Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Cornello dei Tasso to Milan

Our trip is almost over. Today we drove to Milan and returned our rental car. It is good we were doing this on a Sunday for a couple of reasons. One, although there was a lot of traffic, it was undoubtedly less than it would have been on a week day. Driving into a big city is always stressful, so it was a huge relief to get the car where it needed to be. The second advantage of arriving on a Sunday is that there was not a big toll for driving in the central city like there would have been on a weekday.

It is quite a relief to have completed 5 car rentals, driving and navigating in four different countries and maneuvering the many narrow roads and tight spaces with no mishaps!

We walked to our hotel but when we rang the buzzer no one answered. We assumed that it was because it was only 1:15 and checking time was 2:00. We shared a pizza at a nearby restaurant while we waited. Finally at 2:00 we figured out that we needed to call a number to be let in. After a few more minutes a guy arrived and we had a room.

Pizza while we wait.

For dinner we ate in a very nice restaurant, La Locanda del Gatos Rossi, located in the Galleria Victor Emmanuel II, one of the world’s first shopping malls.

Pasta with truffles and fried squash blossoms, cheese and anchovies.
Steak and potatoes.
Galleria Victor Emmanuel II. Our restaurant is on the left.
The Duomo on our walk back to our room.
Our room is behind the arched window above the KFC

Cadenabbia on Lake Como to Cornello dei Tasso in the Italian Alps

Friday night our hotel was on the western shore of Lake Como. The place we are staying tonight is in the Italian Alps east of Lake Como. So this morning we took the ferry to Belagio, and then drove from there to Cornello dei Tasso.

Leaving Cadenabbia
Arriving in Belagio

As we left Belagio we stopped so Duke could do a review of the Fiat 500 we have been driving. I’m thinking I may make Duke’s car reviews s regular feature of this blog!

Once we got off the main roads our drive was slow and beautiful.

Our road

Finding our B&B in Cornello dei Tasso was a bit of a challenge. Cornello dei Tasso is a medieval village that is accessible only on foot. It was an important trading center on the road north to Switzerland during the Middle Ages. But at the end of the 1500s a new road passed it by which isolated it and helped ensure it would be preserved. Our B&B is in a beautifully restored old house. Once we got to the end of the road we had to walk a quarter of a mile to get to the B&B.

Our B&B

One of the other buildings in this isolated hamlet is a Trattoria where we ate dinner. Everything was home made and delicious. The homemade pasta was the best.

Then we had cheese polenta, meat, and finally chocolate panna cotta.

Polenta with cheese
Venison
Panna cotta

The whole dinner including a litre of the house wine cost €37 ($43).

Tomorrow we drive to Milan and turn in our car and Tuesday we fly home.

Lake Como – 5 November 2021

Friday was a perfect fall day, cool, clear and sunny. So we decided to enjoy the day and our setting by hiking up to the San Martino Church on the mountain above the lake. You can see it on the ledge about half way up the mountain, in the picture below.

At the start of our hike.

The hike was about two miles up and back, with 800 feet of elevation gain. The views were stupendous.

San Martino Church overlooking Lake Como.
Lake Como from San Martino Church
What a day!
Enjoying the view
Me on the way down.

For dinner we ate at Rodrigo Ristorante Pizzeria near our hotel. We started with a meat, pecorino cheese and walnut salad flavored with honey. I don’t know how they put the honey on the salad but it was the only dressing and the salad was fabulous. There was just a hint of honey in every bite.

Then we had pinse. It is the second time we’ve had pinse on this trip. It’s like pizza but the crust is very special. It’s made with different flours and it’s soft and crunchy. I love it. And we had beer instead of wine for a change!

Pavia to Cadenabbia on Lake Como

As soon as we left Pavia Thursday morning and started heading north we could see snow covered mountains in the distance. It was a beautiful sunny day and I suspect the snow was all new from the storm we’ve had in the last few days.

Driving north towards Lake Como

Booking hotels is always a bit of a gamble. A hotel can look great and have great reviews online but then turn our in reality to be a big disappointment. Especially at the end of our trip when we spend two nights in places we hope we will have a hotel and a room that we will find enjoyable to relax in. The hotel Duke booked on Lake Como, the Grand Hotel Cadenabbia, is in a nice location but it is old. I was a bit worried the room might be small and dark. So it was a huge and very exciting surprise to see our room. We had booked a lake view room but I’m sure they upgraded us. We have a big sunny bright room with two big doors that open out on to a terrace overlooking stunning Lake Como. It’s heavenly.

Our room at the Grand Hotel Cadenabbia
The view from our terrace

During the afternoon we went for a walk along the lake and had snacks on the terrace.

Lake Como

Pontremoli to Pavia

The autostrada toll roads that we have driven on in Italy have been excellent roads. The exits are usually many miles apart. Wednesday we mainly drove on the autostrada since the route was about the same as if we had driven the non toll roads and the driving time was about an hour less. So when we started out, instead of going back about five miles to the autostrada entrance, we drove the mountain roads about 25 miles to get to the next entrance. As the days have gone by and we have gotten farther north the leaf colors have gotten better and better. It rained almost all day but especially in the mountains it was a beautiful drive.

Mountain Road

When we arrived in Pavia we had some time before we could check in to our B&B. We parked next to the river on the edge of the old town and walked to the basilica.

Pavia Basilica

The bridge we walked over was built in 1951 so it’s older than us!!

Ponte Coperto in Pavia

We stopped at a coffee shop next to the basilica and had chocolate coffees. Oh my!! The inside of the little glass was coated with melted chocolate and then an espresso was added. It was devine!

Chocolate coffee and apple cake.

We usually eat dinner here about 8pm. Wednesday night we ate at a really nice restaurant near our B&B, Alloro. Perhaps we were the only people eating there because it is midweek and it was a cold and wet outside. The waiter and the sommelier were both very helpful and interesting even though we didn’t have much language in common. Did you know that the Primitivo grape in Italy is what we call Zinfandel. The food was fantastic too.

They served us Prosecco and a small fish mousse to start.
Tuna tartare appetizer
Spaghetti
Desert
I thought these were fun candle holders.