Menaggio, Lake Como- Italy

We arrived in Menaggio on Lake Como at around 2:30, after a rather lazy morning, an hour on the train and a further hour on a bus. Unfortunately the hostel closes between around 10am and 5pm so we were thinking that we would have to take turns sitting with our masses of luggage. Fortunately one of the staff members took pity on us and let us drop our bags and run. We headed into town and found a tourist information center, one of the best we have been too, the lady was very helpful and knew the brochures well as she had published most of them. After a coffee break to digest all the information we decided the best way to kill some time before the hostel open was to walk up a nearby hill.
There was a long wait for a bus or a 2km walk so we opted for the walk which was basically through the residential part of town and along some of the motorways, all uphill. This was picturesque in parts and rather scary in others, the road was full of hair pin turns with traffic moving very quickly in both directions. We finally made it to the start of the walk, very relieved to be past the motorway. The walk continued up the hill, past a traditional communal wash house then up into the forest. Our instructions had mentioned some trenches from 1915 but we were surprised at how well preserved and accessible they were. We spent quite a while exploring the various branches and rooms that comprised the system. There were great views through many of the gun trenches of the town of Menaggio down below.
After the trenches we headed up further to a small church on a cliff edge. From the church there was amazing views of the lake and surrounding mountains. There was also a small chapel underneath which looked like it may have originally been part of the trench system where there was a plaque full of names which lead us to believe the church was dedicated to the local soldiers who died during World War I. Up the hill there was a concrete cross with more views over Lake Como.

Back at the hostel we checked in, which was a bit chaotic, as they couldn’t decide if we could have a mixed dorm, and ended up deciding that there weren’t any mixed dorms, so we would be in different rooms. We think it is probably the only hostel on the whole lake, so therefore the cheapest place to stay on the whole lake. Apparently they realize this also, so have a number of other charges for various things such as dinner (no hostel kitchen), internet and laundry. We figured the first night we would give the hostel dinner a shot, which was slightly cheaper than eating in town, but found the pastas we had to be plain and dry, we’re so spoiled! The wine was nice at least.
We had been hoping to do a few days hiking in the Como area, but when we woke up in the morning it was overcast and forecast rain. Wandering into town we met Wendy and Desiree, who we had been talking to at the hostel the night before. They joined us and the four of us got day ferry passes and toured the lake. We headed straight to Lenno which had a market in the morning. Most of the stalls were crappy clothes and jewellery, however we did buy some fruit, bread and a roast chicken for a picnic lunch by the lake. After our lunch we jumped back on the boat.
Bellagio was our next stop. This is a beautiful little town on the lake, and the inspiration behind the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The town had many nice buildings built up the hill with a Basillica at the top. The girls, somehow still hungry had ice cream. We did not make it to the Villa, but apparently there is also a Villa with nice gardens that you can visit.

Back on the boat we headed to Varenna. Similar to Bellagio this had nice old buildings which were all different pastel colours. Again we wondered around and found nice gardens, steep stairways and narrow winding laneways again leading to a church. This was possibly our favourite town that we visited on the lake as it had a path that overhung the lake.

Exhausted the four of us returned by ferry to Menaggio, Desiree organized some bus tickets while we finally did some washing. We met up a bit later for wine at the hostel before heading out for pizza in town. The girls (mother and daughter from Canada) are moving on tomorrow headed for Germany, we both had a great day with them and will surely be seeing each other again, somewhere.
We woke in the morning to rain, lots of it. The washing on the line, thankfully not all of it, was saturated. We bought this in and found a clothes horse, ate breakfast and contemplated the day. Still hoping to walk we considered a valley trek, possibly some waterfalls, but the idea of being wet all day didn’t seem so appealing. We decided to jump on a bus to Switzerland for the day. It was about 45min ride to a town called Lugano. The drive, from what we could see was spectacular, however through the rain, clouds and the condensation in the bus, we didn’t get much of a view.
The town was lovely, we walked through some gardens and along the lake, while the rain held off. After a bit of a shopping stop for fruit and Swiss chocolate we embarked on a town tour. There was more nice Italian looking buildings with intricate carved balcony’s, pedestrian shopping streets, numerous churches and the lakefront. Maybe it is hostel life, but are both quite tired today, so weren’t particularly interested in doing too much. There was a photography exhibition that we considered briefly before opting for a little local café instead.
The bus ride home was more enjoyable as the rain had stopped and cloud had lifted. We enjoyed views of Lake Lugano, the surrounding mountains and wispy clouds still hanging about. Feeling a bit tired and run down we had a rest and then prepared ourselves a salad for dinner, trying to be a bit discreet, unsure of how the hostel would react to us not eating their food!
The next morning after a decent sleep we headed out walking, finally, as the weather was a bit nicer. We started in town to get some bus tickets as we planned to head into the mountains to start our walk. Sadly, we didn’t realize, but today is a public holiday, and the bus we needed was not running.
Instead we decided to do a walk from town through the valleys. What we did not expect with this was that the start of the walk would be a massive hill climb. At the top of the hill, we found ourselves at the beginning of a big meadow. We walked through the meadow and along a nice creek. We passed some nice little villages, along a creek, past a trout farm which also had chickens, goats and a donkey that came out to say hello. We the arrived at some massive boulders, which had blocked the valley and created a waterfall. The path continued up and over the rocks and waterfall, through a forest and into another meadow called Monti di Mardri. We had lunch and were closely observed by a small herd of cows. Turning around we headed to the township of Barna on our way home. This was lovely, tiny place with a church and small fountain in the main square.
When we returned to the hostel the staff were setting up for a concert tonight. The public holiday was for Italy’s national day and once a year the hostel puts on a concert to celebrate. The supermarket was closed for the holiday, so we headed into town for dinner, returning in time to watch the band play. They were pretty good, although the only people who seemed to really enjoy it were their friends that they had bought along. After the show we headed to our separate dorms and packed our bags ready for another travel day in the morning.