Day 2 PM - Bellagio

After wandering the little streets of Varenna we headed back to the boat station to wait for the next ferry to Bellagio.  I loved the colours of these people's outfits; yellow, pink and turquoise from head to toe respectively.

Not quite the famous Titanic pose, but Ian at the front end of the boat.

I'm not entirely sure what this selfie was all about.  

But then her friends joined in too and were happy for me to photograph them.

Bellagio sits just around this headland.

And it certainly is a pretty town.

We've watched the "rope thrower" on several occasions, but this guy was hopeless; he missed practically every time.

We'd heard from several people that there were lots of shops here but I think we were just too tired to walk around much and certainly have no interest in Italian designer goods.

We have no idea who this is or how come he has such a prominent image in the church (he looks like he should be in The Sound of Music).

This Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia Creeper) is far more advanced in its autumn colour than at home.

I can never resist photographing a seagull.

Hiring a speed boat is popular in this area.

Feeling rather foot sore we decided to get the next boat back across the lake, this one was the "slow boat" also stopping at San Giovanni and Villa Carlotta.

This church is situated way up in the hills behind Tremezzo.

Lido di Bellagio is now a restaurant and events location.

Another shot of Villa Melzi, with an impressive mountain backdrop.

Actually the mountains are quite strange to look at; it almost looks like a covering of snow on them or a layer of wool.

Approaching the boat stop at San Giovanni, not much there apart from a couple of attractive villas and the church.

The bell towers in this region are all the same, with the workings clearly visible.  There are two churches near our apartment and both have bells which ring on the hour and on the half hour - all day and all night!!!!  One of them also does an extra few notes to denote the half hour and at 0700 rings 25 times.

Another smart residence.

A posh water taxi speeding clients away from the Grand Hotel, Tremezzo.

Approaching the Villa Carlotta ferry stop - it really is a glorious building, I hope we get to visit.

Tremezzo waterfront

And I can't remember who this is or where/why I took it.

We headed straight for home, about a 10 min walk from the boat station, and when I looked at my steps app found we'd walked almost 17,000 steps - no wonder we were tired.

Day 2 PM

On leaving the villa we continued out of Varenna following the sentiero dei patriarchs, part of a 6km walkway around the district.  “Patriarchitt” was the nickname of the Varennesi people, because in the past in Varenna they practised the religious rite of Aquileia (whatever that may be).  Today, however the Patriarchs simply represent the elderly people of Varenna, the long-lived and wise ones. 

It took us firstly to the cemetery.

The greenway followed the railway line and we criss-crossed over and under the track several times heading south towards the small village of Pino.

Pino was a rather strange little place, not a soul around and the houses all looked boarded up.

Pino's main claim to fame is the River Fiumelatte, which at just 250m from its source to its mouth is the shortest river in Italy.  It runs between houses and with a descent at 36° the rushing water makes an incredible sound.  

Sorry you’ll have to turn your head on one side to view this.

Pavements appear to be an optional extra in most of the towns and villages around Lake Como and so once again we found ourselves dodging the traffic.  This house we passed made me smile though.

We're not sure what this building is or was, there seem to be stalactites hanging from the roof.  Edit: having researched extensively it would appear to be Villa Capoana (or Capuana) and the Fonte Uga but other than that we can't find any information.

This, I'm fairly confident though , is a species of Begonia.

By this time we were quite hungry and definitely thirsty and so we looked online and found there was a bar nearby.  It was quite a stiff climb up to it and we got little lost as we weren't on the road we thought we were but when we finally got there = it was closed :(

We trudged our way back to Varenna, keeping to the level road this time which was considerably easier and quicker - a few photos along the way.

Back in Varenna we found ourselves a very nice restaurant where, predictably, I had pizza and Ian a pasta of some kind.

Suitably fed and watered, we wandered around Varenna for a little while.