("fool the eye"). From the center of the room it appears that you are in a multi-story domed room when really the ceiling is only just slightly vaulted. I was amazed that we were the only people in the museum for our entire visit.

We wandered through the palace and the hidden walled garden for at least an hour and had it all to ourselves. We had a choice when scheduling our train "layover" and I was really glad we had given ourselves enough time here in Tirano to see this place and the church instead of just rushing off on the next train.

The Bernina Express is one of the most scenic train journeys in the world, and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. It's the highest railway in Europe, crossing the alps at a maximum height of 7391 feet at the Ozpizio Bernina station. The track itself is a feat of engineering -- there are tunnels, viaducts, bridges, and many hairpins doubling back as the train gains altitude -- parts of the track have an incline of 7%. Not bad for a railway built between 1908-1910. The section we rode on between St. Moritz and Tirano goes through 13 tunnels as it makes the 38 mile journey. Below is a map where the top line shows the altitude gain from Tirano (on the lower right) up and over the Bernina pass, to St. Moritz on the left.

One of the highlights of the track (other than seeing the alps, of course) is making a loop-de-loop at the Brusio Cicular Viaduct. You can see the rest of the train circle around as the train makes the 360-degree turn.

Special cars with high curved windows let you see in all directions as you sweep past milky blue glacial lakes and cross over the pass.

We had booked the last Bernina Express train of the day going north to St. Moritz and were surprised at how many empty seats there were. Many people do this excursion as a day trip and take an early morning bus to St. Moritz from Milan, then ride the midday train down to Tirano and bus back to Milan in the evening. That makes for a long day, and it also means that the midday trains going south are pretty full. As it turned out, we discovered that we could have probably saved some money and given ourselves more flexibility if we'd booked a regular non-Bernina Express ticket for at least one direction. We would not have had reserved seats, but this would have allowed us to be in a regular car with windows that would open for better pictures. We also would have been able to get off the train, taken a hike, and then reboarded a later train going the same direction. Live and learn, I guess. At least we were able to get out of the train at Alp Grüm.

Our weather planning paid off! At the top of the pass, the train stops at Alp Grüm station and everyone gets about 10-15 minutes to get out and view the scenery. Because it was so clear we had glorious views of the Palü Glacier at the top of Piz Palü in the Bernina range.

We arrived in St. Moritz in time to check into the hotel and grab some dinner. The town seemed incredibly quiet on a Tuesday night. I guess the summer season has mostly wound down, and the winter ski season has yet to start. Kevin planned ahead and we had a reservation at one of the busier restaurants in town. For dinner we had fondue, of course, because...Switzerland.

The next day we had a little more time to explore St. Moritz since our train did not leave until 1:17pm. We had coffee and took a walk around town. Lots of high-end shops and some pretty buildings, including this church spire that is visible from almost everywhere in town.

One of the churches in town has a tower that leans even more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  This is the 108-foot-tall tower of St. Mauritius, a remnant of a church that was built in the 1100s. The church was dismantled in 1893 due to disrepair and imminent collapse, but the tower is (barely) still standing. It is currently at a tilt of 5.36 degrees while Pisa's tower is at only 3.97 degrees. Both towers have had multiple interventions to prevent collapse. Because the ground underneath the St. Mauritius tower is unstable, every year it shifts further and needs to be lifted a bit periodically by hydraulic jacks to straighten it out.

We had enough time to walk halfway around the lake and grab lunch at a lakeside cafe before boarding the train back to Tirano.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the scenery in reverse. The train back south was more crowded but luckily the seats next to us were not reserved so we were still very comfortable. The weather was a bit cloudier than the day before so the glaciers and snow-capped mountaintops were not as visible, but the ride was still very relaxing. We were happy to have taken a "side quest" to see the Swiss Alps on this trip.