Amie and Erica were the first of the girls to arrive to the beautiful, sunny Lake Como! Whilst my Dad and I did the airport run, his girlfriend prepared a delicious lunch spread which was ready for us in the garden upon our return. We were completely spoilt with a wide selection of cheese, salami, bread and salad, of course accompanied with a bottle of red wine. Welcome to Italy.
Having not seen the girls for almost a week we had lots to catch up on but we wasted no time in getting out onto the lake. Usually in August the water is warm enough to swim in but as the weather has been terrible for most of the summer, it’s still freezing cold. Therefore, rather than dive in we jumped into the boats and threw our feet overboard whenever it got too hot. My performance had improved significantly since my last attempt but this time it was Erica paddling in circles. Nevertheless, we eventually made it to the ‘James Bond Villa’ in the next village to sneak a peek of the gardens in which Casino Royale was filmed.
After all of our hard work, we felt we deserved a drink so drove to a bar in the mountain with a beautiful view of the castle on the lake. My Dad explained that it’s tradition in Italy to precede a meal with an alcoholic beverage. Italians call it an aperitivo which in English translates to apperitif (or ‘posh pre-lash' according to Amie Horne.) Anyway, we stuck with the Italian theme and ordered an Aperol Spriz each before heading down for dinner. There we learnt that an aperitivo is followed by a digestivo, a drink consumed after meals to help with digestion. It seems Italians have a drink to suit every hour of the day.
The following morning, we travelled across the border and into Switzerland. A new country deserves a new post so you can read all about our Swiss adventures here. By the evening, however, we were back in Italy but cooking Thai for my dad and Stefania (keeping it international!) Usually I would hate to waste an Italian meal by choosing a different cuisine but I said I’d cook and didn't want to embarrass myself by trying to compete with Stefania’s skills. At least with Thai there was a chance they wouldn’t know what it was supposed to taste like! In fact, they both insisted they thoroughly enjoyed it but we did go through a lot of wine.
The week was already flying by far too quickly and we hadn’t yet addressed Amie’s adversity to ice cream. Though she’s always claimed to not be bothered by it, I was convinced Italian gelato could change her mind. Whilst exploring the market in Lenno on Wednesday we needed refueling and therefore, found the perfect excuse to give it a try. We all opted for pistaccio which of course we all absolutely loved! Unlike ice cream back home which is often rather watery, Italian gelato is deliciously creamy and genuinely tastes like the flavour it represents.
In the afternoon it clouded over and so it felt cool enough to venture off on a bike ride. The three of us cycled along to Menaggio where we stopped for a drink (a mid-afternoon-ivo?) and then challenged one another to a round of crazy golf. I’ve been playing on this same course ever since I can remember but even experience couldn’t help me that day. I was so terrible in fact, that there were moments when I almost lost the ball to the lake! All this daytime drinking must be taking its toll.
In the evening, Stefy rustled up an incredible pasta dish with mushrooms which they’d picked from the mountains that morning. In Northern Italy, mushroom picking is practically a sport and they’ll wake up in the early hours of the morning to beat one another to the best finds. One day I would love to join them but I need to know a little more about mushrooms first; the wrong ones can do some serious damage!
After dinner we walked up into the village for a drink at the bar. The rest of the evening involved many amarettos, a Colombian bar lady who spoke a bizarre language which was neither Italian nor Spanish, and a man claiming that we’d seen him naked in the lake. When my teeth felt furry, it was time to go home.
With the beautiful sunshine back out in full force, the next few days involved a lot of sunbathing. Before we knew it, it was time to pick up Kate, our bellissima number four! We took her straight from the airport to the pizzeria and then back to the house to try our limoncello cheesecake creation for dessert. It sounded like heaven but looked like shit and tasted somewhere between the two. It turns out missing out an essential ingredient is not okay, even in Italy.
Luckily for Kate, that wasn’t her only surprise. The next morning we were planning a trip up the Legnone! Though we had to wake up at six o’clock (a terrible way to start a should-be relaxing holiday), we knew the end result would be worth the struggle. When I say we, I mean Kate, Erica and I who have done plenty of treks throughout our travels in the past year. Amie, on the other hand, was not so sure.
In all honesty, my own faith began to waiver as we climbed for two hours and saw very little; though the weather was stunning down by the lake, a thousand metres up, we were fighting through fog. It was a nice climb but it wasn’t easy and without the reward of a fabulous view, I was worried it may be anti-climactic. Still, we trudged on and just as we reached the steep, rocky terrain, the mist finally began to clear and the peaks of the Swiss alps reared their heads above the cloud.
The final stretch to the summit was almost vertical and required some pretty epic rock climbing. Though we initially clung onto the wire which has been installed, we soon realised it had snapped in multiple places and that we'd be far safer to rely on our own strength. Whilst we concentrated hard on keeping our footing, the beauty crept up around us. We were just a few a metres from the peak when we stopped and realised that we were completely surrounded by stunning views. From above the clouds, it felt as though we were gazing down on another world entirely. However, even from this height it all looked familiar; the tiny houses of the settlements in the mountains and the vast lake now glistening in the sun. It was indescribably beautiful. Even Amie 'Are-We-There-Yet?' Horne was lost for words!
By the time we reached the very top, we'd all found our voices (though 'woooo' was all we could manage at first.) For some of the girls, it was the highest they've ever been and in their words exactly it felt 'fantastico!' We literally were on top of the world.
To our surprise though, we weren't the only ones! We were met by a dozen or so mountain goats who were delighted to see us. However, as soon as they realised we had no food they took to licking our skin instead, presumably soaking up the salt. They quickly concluded that my dad was the gourmet option which was unfortunate for him but hilarious for us. As if he wasn't exhausted enough, he then had to fend off an entire herd whilst we very helpfully took a thousand photographs.
Eight hours after we'd initially set off, we climbed into the car and slept the whole way home. Back in the village we were still weary but triumphant and ready for a gigantic pizza as a well deserved prize. Dinners in Italy are always a grand affair but we kept this one relatively quiet as we were leaving for Venice at five o'clock the next morning to start the next section of the Italian adventure.
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