I look into the blue lakes...! (3)
I look into the blue lakes... ! (3)
The "lake" cycle continues.
Plan for Lake Como:
Bellagio - Bellano - Varenna - Lecco - Bellagio.
After seeing Villa Carlotta, we go to another villa in Bellagio, Villa Serbeloni.
Bellagio, Villa Serbelloni
http://www. comer-see-italien. com/comer-see-abc/villa-serbelloni-in-menaggio__133. htm
A crowded boat came to the pier near Villa Carlotta. What place to find there on the bow or stern, to go anywhere at least, people stood literally everywhere, almost close to each other, sat on the stairs ...We leaned against some wall in order to at least somehow hold on, neither what beautiful views of the villas from the water this time was out of the question. What was it? So is it always a weekend or only on Easter?
We landed, went up the stairs to Piazza della Chiesa, where the information office is located, on the right, next to the cafe. Tours are held 2 times a day, at 11:00 and 15:30, the ticket costs 9.00 euros / person. For us, it was the most stupid, 80% mediocre excursion.
In one single review I read a negative report, I didn’t believe it, because in another review such awesome photos from the gardens of this villa were presented, well, now I’ve convinced myself.
So we start our journey. There were 15-16 people who wanted to, the tour was conducted in 5 languages in turn, including German, there was no Russian. Entrance to the gardens is through the gate opposite the office, and which, of course, are locked. You can’t take pictures of the villa itself, why was it said if they don’t bring it up to it from any side? Walk around the park only together, do not deviate to the sides, because the park is so big, someone can get lost and then it will be difficult to find him. Everyone smiled at the same time, like all adults, not a kindergarten.
The paths go uphill in a serpentine, rather wide, not paved, on the one hand there is a wall and a forest, on the other, views of the city and the lake through the trees, nothing particularly interesting.
Having risen to a certain height, some houses appeared, well, beautiful views of the surroundings. Here is the first decent observation deck, I have not risen higher.
I settled down on a bench here and asked the guide, what's next? And then the ascent is higher, to the very top, and then the descent along the same road. Farewell to the beautiful views seen in other people's photos, I can’t go up anymore. I ask, how long will it take you to return? After about an hour and a half, he answers, and everyone goes upstairs. And the sun gradually begins to hide from us again, and clouds appear over the lake.
There is already a road for cars here, so someone is driving up from the other side? After sitting, resting, I went for a walk along it. The houses are standing, not like a villa. There was one yellow and white, with a gray facade, maybe he? Most likely, because on the link I provided, I recognized this house, I passed by it ...
From this part, more beautiful views of the peninsula, the landscape, part of the Lecco arm can be seen ...and the park in the distance.
It seems that this park is not far away, but why should I go there? The group will definitely be shown this beautiful part. And then I remembered the beautiful photographs of one forum member, it was from there that he took them, at 7 o'clock in the morning! But how he got there at that time, he is silent. Although I myself saw there 2 narrow stairs going down, two of them climbed up one of the bottom. So, you can enter this park from other sides.
Then the group returned, and everyone went down to the exit along the same road. The son was indignant why they went here, he didn’t like anything here. And in the evening, transferring photos from a memory card to a computer, I kept looking for photos of those "wonderful" places that I saw and could not find on my husband's camera. When I showed him my photos, he was surprised: where did you find this? We were not taken there. Did they just not drive our group or did they not drive at all?
A question for which I don't have an answer.
Well, in that part of the park that is shown, you can see species of different trees: oaks, cedars, firs, spruces, beech, birches ...and at the very top the remains of the fortress wall and tower that once stood.
The villa itself belongs to the Rockefeller Foundation and serves as a haven for scientists who write very necessary and useful books of world importance.
Bottom line: they don’t show the villa, even outwardly, the most beautiful, flowering park at that time, they don’t show it either, we only have views of the lake. I would not do such an excursion again, if only to go there somehow on my own and take a walk where I like.
The tour to Villa Serbelloni ended around the beginning of the sixth evening, it seems that there is still time, but there won’t be enough for anything significant, so we just walked around the city in order to purchase gifts. We went into some small shop with beautiful scarves, supposedly pure silk, 25 each.
00 euro per piece. Why do I doubt the authenticity of the quality, because in Germany about such a pure silk scarf would cost 60-70 euros. But the colors are pretty, it fits nicely on the skin, it is very suitable for a gift. I took 7 pieces, asked the saleswoman if she would give me a discount? She counted the scarves, said ok! each 20 euros. I made a discount, it’s nice, but I thought to myself: if you hadn’t even dropped the price for me, I would have bought them anyway. Cute gizmos and always needed, my friends were happy.
Quote: from the internet
"The best souvenir from Bellagio is the silk scarves that are produced here. Since the 16th century, silk has been produced in these parts. The old trade route in the southeast of Lake Como, or rather, running along its southeastern channel between Varenna and Lecco ( Lecco) was called the European Silk Road.
