The drive from the airport to Tremezzo was fairly painless, although we may have inadvertently got onto a toll road for 100m - goodness knows how as we never went through a toll booth, but rather round one! We also almost got lost in Como town when roadwork diversion signs suddenly stopped, but we went round a roundabout a few times to get our bearings and then just followed our noses. The main road runs alongside the lake and is rather narrow, especially through some of the old towns, although still 2 way traffic. Sometimes it's down to 1 way controlled by traffic lights or relying on the other driver to give way. Given the reputation of Italian drivers, I thought the driving standards were very high; no overtaking on the road and 50 kph speed limit, both of which was 99% adhered to.
Lago di Como lies north east of Milan and 20 or so miles east of the Swiss border. Shaped like an inverted Y we are staying more or less in the middle on the western shore at Tremezzo, fairly close to the area known as the Golden Triangle which is well served by ferry boats.
When we got closer to Tremezzo we put the apartment's address into my phone and following the directions turned up left away from the lake. After only a few 100 meters we came to a standstill with a cement mixer in the middle of the road and on one side a steep bank and small stream which was being repaired. For some reason, and we don't have a clue why, the cement mixer either couldn't or didn't move, however the driver held on to road signs and pulled them away so we and another car could pass. It was very, very nerve racking, but PHEW we got passed, with literally a couple of inches on the right (or hit the traffic signs/fall into the stream) and one inch to the left (or hit the cement lorry).
Totally shaken we carried on driving up and up and further away from the lake. Eventually the Satnav brought us to a stop opposite some rather nice looking residential buildings but a seriously long way from the lake - we couldn't even see it! Poor Ian's face fell; he'd picked this apartment as it seemed to have everything we wanted; parking, partial lake view and walking distance into town. Yet here we were about 15 mins drive up from the lake. Anyway I phoned the number we'd been given and told Clelia where we were and fortunately she came to get us. It turns out we were in the wrong place and our road is not actually driveable so we followed her back down and through winding little streets until at the end of a cul-de-sac we came to our villa - exactly as described and indeed 5 mins down a cobbled alley is the lake. Driving however takes twice as long but never mind I think the car will stay parked for a lot of the time.
Clelia showed us the apartment, unfortunately is not a patch on Casa Panorama we rented last year in Tuscany, but it will do for the time we're here as hopefully we'll be more out than in. She kindly gave us info on places to see and times of boats etc. After she left we headed back south to Lenno to what was apparently the nearest supermarket, although more like a convenience store so we had to quickly think on our feet and try to get enough for a few days. We'd planned to buy a ready cooked chicken to have with salad but ended up with raw one which was huge (and cost c£12), there were no small salad potatoes or cucumber so a bit hit and miss on food and only a small wine selection. We can't help but feel there must be a bigger supermarket somewhere.
Back at the apartment we quickly unpacked, chucked the chicken in the oven (door handle almost fell off - see later) and headed out to explore the town in the remaining light.