We left Milan efficiently this morning – Mer wanted to get going to the Lake District, which was a great call. We were up at 7:00. We grabbed some croissants along the way to the train station, and we were on a train out of Milan by 10:20. We very quickly got into the mountains north of  the city, and we arrived at our destination – Varenna, which is a town of about eight hundred on the less-traveled side of Lake Como.

When Mer mentioned the Lake District, I pictured a bunch of lakes like we have back in Maine – a whole mess of small and medium-sized lakes. Varenna is on Lake Como, which is huge and deep. It is framed by towering mountains on the east and west, and is certainly in the running with the Cinque Terre for our vote for most beautiful spot on Earth.

We checked into the hotel around 12:00, and since it was Mer’s day to be in charge, she had us back out the door and down to the ferry dock. There are a lot of towns along both shores of Lake Como, and a ferry connects them all, although the most common runs are among five towns right around Varenna. We booked a round-trip ticket on a slow ferry, although I did get to see the fast hydrofoil boats in action, which was really cool. The slow boats stop at five stops in four towns (in addition to Varenna). The boat ride was relaxing, with a cool breeze to ward off the heat of the afternoon. Pretty much everywhere you looked was beautiful – pretty towns on the edge of a huge lake surrounded by mountains. Several things stood out for me on the trip – the first was a small church halfway up a huge mountain. I have no idea how to get up there, but it was eye-catching. I noticed several former private villa grounds that are now public (judging from the people wandering around in them). I also noticed two lines going up a mountain that I later found out were funicular train tracks going up a very steep slope.

After the easy boat ride, we walked along the waterfront path and got something to eat, around 2:30. We ran back to the hotel so Mer could change into hiking clothes, and we headed out. We were running out of cash, so I decided to try an ATM again using my oldest credit card. I guessed at the PIN, using a PIN from twenty years ago, and happily, it worked. We had cash again, which eased our minds on that front.

We headed to the edge of town and headed up a steep road. After some hunting around and asking one person, we found the town cemetery. Mer and I both like visiting cemeteries – they tend to be in pretty places, and show some of the color of the local community. This cemetery was pretty unique in my experience. It was built on four tiers into the side of a mountain. Italian cemeteries use slabs of stone on top of the whole grave, which is different from American practices. This cemetery also had electric votive candles on many of the graves, so they had lots of little lights everywhere. Many of the headstones had actual photos of the person, which put a very personal touch on the grave – a number of people were caught in light moments, so that they looked as if they would be fun to hang out with. Lastly, because space is at a premium, there were several options for interment. The standard grave is what Americans would expect, except for the slab of stone on the grave. There were also mausoleum “slots” that held whole bodies, but stacked one on top of another. There were small slots that held urns of ashes, and finally, on the top two tiers of the cemetery, there were private mausoleums for individual families. We had a good look around the whole cemetery, and we were impressed by how well taken care of the place was. There were fresh flowers on many of the graves, and there were brooms stored around so people could sweep around the graves of relatives. There was no sign of disrespect anywhere that I saw, and that pleased me.

After our cemetery tour, we headed up into the hills on a well-maintained walking trail. The trail eventually led us to the Fiumelatte, the shortest river in Italy at less than a thousand feet long. The path took us to the source of the Fiumelatte, where it comes gushing out of a mountain hole with enormous force. It then cascades down the slope of the mountain, crashing into boulders along the way, and dumps into Lake Como. The power of the river is intense, and the air around the river is noticeably cooler because of the cold water. The park had installed a footbridge right over the river, which was pretty thrilling to stand on while looking at all that water flowing under my feet.

We headed back along the trail, and our trail map suggested we take a few-minute detour to go to the Baluardo, a scenic overlook. That sounded great, so we took the trail up. And up. And up. And longer than a few minutes. The trail we were on was dangerous at times, where a fall would have resulted in severe injury at best. After about twenty minutes, I went ahead for about three minutes, and never saw any opening. I went back to the now-frightened Mer (because she was yelling for me, but I was too far away to hear), and we went all the way back to the main trail. By then, we were tired and thirsty, so we took a water break. While we were drinking, we noticed a small side-trail about twenty yards up the path with a pole. Like a pole that used to hold a sign. Then Mer saw a hand-painted sign on a rock wall that said “Baluardo” and had an arrow. We had been on the wrong trail before. We took this new trail, and in just a few minutes we were on a great and beautiful overlook. At least we found it.

We headed back to town, and it was almost 8:00. I assured Mer that it was on my list of things to do to go see the castle tomorrow, and so she did not need to feel the pressure of trying to see it today. That made her happy, and so after a quick stop at the hotel to wash up from all the sweat of the hiking, we went to the far end of town to a quiet (not-tourist-infested) restaurant. We sat outside despite growing winds. The winds did die down, but then a thunderstorm rolled by and dumped a ton of water down. Happily, we were right in the center of a covered area outside the restaurant, so all was well. By the time we finished supper, the storm more or less had passed by.

We walked back to the hotel by going along the waterfront. Along the way, I spotted and bought a couple of pieces of dessert that were a cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a piece of cake. We got them to go, and ate them back in the hotel room. Our room has a small but pretty view of the lake and mountains, so it has been pretty to see the town lights across the lake coming on, as well as the occasional lightning flashes on the mountains. We get another entire day here, and I’m very happy about that!