Before the start of the Second World War, mulberry trees grew everywhere in this area, the leaves of which fed the caterpillars of the silkworm. Today, silk is almost not produced here, but it is still processed. "
And they also went to small shops with cheeses, olive oil, bizarrely shaped pasta. I love such places. I chose all kinds of olive oil, as a child chooses that the wrapper is attractive, so I choose that the bottle and packaging are beautiful. I have no doubt that Germany has everything, and yet I buy, well, sort of like "foreign", especially on the bottles everything is written in Italian. Thus, having bought some gifts, with packages and bags we went to dinner at some pizzeria. Since we are not strong fans of Italian food, all sorts of "pasta-piperoni", but pizza in Italy must be tasted, as it were, it should be better than in other countries.
In fact, everything was delicious. Somehow, on this trip, half of my checks were not preserved, I could recommend this institution, but there is no address or name.
About Bellagio I would also like to add the following: when we came on tour. bureau in Piazza della Chiesa to buy tickets to Villa Serbelloni, then we were given a guide to the city there, which I saw only at home. The route and all significant places are marked there, it would be half a day in reserve, we would definitely walk along this route, we were interested, and the area there is very picturesque, however, like everywhere else on Lake Como.
In the last part, I wrote that we bought one-time tickets for the boat: Villa Carlotta - Bellagio, the ticket costs 9.20 euros / person. /There and back again. So, we didn’t have time to get on the last boat that goes from Bellagio to Villa Carlotta, but it doesn’t matter, with the same ticket you can take any other (not high-speed) one to Tremezzo. Fortunately, these 2 berths Villa Carlotta and Tremezzo are not far from each other.
Bellano, Orrido di Bellano.
It rained all night, and in the morning it continued to beat on the leaves in the garden. I don’t particularly like walking or looking at something in wet weather, but what can I do? Don't sit at home all day! We put on light waterproof jackets, take windbreakers with us in the car in the hope that the rain will someday stop and leave home. Our path lies in Bellano along the shore of the lake, the branch of Colico. We travel all over, well, what beautiful places! And how many luxurious villas with no less luxuriously beautiful gardens! In my opinion, this is precisely what Lake Como differs from Lakes Garda and Maggiore. I find it difficult to say which is better, all three are beautiful, because all three are different.
Under the incessant rain we arrive in Bellano, namely to the gorge.
Millions of years ago, a mountain stream / mountain river of unprecedented strength Pioverna formed a gorge in the rocks called "Orrido di Bellano", which is located at the top of the village of Bellano and is its main attraction, not counting the ancient churches. Bellano is not such a small village, it has about 3400 inhabitants and belongs to the province of Lecco.
We arrive at the small square Piazza San Giorgio 6, this is the center of Bellano, on which two churches stand opposite each other: the striped Santi Nazario e Celso of the XIV century (SS Nazaro e Celso) and Santa Marta of the XV century (Santa Marta).
There is a car park in the center. On the right side of the Church of Santi Nazario e Celso is the entrance to the gorge.
Entrance ticket to the gorge 3.00 euros. The gorge is not large, rather well equipped with stairs, bridges and railings. The path passes between waterfalls and grottoes, among rocks hanging overhead, and a stream of water roaring underfoot.
There were no other visitors in the gorge besides us, so we walked there alone.
On the way back, the ship was almost free, it would have been possible to photograph the shores, but it was raining, so all the upper decks were empty, everyone was hiding inside.
And the rain did not stop all night and all the next day.
Varenna, Villa Monastero.
This is another small village on the lake with a population of just over 750 inhabitants. Varenna is considered one of the most picturesque places on Lake Como, but from the land side it did not seem so to us, an ordinary place, like many others in Como. Maybe it looks different from the side of the lake...
In addition to the villas Monastero and Cipressi, there are two churches in Varenna: San Giorgio of the 13th century and San Giovanni, which we passed by without going inside.
Here we wanted to see 2 places, these are Castello di Vezio and VILLA MONASTERO.
http://www. comer-see-italien. com/comer-see-abc/villa-monastero-in-varenna__131. htm
We didn’t go to Castello di Vezio, because there was still about 500-600 meters to go from the parking lot, no one wanted to get wet in the rain, despite the available umbrellas. The ruins of the old castle were not so much interesting as the views of the lake from there, but I think we would not have seen the lake at all, because the clouds hung below the level of the mountains.
Therefore, having successfully parked in the very center of Varenna, we went for a walk in the direction of Villa Monastero. Past the harbor with fishing boats, past colorful houses near the water, small restaurants on the shore, along the embankment, partly passing directly above the water, in the form of a path, somewhat unusual, pleasant, pretty. Ah, if it wasn't for the rain.
Varenna "mountainous" ...somehow reminded Bellagio.
Villa Monastero.
In the 13th century, a monastery was built on this site, in which the monks who escaped from Isola Comacina hid.
