Menaggio and Tremezzo

Before I continue with this concluding chapter of our trip to Lake Como, I'd like to note that today on the way back from work it started hailing. Not exactly what I'd expect in the Mediterranean during the summer, but I guess we're near the mountains...

Anyway, Menaggio is a small and simple but pretty town in the center of Lake Como. It is also the location of the very well-run and kept youth hostel that we stayed at, where basically everyone was a native English speaker.

Here, we saw some of the taller mountains along the lake. This one goes into the clouds!

The town is not as showy as, say, Bellagio, but it seems like a very peaceful place. It also seemed to be a particularly popular destination for cyclists, probably because the roads are nice.

One thing Lake Como visitors have to be thankful for is the fact that there are no bridges across the lake, which means that the views are kept pristine. Unfortunately, for those with cars, this means that you can't drive to a nearby town across the lake. To address this, the ferry service also transports vehicles. You can presumably pay extra to drive your car onto the boat, and there you go! On our boat ride from Menaggio, a bus was on its way across the lake - something we found amusing.

Our last destination before heading back to Como to catch our train was Tremezzo, which is most famous for the Villa Carlotta, which at around 70,000 square meters is the largest villa on the lake. The entrance to the villa features an unnecessarily long ascent up a staircase to get to the foyer of the house. This must have been great exercise for the family that once lived here.

The house was filled with artwork, expensive furniture, and ridiculously ornate ceilings. I was able to snap this one photo of Venus and Mars before realizing that photography inside the house was vietato (forbidden).

The garden was humongous - and we thought the garden at Villa Monastero in Varenna was already too big. This garden was equally as flashy in displaying native and imported plants from all over the world.

Of course, the garden did have its share of garden sculptures, in addition to a small waterfall and river.

There was also an oriental garden filled with bamboo, opposite some huge trees that we suspected may have actually been California redwoods. Aren't those endangered or something?

On the way back to the ferry harbor, we saw this fake beach and pool for a nice hotel in Tremezzo. Why the pool right by the water? Much of the lake is actually much too polluted to swim in. Its bacteria level is 68 times above the limit for safe swimming, and can cause skin infections. It's a sad situation, but I think there have been actions taken to make the water better.

On the final ferry ride back to Como, we passed by the town of Lenno, whose most famous attraction is the Villa del Balbianello, which was used as a shooting location for movies such as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the newer Casino Royale, and Ocean's Twelve.

Speaking of Ocean's Twelve, it is somewhat well known that George Clooney has an estate on the lake. I don't know where it is exactly, but apparently his neighbors get really annoyed at all the tourists coming to look for him (he probably does, too), and we didn't want to be annoying, star-struck tourists.

Yesterday, Kristen and I did our second warmup hike for our planned adventure on Sunday. We went up to the Basilica of Superga on the outskirts of Turin, and it was quite a climb. Highlights from the Superga hike to come tomorrow!