For the longest time, I’ve had this dream of renting a rustic old Tuscan farmhouse and using this as my base to explore Italy properly.
The choice of Tuscany probably comes as no surprise as I keep banging on and on about how much it’s easily one of my favourite regions in Italy – especially so as it is home to so many villages, towns and cities that are perhaps some of my favourite places to visit in all of Europe.
I finally gave into this Tuscan dream and before long, we found ourselves bound for Italy for a week in the Tuscan countryside.
But I’m getting way ahead of myself.
See, the thing is, Lloyd has always been intrigued by the idea of spending time in Lake Como so we decided to spend some time in Milan and squeeze in Lake Como right at the very start (before heading off in search of rustic fun in Tuscany).
After a day in Milan, we head off, neither bright nor early, to Lake Como. We were actually planning on spending most of the day in Bellagio but decided as we drove through to make a pit stop in Como.
Como is charming and a walk down the lake feels almost mandatory but when you’re here, you need to take the funicular all the way to the top for the best view of the city!
And fret not – at the top, you’ll still have choices of places to eat (very important – you don’t need to worry about rushing back down for lunch 😉 ) and not to mention a sight or two worth taking a gander at!
The thing with Lake Como however is that it’s about so much more than just one city like Como or Bellagio – there are so many little towns and villages dotted along the lake so if you’re up for a bit of an adventure, there’s a fair bit of that to be had here.
Alas, we didn’t have much time so we decided to head straight to Bellagio though that journey ended up taking much longer than we’d expected thanks to the oh-so-many pit-stops to take in the amazing views over the lake. (Safe to say, it’s easy to see why George Clooney has a home here).
Bellagio is definitely a must-do when you’re in Lake Como, or at least, so I’ve been told and as soon as we drove in, I could see why this cute city attracted the attention that it did.
It’s a fun (and rather pretty) spot to visit when you’re in Italy and one that’s perfect for ‘getting lost’ in its many winding side streets.
Once you’re done exploring be sure to stop for a bit of wine… (trying to escape the potential rain was the perfect excuse for this).
Oh, and don’t forget to get your gelato fill when you’re here – it’s your civic duty!
It’s a funny little thing looking back now at this but I think this was one of those days where we felt so accomplished yet we hadn’t really done much except cause devastation to several gelato cones and glasses of wine.
We let the ‘wind’ (and our tummies) dictate what we did over that afternoon and it was the perfect introduction to Lake Como.
Suffice to say, we need to visit again properly and experience all that this charming area of Italy has to offer but nest stop, Tuscany. My farmhouse awaits!
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