Then, later, this monastery with the adjacent territory was bought by the noble wealthy family of Mornico, restored, and in the 17th century turned into a beautiful luxurious residence. The owners changed one after another, the last was Marco de Marchi, who transferred it to the ownership of the province of Lecco. In 2004 Villa Monastero was awarded the title of "Casa Museo" Lombardy and the mansion was opened to the public.
This villa, unlike the first three that we have already visited (Villa Balbianello, Villa Carlotta, Villa Serbelloni) has a completely different location. Directly on the shore of the lake, the road is somewhere up there, but here below there is peace and quiet. In the surrounding park, as usual: flower beds, statues, benches, different types of trees.
By the way, this villa also has an elevator. We began to examine it from the left side and there it was that we found it. But it serves most likely for service personnel. Not really knowing how many floors are offered for inspection, we climbed to the top one.
There were all sorts of service rooms, a very modernly equipped toilet room, and a lot of rooms with computers. Realizing that it was not intended for inspection, we went down to the lower floor.
Opposite the entrance to the office of the villa, where tickets are sold, literally across the road, there is a large parking lot. A single ticket for the garden and the villa costs 8.00 EUR/person.
You can also see Villa Cipressi from the garden.
The construction of this historic villa began in the 14th century and was completed and rebuilt until the 18th century. This villa also had many owners: the Serponti noble family, the Isimbaldi baron, the Henry Andreossi family, who were especially concerned about the expansion and improvement of the park...
Currently, the entire complex of buildings and the surrounding area with a garden belong to Varenna itself. The villa is now a hotel managed by the COFELY GDF SUEZ group.
When we went to Villa Monastero, we saw a sign, probably the entrance is somewhere nearby.
They did not try to go inside, but they say that you can walk in the park for free. And having cast the last glance at the rainy lake, and Bellagio immersed in fog, we are heading for Lecco.
Lecco, Piani d'Erna cable car.
http://www. comer-see-italien. com/comer-see-abc/seilbahn-piani-d%23039-erna__390. htm
Lecco, a small town with a population of about 5.000 inhabitants, located on the shores of Lake Como, surrounded by the beautiful Resegone mountains, did not particularly attract us, except for the Piani d'Erna cable car.
First we arrived at the parking lot, where the cable car starts, it's up to the mountains to go in a serpentine. But the road is wide, good, not what it was in Como. A cable car ticket costs 10.00/person. / round-trip on holidays, on other days - prices are different. We rise to a height of more than 1300 meters, from there there should be good views of Lecco and part of the lake. But nothing could be seen because of the low-lying clouds. Many hiking trails start from there, there are various amusement parks...
at first we also wanted to take some not long route for 30-40 minutes, but when we were at the top ...no one wanted to walk in the light rain. So not salty slurping, no walks, no photos, we went back down.
On the way down to Lecco, we stopped at some turn, but there was no view of the city, the weather did not want to be friends with us.
From Lecco to Bellagio we again drove along the lakeshore to the ferry, so we went around all three branches. And here the road is beautiful, sometimes descents, sometimes ascents, sometimes wide, sometimes you can’t see anything because of the turn. We only stopped once to take photos. The waterfall here is not big or is it a mountain stream ...how many such rivers feed the lake?
Here, apparently, there is not a big hotel with a beach, the place is quite picturesque, though the road is nearby, but the traffic is not strong. The opposite shore is barely visible because of the overhanging clouds.
Bellagio, Villa Melzi D'Eril park.
http://www. comer-see-italien. com/comer-see-abc/villa-melzi-in-bellagio__130. htm
The gardens of Villa Melzi run along the shore of the lake and fit harmoniously into the landscape of the Bellagio peninsula, which, as we know, divides the lake into two branches. There is peace and quiet on the paths of the park, nothing interferes with a long leisurely walk. Only gardens are offered for inspection, the rest of the complex of buildings is not available. A ticket to the garden costs 6.50 euros/person. Azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons were still in bloom.
This villa was built in the 19th century for the Italian politician and writer Francesco Melzi D`Eril, who since 1802 was vice president of the First Italian Republic, then Gro? Kanzler of the Kingdom of Italy. Was he a personal friend of Napol? on Bonaparte, from whom he later received the title of Herzog von Lodi. This villa served Francesco Melzi D`Eril as a summer residence until the end of his days. At the moment, the villa was completely closed, even the shutters, it seemed that no one had been going there for a long time.
The park is rich not only in rare species of trees and shrubs, but also in rare statues and sculptures, as they say in the brochure issued when buying a ticket. And there are not even big grottoes.
The walk turned out to be very pleasant, despite the cloudy weather. Constantly admired, in addition to flowering trees, also the opposite shore, wrapped in low, rather thick clouds.
This concludes the trip to Lake Como. On the way home there was nothing special, as always sunny weather on the road and an hour and a half in traffic in front of the tunnel.
While standing in a traffic jam in Switzerland, we admired nature, completely different from the nature of Lake Como. It is still early spring here, the trees are almost without leaves.
We returned home tired, but satisfied, with a large baggage of the most vivid impressions.
I will upload the rest of the photos for the review later as a separate photo report.
