Varenna Before The Tour
Let's start at the very beginning...
Villa Monastero
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The next morning after breakfast we visited Villa Monastero. Although centuries ago it was a monastery, it is now owned by the City of Varenna and used as a meeting facility. After touring the historic building, we enjoyed a long, peaceful walk throughthe well-maintained gardens, taking in the variety of palm trees, fruit trees, flowers, and other beautiful plants. We were grateful for Rick Steves’ advice of going to the monastery early in the morning. Without the large crowds, we got to experience the quiet solitude of this unique place which was once a monastery.
From Milan to Varenna
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As the Rick Steves' website suggested, we arrived in Milan two days before the tour began. We wanted a couple of days to get over our jet lag and to see some extra sites on our own. Upon landing in Milan, we took a one hour train ride from the airport to the train station, and then boarded a second train from Milan to Varenna.
The Varenna hotel we would be staying at with the tour group did not have any rooms available for those extra two nights before the official start of the tour. Instead, we booked a room at the Hotel Du Lac based on a recommendation in the Rick Steves’ Guide book. The entire hotel was beautiful and elegant and our bedroom windows opened up to a gorgeous view of the lake. We couldn’t have been happier with our little peaceful paradise. After arriving at the hotel, we dropped off our bags and went for a short stroll around Varenna. We enjoyed dinner at a small café by the water while taking in the view of the sunset over the serene Lake Como.
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Castello di Vezio
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Later in the day, we decided to visit the Castello di Vezio. Not knowing
anything about the castle, we relied on suggestions from other tourists
staying in our hotel. Unfortunately, they failed to warn us that the only way
to get to the castle was to take a very steep, long climb up a cobblestone
pathway. Although it was quite a challenging hike at the time, it all felt worth it once we got to the top and saw the amazing panoramic view. The other upside was that all future hikes felt easy in comparison!
Unfortunately, for every long way up, there’s a long way down and we had to tear ourselves away from the view to make sure we could get back before it got too late. When we finally arrived back in town, we decided that we had earned ourselves some gelato as a refreshing treat! We indulged in this heavenly treat while people-watching from our soft cushions placed on the steps of the contrada next to the gelato shop.
This was only the first of many gelatos to come! We continued to sample gelato just about every day on our trip. The gelato in Italy was so rich and creamy and tasted so much better than any ice cream at home, that we couldn’t let any opportunity to indulge pass us by.
Bellagio
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The next morning, we took a short ferry ride to the enchanting town of Bellagio where we strolled past shop windows and lunched at a rooftop restaurant. This small town was busier and more cosmopolitan than Varenna, but just as charming. As much as we enjoyed Bellagio, on the ferry ride back to Varenna, we both had the sentimental feeling that we were going back “home” to our quiet, peaceful town where we could relax once again.