Como and Venice have something in common.

June 06, 2025

After a great nights sleep, we had a wonderful breakfast here in the hotel this morning. Pancakes, fruit, pastries - and Bill had a very chocolate muffin.

So what do the City of Como and the City of Venice have in common besides being northern Italian cities? They both have times when the city floods. Water comes up from the lagoon in Venice and floods some of the streets Also, water has come up from Lake Como onto the streets and more here. If you remember from the picture of the view from our window, you can see the lake, road and promenade. When we got here there was a little water in the street and they were trying valiantly to pump the water back to the lake. So much for those efforts because this morning the water covered the street and came across to the sidewalk by our hotel and into the plaza. You can see what it was like from the pictures.

Water across the street and ramps (like Venice) so we could get to the other side of our hotel

The road adjacent to our hotel is now closed therefore we had to go right out of the hotel lot instead of left, which was a challenge this morning as we were planning to drive to Menaggio, Province of Como on the opposite side of the lake from Bellagio. We went right and struggled to find a way out of the city in the direction we needed to go and after going though the same round about twice, we finally made our way out of town without using GPS.

The road to Menaggio was entirely different than the road to Bellagio. It was wide (in most places), not too curvy and only a few sharp turns. Besides the great difference in the road, we passed through many charming towns. We were amazed that there were so many houses built on the side of the mountain and tiered down to the lake. We wondered how people drove to their houses and how they were able to park their cars in tiny places. Everyone seems to be driving little Fiat 500's.

Houses on both sides of Lake Como

When we arrived in Menaggio we found a parking place without too much trouble and walked along the lake promenade admiring the flowers and beautiful green trees until we came to the main plaza.

We found a table for two to sit at and the very helpful waiter brought us two delicious Italian sandwiches and cold drinks. In fact, this was the first beer Bill had in a year which he liked since it was now a beautiful sunny 75 degree day.

After lunch we strolled around enjoying the architecture and the lovely shops. Karen was tempted by a pair of unique shoes and ended up buying her first pair of Italian shoes.

Then we both needed some Italian Stracciatella Gelato and sat and ate it while gazing across the lake at Bellagio and marveled at the difference between the two cities, the two drives, and the two different weather conditions.

Bellagio across the lake.

Heading back to Como for the night

We drove back to Como and there was a lot of traffic, probably due to the lake flooding the main drag in front of our hotel. Because the street was blocked off, we asked the polizia at the barricade to let us down the closed road to our hotel, which he kindly did.

Tonight is out last night here so we decided to eat here at the Albergo Terminus hotel. The meal and desert was 1st class!