It was time to bid farewell to Venice and head over to Milan. I hopped on the 8am train and got to Milan under 3 hours. My initial plan was to spend a day in Milan with my friend Gian Maria, who I had met at my yoga teacher training, but he had date mixup and was already in his Lake Como vacation house, so instead of Milan and I meet him in Como instead.
I decided to spend couple of hours in Milan before taking the train to Colico, Como. Near the train station, I found a bag storage service, called “Stow Your Bag,” so decided to put my luggage in the self checkin lockers for two hours for €7.
From there I decided to walk to the Duomo, Milan’s main cathedral, because on my last visit, it was undergoing renovations.
A nice 45 minutes walk was a good way to checkout different neighborhoods until I got to the cathedral.
Since, there was a long line to go inside the cathedral, I decided to enjoy the cathedral architecture from outside and let the pigeons rest on my hands 🙂
Across from the cathedral is the famous “Galleria Vittorio Emanuele,” which is worth checking out, especially the glass ceiling and mosaic floors.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Statue outside the Gallery depicts his various professions.
It was time to head back to pick up my luggage and have lunch before hopping on the train to the Como region.
The view from the train of Lake Como and various villages around it was simply spectacular.
My friend picked me up from Colico station. Before heading to his home, we made couple of stops, to check out some cool places. Since George Clooney was not at home, we decided to not visit him but instead enjoy natures splendor 😉
Colico Beach –
Corenno Plinio (Dervio) – Is a small and charming medieval town which has not been touched by tourism and I hope it stays that way.
Walking through its narrow streets and along the stairs built in the rocks, from the castle to the lake, it is impossible not to be charmed by this small hamlet that sweats history in every corner.
This adorable cat was enjoying the sun and amazing views.
The castle here was built by the Andreani family. I have a friend whose last name is Andreoni, may be it was built by her ancestors? You never know 🙂 I have to inquire.
The church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury has ancient frescos painted on the walls which are worth checking out.
We drove to his home in Rivetta where his wife, Silvana, greeted me with a cup of tea and Italian cookies. After chatting over a cup of tea, we went for a hike around his town. Got to checkout some spectacular views, beautiful mansions, pristine beach and along the way we met the neighbors, who gave his suggestions about what’s the best way for me to get to Lugano.
When Gian Maria and I got back from a nice walk, Silvana was in the midst of preparing dinner for us. We had spaghetti, fresh cheese and omelette with Inferno red wine. In fact, the eggs were from the next door neighbors chicken. For dessert we had the local Panettone. It was a very delicious meal made with fresh local ingredients and filled with lots of love.
Just like my Mom, Silvana took good care of me. She made a super comfy bed in the living room and gave me lot of blankets if it got cold at night. There was so much love and positive energy in their home that I slept like a baby.
In the morning, took a nice hot shower and got ready for my next stop to Zurich. We had a yummy breakfast. Silvana packed some bananas, apples from trees in her backyard and panettone for my onward journey.
She also gave me a small jar filled with shinning rocks from the beach she had collected over the years as a present.
Gian Maria was supposed to drive me to Zurich and stay there for a day but because of his work commitments he couldn’t come to Zurich anymore. So, we figured out that it would be easy for me to catch the train from Lugano for Zurich. He decided to drop me off at the Lugano train station which was a 2 hour drive from his place.
Our first stop was at Varenna where we boarded the ferry to Menaggio.
We drove around Menaggio before heading to Lugano.
Before we got to Lugano which is on the Swiss side, we crossed through the border patrol and the border police inquired what we were carrying with us. She wanted to know if we had any new items because that would mean that we intend to sell items from Italy into Switzerland without paying import duty.
We got to Lugano in time for my train to Zurich. I have to admit that saying goodbyes to friends are never easy but I was leaving with tons of happy memories.
I’m so grateful to have met Gian Maria and his wife in Como, they showered me with love and affection, and let’s not forget the delicious homemade Italian meals with scenic and jaw dropping views of Lake Como.
I had 20 mins before boarding the train, so I decided to go to the pharmacy and pick up contact lens cleaning solution. I was shocked to pay 11 francs for a small bottle. Grabbed a sandwich for lunch for 14 francs. Immediately realized how expensive everything was in Switzerland as compared to Italy on the other side of the lake. Such is life, will just have to be cautious about my frivolous spending here.
