Como and Bellagio

Let's get back to our trip last weekend to Lake Como, which is shaped like an upside-down "Y" and has many town on its shoreline. When you travel from Milan to the lake, the first town you enter is - naturally - Como, which is also one of the larger town on the lake. The town is home to the major train station in the area, so is kind of a gateway to the lake for tourists who don't have a car.

Como is a little more city-like than the other towns on the lake. It is bigger, a little more modern and crowded, and has a larger flat area than most of the other places. As we'll see later, many of the towns are established right on hillsides.

The town of Como was the home of Alessandro Volta, who was the inventor of the electric battery (and the namesake for the "volt"). Como seems to be very proud of him, so they have a temple right by the lake built for him. It resembles the MIT building a little, doesn't it?

Closer to the town center is the Duomo - the cathderal of Como - which seemed like it was always either closed or in session.

After some lunch, we took a funicular up a hill, which dropped us off at about 400m above the lake level. Near the station was this church that looked relatively simple on the outside,

but whose ceiling was nearly completely covered in paintings inside.

After climbing up another 200m, we reached the Faro Volta (Volta Lighthouse), which offered us the best view of the city and lake, since we could see in all directions. Ready for another panorama? This one is a combination of 7 photos, covering about 240º of rotation!

We then took a hydrofoil to the center of the lake, which is where most of the places we visited are located. The first town we checked out was Bellagio, which is the inspiration for the eponymous hotel in Las Vegas.

Bellagio is a quite small town built right on a hillside, so many of its streets are like this:

Its prettiness and luxury makes it a popular but expensive destination for tourists. By the lakeside there is no shortage of nice places to stroll, relax, and enjoy the view.

In addition to Como and Bellagio, we visited the towns of Menaggio, Varenna, and Tremezzo over the course of our stay. There are lots of different things to see in those places, so stay tuned!