A journey of discovery through the landscapes, art, food, and people of Italy
Day 1: Varenna
This morning was the first day of our tour, and we woke up quite literally in paradise. This photo is a picture of the view from our room. Unreal, isn't it? It was hard for us to get ready for the day, as we just wanted to sit on the edge of the bed and watch the world go by out the window. We had most of the day free until we met our group at 5 pm, so we had a nice breakfast in our hotel and then walked to Villa Monastero next door to visit the gardens. The weather was beautiful – clear, blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70’s. The gardens were unbelievable. Beautiful, manicured gardens with an amazing view over the lake and surrounding mountains. You can see from the gallery below why we loved this place!
After our relaxing morning in the gardens, we took a steep hike up the mountain to Castillo Vezio, a ruined castle that was started in the 6th century. There wasn’t much left of the castle, but it afforded incredible views of the lake, and we were able to see a number of hawks they keep on site. We also wandered through the little village of Vezio where we walked old cobblestone paths and listened to the birds chirping. We even got a spontaneous marching band performance - we wandered the paths of the village looking for the band, but were never able to locate them. Then we went and had lunch with a water view. I had a delicious caprese salad and parmesan risotto, and David had mushroom and ham pizza. After lunch, we had a bit of gelato and strolled through town before meeting our group. Varenna is such a special place!
The time had come to meet our traveling partners for the remainder of the trip! We were eager to meet the friends we would gain over the next few weeks. Our tour guide, Donald, was just wonderful. Originally from Scotland, he now lives in the Lake Como region. We loved getting to know him, especially since we had traveled to Scotland recently, and we thought his perspective as a transplant to Italy was unique. He had a great sense of humor and a wealth of knowledge about pretty much everything! Our group was a great mix of people from all over the country, with a heavy representation from California. There were a good number of people on their first tour, and several who had been on many tours before. Everyone fell into a comfortable rhythm quickly. We had a little walking tour around town and then enjoyed dinner on our hotel terrace together with some local specialties, endless wine, and great company. So far we were off to a great start!
