It’s been almost two weeks since we returned from Italy and of course, it feels like a distant memory so before it dissolves I thought I should log some of the highlights. So my partner and I were lucky enough to be taken to a few cities located on Lake Como by my parents. The first highlight was actually on the plane as we flew over the alps as the sky turned orange (pictured below). We started in Como City where we stayed in the self-catering Charming Como apartment right in the centre which was perfect. A trip up the funicular railway to Brunate is definitely recommended as the restaurant Bella Vista that sits above Como boasts a small but delicious menu and spectacular views. The intricately pretty church in Brunate is also worth a visit. We were treated to a wine-tasting at Captain Drake in which I became infatuated with the grapes of the Lugana region, although I’m not much of a white wine drinker, as well as the dessert wine Recioto Della Valpolicello which was like a sweeter port. The nature of the Lake means you can easily jump on a ferry, travel across the lake and discover the surrounding towns and cities, one of which is Cernobbio where Harry’s Bar is located. This restaurant is famous for hosting George and Amal Clooney but it also has a beautiful menu with classic old-school service, the “Milanese” style veal cutlet was delicious.

After Como we took the ferry to Bellagio where we stayed at Hotel Du Lac located at the edge of the lake. What we noticed first about Bellagio is the busyness during the day as day-trippers came and went and then the pleasant peacefulness in the evening as they left. The layout of the city is unique as it’s built on a hill so the wide array of shops and restaurants are located up streets of stairs, in which people sit with glasses of wine whilst they wait for tables within the most popular restaurants. We took a water limousine to Villa Balbianello with a short tour en route with Luca who builds and maintains beautiful, mahogany boats (what a life). Villa Balbianello is best known for being used as a filming location for Star Wars and Casino Royale however the last owner of the villa, Guido Monzino, was an incredibly interesting man who we learned about via a tour of the villa. A mountain climber and explorer, Monzino led the first Italian expedition to climb Mount Everest. In Bellagio, we ate at some wonderful restaurants including Bilacus where we enjoyed the best cannolis I’ve ever tasted (pictured below) and vanilla ice-cream with salt flakes and E.V.O oil (extra virgin olive oil), which is much better than it sounds (pictured below). La Lanterna is a warm and intimate restaurant with a homey menu full of Italian comfort food such as lasagne, ravioli and tiramisu. It also has the best waiter we encountered: Pietro. Trattoria San Giacomo is a restaurant that we continually passed that always had a considerable queue outside, so of course we had to see what all the fuss was about. Being able to sit on the steps outside the restaurant with a glass of wine from Aperitivo Et Al was a great way to wait for a table. The wait was definitely worth it as the food was delicious and the service was great. We then went for a beautiful boat ride in the evening with captain Frederico to enjoy the sunset whilst sipping Prosecco (pictured below). Another place worth a day-trip is Varenna and Villa Monastero, which boasts great views of the lake and beautiful gardens. We also spent the afternoon learning cookery from the renowned chef Luigi Gandola at Ristoriante Salice Blu. A typically demanding head chef but with a witty humour, Gandola taught us the art of pasta-making and ravioli (pictured below) before we sat down for a delicious lunch which included some of what we made and a pretty and appetising salad made by Gandola’s grandmother (pictured below) before the certificate “ceremony.” We also took a day-trip to Milan where we tasted a flight of espresso martinis and a tiramisu (pictured below) all made with Starbucks Reserve coffee at the Milano Roastery. We expected large queues at this popular tourist attraction but were pleasantly surprised to find a very short queue and no wait time for a table at the cocktail bar. We then explored the famous and massive Duomo di Milano cathedral (below) and the affluent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ll (pictured below), before heading back to Bellagio.

We spent the last few days in the quiet town of Lezzeno at Hotel Villa Aurora which had multiple sun-decks on the lake and a restaurant with a wood-burning pizza oven. It also offered guests a variety of water-sports including kayaking, water-trampolining, wake-boarding and paddle-boarding (pictured below). The latter of which we attempted to some avail however standing was extremely difficult for me. We also attempted kayaking to absolutely no avail, our mistake being that we attempted to use a double kayak which is much harder given that we had to time our paddling which we did not. The hotel restaurant had a lovely menu, the wide variety of pizzas being the star. The highlight of Lezzeno was Ristorante Filo where my partner and I celebrated our three-year anniversary. We love tasting menus and this was probably the best I’ve experienced. We chose the Blind Tasting Menu in which the chef chooses the courses and wine accompaniments. The bread that arrived at the start of the meal was some of the best bread I’d ever tasted. Each course was remarkably delicious with flavours and flavour combinations I had never tasted before including poached egg, polenta, truffle, leeks and pomegranate (pictured below) and goat’s brie risotto, fermented lemon and herb sorbet. The value for money was also incredible as each time we thought the meal was over, another course arrived. The servers were extremely attentive and the views were stunning. We went a second time and ordered from the a la cartè menu and were equally impressed. A highlight from this was the dessert entitled First Steps which the chef named following the birth of his child and features baby footprints made from cocoa (pictured below).

Lake Como is the most beautiful place I have ever been; screensaver beautiful. I created a short reel on Instagram portraying that, which you can watch here.

Keep On Struggling,

Gregor