Got up earlyish this morning and jumped on the ferry;
First stop LENNO
We were all inappropriately dressed and in search for caffeine, after a bit of a walk through the little town, we come across an old church...suprise! suprise! But this was no ordinary church, when we got inside it was so elaborate, made from marble and every surface covered in fresco's, it was breathtaking. The clincher was the glass coffin shrine to San Crescenzio the Martire 14/09/300. We kid you not, there stood a glass coffin, in another glass cabinet, with a real human scull positioned on a fully clothed body....freaky MUCH!
Tried to google this person but couldn't find any info on him, apparently his tomb is in Venice....don't know who the scull belongs to. Now we really needed a coffee, which we found in a gorgeous lakeside trattoria in Tremezzo, Lowes coffee even came with a smiley face...nice touch!
Second stop TREMEZZO
After our coffee we walked around to Villa Carlotta, which was named after Princess Charlotte of Prussia, and was given to her as a wedding gift from her mother, when she married Prince George of SaxeMeiningen.
We went inside the Villa which had been converted into a museum, the whole thing was filled with art and sculptures from the period and was very impressive and OTT. We particularly like an oil painting, "The last Adieu of Romeo and Juliette " by Francesco Hayez, painted in 1823. The attention to detail was incredible.
We thought it was a little bit sad, she died at 23, and left behind 3 sons....the crib was ornate and extremely beautiful, a little sculpture in itself complete with gilded cherubs at its head.
The gardens were out of this world, some of the trees hundreds of years old. The size of the grounds was massive, you could have fit a town in the area it covered. Everything was manicured to within an inch of its life not a weed to be seen, nor a blade of grass out of place.
Third stop VARENNA
Getting pretty hungry by now, so went in search of food, something hot because we were all still a bit chilly.
After arriving in Varenna we all decided that this was our favourite village so far. Was by far the quaintest of them all. After snapping about 50 photos on the way in we settled on a little trattioria/pizzeria on the lake with the most picturesque views looking out over to Menaggio. Pizza was ordered...of course!..Margherita for the girls, Napoli for Paul, and a cheesy mushroomy meaty crepe for Edna...and it was good!
Went for a walk up into the piazza which only made us love the place even more.
Fourth stop MENAGGIO
Was getting pretty late by the time we hit here, so had a bit of a wander around, looked in a few shops, found some very cute and very expensive stuff....It has so many gelatteria's nearly every second shop sold gelati, or pizza. When it came time to get on a ferry we realised there wasn't any left to catch on our timetable, faced with a big swim or a big water taxi fare, we went back to the Marina to find that there was one more leaving for Bellagio after all, but we had to wait a little while....and then it started to rain. Tried to stow away on the autotraghetto, only to be told "NO" about 5 times, no sugar coating there.
Finally got home after another walk from Bellagio, ahhh
