Day 30: Ode to Joy, George Clooney, Padme and James Bond.

I got up early today as I wanted to try and catch our church bells playing Ode to Joy, like they did last night.  But I had no luck.  I think somebody in the belfry was watching and spiting me. :-(

We walked along the Green Way from above our apartment into Lenno.  The Green Way is a walking path, which for a good portion of its length follows the Antica Strada Regina, an ancient road along the western shore of Lake Como.  Rebuilt by the Romans and used as their main route between the north and south of the alps, through the ages seeing the passing of traders and armies, and now tourists and dog walkers.

The path isn’t signposted as well as it probably could be, and the unwary traveller may miss a signposted turning and wander pointlessly up a few hundred metres of steep steps away from the path and lake.  If they weren’t paying attention properly…  or they could even end up in the cemetery; not mentioning any names.

We grabbed one of the many boats that travel between the major towns and villages on the lake, and sailed across to Bellagio.  I tried to keep an eye out for George Clooney, but he must have been back in Hollywood shooting a movie this week.  Or maybe he was in his actual villa, which is in Laglio, some 20 or so kilometres south on the opposite shore…

Bellagio is quite large: lots of shops, boutiques and galleries along the stairs leading from the promenade up into the township.  We avoided the obvious tourist lunch spots and found a neat little restaurant at the back of town in a square beside a church.  I enjoyed a very nice lake fish while the couple on the table next to me tried in vain to fend their food from a feisty little sparrow.

I decided to give this café ginseng I'd been seeing on the menus a try, and it was really nice!  So I have found my new café of choice while staying in Italy.

The next boat back was a little way off, so we grabbed gelato under the shade of the grape vines down on the promenade.

From Lenno, we walked to Villa Balbianello, an absolutely amazing villa on the lake shore that started out as a monastery which the cardinal thought, nah, this is too much of a nice place to be a monastery.  So he converted the church into the start of a villa.  When he died some 9 years later, the villa passed through various families and owners until it wound up with its last owner, Guido Monzino.
Now Guido was the son of a wealthy Italian businessman who opened the first chain of department stores in Italy.  When Monzino Senior died, Guido didn’t really care much for the department store business, so he sold it all up and pursued his passion: mountaineering and exploring.

Guido led the first Italian ascent on Mt Everest, but didn’t reach the top himself as he was a bit of a serious smoker and also had a serious heart condition.
He did a lot of work renovating the villa and the gardens, including lowering the floor in one room a metre and a half or so to accommodate some wooden wall panelling he had acquired from some castle, installed elaborate Venetian crystal chandeliers throughout, adorned the walls with rare reverse glass paintings, elevators, dumb waiters, and amazing decorations throughout.  The top floor he converted into an amazing museum containing the trophies he acquired as he explored the world, including rare figurines from African and Mayan cultures, cases full of carved ivory from the Inuits, a narwhal tusk, and much more.  Sorry, no pictures.  I was too tight to pay the 3 Euro photo ticket.  But it was totally amazing, and Guido loved it so much, he got himself interred in the old water storage room just down from the Loggia.  Be careful if you go in for a visit, as the light turns on by itself.  Spooky! Freaked the crap out of Michelle.
The gardens were really beautiful too, which is probably why this place has featured in so many movies, including Anakin and Padme’s wedding on Naboo, and good old James Bond’s hospital.

Loggia covered by a single topiary fig tree

All this walking: 3km on the Green Way not including the uphill detour, about a km around Bellagio, and then 4 kilometers to the villa and back along the Green Way was enough for Michelle so I walked back to the apartment and grabbed the car and braved those crazy streets.
Back at the apartment, I had another go at getting those church bells playing Ode on video, and got it!  Yay.  Well, I missed the first note.
I wandered down to Lido Di Sala Comacina by myself for dinner tonight, and kept with the lake side theme by having grilled fish, chips, beer and a cup of my new favourite, café ginseng.
I asked for takeaway for Michelle.  They’d finished off the sauce, whatever that means.  Maybe fed it to the cat?  But they said they could do a spag with tomatoes.  The waitress came back a bit later, and asked me something about if I had a kitchen or something?  I wasn’t quite sure what she was asking, but said yes.
When I was ready to leave, they cooked up the spag and presented it to me in one of their bowls covered in foil.  I don’t think they do takeaway around here too much.  I thanked her heaps and said I’d return the bowl tomorrow for them.   She said closed, so I told her I’d just leave it on the table for them.
Looks like everything will be closed tomorrow.  Could be a quiet day, which would not be a bad thing.

Here's the photos from today in their albumised glory.