Day 21: Blevio and Lake Como

We had breakfast out on Alessandro's porch, overlooking beautiful lake Como. Alessandro's lovely mom Adriana had laid it out for us.

Alessandro was presumably inside-- we could hear the ping ping ping sounds of computerised machine gun fire and point earning from his 'study.' It was just him and his mom living there, and though he had said it was his house, we were beginning to think that he may have been taking advantage of her lack of English skills -- this was looking like more of a mummy's boy scenario than he had let on. When she brought him a lunch tray, we had our clincher.

Breakfast finished (Matt awarded it bonus points for cocoa puffs, but detracted for lack of granola) we headed off on foot to find the stairs to the lake that Alessandro had promised were five minutes away. An hour and four failed attempts later, we decided to just get the bus into Como and wander around. We were also really close to the famous lake front town Belaggio (which the Vegas casino is named after), but wanted to check out Como first. 

We packed sandwiches and walked for hours around the lake, enjoying the hot sun and searching for kayak rentals that were not closed, abandoned, or ludicrously expensive. No joy. What we did find though was a friendly guy renting out hourly kiddie pedal boats. Sold. 

Our lakeworthy craft was likely stapled together in 1958 and left to sit in the sun since then. We could admire the blue water through rust holes in the boats bottom, and quickly learned that the pedals and steering wheel were really more decorative than functional, as we pedaled furiously and drifted randomly on other boats wakes. 

Despite this, we had an awesome time, hailing other small crafts (including some unamused local fishermen), sunbathing, and randomly blowing around the water at half a mile per hour. Finally the wind changed direction and we were able to hobble  back, with the aid of a passing super ferry that flew past us.

We then took a steep funicular (cable car) up to a tiny town above Como, called Brunate, which was meant to have some great restaurants. We were a bit pressed for time, as the last bus to Blevio was helpfully at 8pm. We can't tell you if the restaurants in Brunate were as good as promised, but they must be doing either really really well or really really badly, because every single one was closed when we arrived around 6:45. Typical. We enjoyed the views and caught the next car down. 

Como, as seen from Brunate

Once back in Como, we had only a few minutes so divided up three crucial elements: Matt - pizza and pasta. Audrey- prosecco. We met back at the bus stop ten minutes later, each successful, and had another delicious porch picnic at 'home' while watching the sun set over the lake.

Day 20: Mogliano Veneto to Blevio

Alright, today's the day, no muckin' round. Early start, let's get to Como.. Every time we agree to make an early start and reach our destination at a reasonable hour, and every time we get distracted or detoured or lost. Venice to Como was about a 5 hour drive, and we had to return the little Oopi once we got there.


Our accommodation for the night was in Blevio, a small community just a couple of km up the road from Como. It is still right on the lake, but slightly elevated on the mountainside too. The drive itself was fairly unremarkable as we stuck to the autostrada and powered through the countryside. We made another stop at one of the roadside services for a meal, this time we chose the rather prestigious sounding Autogrill. Same story – many people, long queues and overpriced snacks. Nothing grilled there either as far as I could tell.


By this stage we were quite familiar with Italian driving habits, and yet they still had the capacity to scare the crap out of us. As the roads merged on the outskirts of Venice, again approaching peak-hour (we somehow manage that every time) more madness ensued. I was on high-alert for all the standard nonsense. The one rule they all seem to be quite good at is keeping to the right – left lane is for express traffic, use it to overtake and then get back across as soon as possible. Unlike Aus where you can find all three lanes clogged with everyone doing a frustrating 98kmh.


At some point during that journey we began to wonder whether the Italians treat the bedroom the same way as the autostrada.

1. Going far too fast
   
2. Changing lanes without indicating first
   
3. Drifting back and forth between lanes
   
4. Having to pay (Price depends on how far you went, and where you got off)
   
5. It's poor form to be doing something else at the same time (ie, reading or texting)
   
6. Something about headlights or high-beams
   
7. Seeing all the hot Italian and German models go by, and wanting one
   

I'm sure there were more, but you get the idea. Please send in your thoughts :)


When we finally got to Como we had just under an hour and a half before the Oopi was due to be returned. Plenty of time for us to drive the short distance to Blevio, meet our new host, drop our bags off, maybe even a little grocery shopping before leaving the car in Como... right? Well it took some 40 minutes to get to Blevio – narrow roads and construction work make for very slow going. We then managed to overshoot the place, the directions weren't great. Finally we locate it and bustle in with our bags. Alessandro (Alex) and his mum welcome us very warmly, show us about the house, and while we have ants in our pants to get going back to return the car, he very slowly and deliberately explains how we should get there, and the bus details to get back.


OK. Great. Thanks. Byeeee. See you soon... “Oh and one more thing, when you leave, you must always hang the room key here, like this. And then take the front door and gate keys from here”
Aaah ... Okey dokey. Gotta run..!


Navagatrix puts in a stellar final performance, we arrive at the Budget office with 2 minutes to spare. Fortunately traffic was a little more forgiving on the way into town. They check it over and give them thumbs up. It seems like they even forgot about the 60 Euro one-way charge. Bonus! (Mental note: check they didn't just take it off my Aussie credit card ….)


We find a real supermarket for the first time in forever, and excited to have access to a real live FRIDGE we even get some ham, cheese, tomato, pesto and bread for some DIY sandwiches. Cheapo lunch organised for tomorrow, retro-tick! Yogurt and fresh fruit, and some cereal for breakfast... why not?! We have a fridge and shall eat like Kings.


We retreat back to Alessandro's to piece together another another salady type meal, with extra meat. Share a bottle of wine on the balcony as the sun sets. Life is good.

Tomorrow we'll spend the day in Como so we spend a little time looking at what's to be seen and done, then off to bed.