Our last adventure was a train trip to Como, Italy. The original train we booked was canceled, which was a problem since we had set up a boat tour starting at 9 a.m. After some panicked work at Milan's central train station, we had an alternate train that just barely made it. We took a taxi from the Como train station over to the docks, where we started our boat tour.
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A view of the city from the water |
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The Black Pearl and driver |
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More of the city on the lake |
The driver pointed out the
Volta Museum, dedicated to
Allesandro Volta, the inventor of the battery and Como citizen. The kids were happy because we visited on a Monday and the museum was closed. On the other side of the picture below is the town's World War II memorial.
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Volta and WWII honored |
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Leaving the city behind |
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The view north |
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Hotels along the lake |
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Construction still going on, a sign of vitality |
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More villas |
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Us on the boat |
The guide pointed out a lot of the villas that are owned privately or are civic buildings that get used for weddings and film locations.
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Romantic view of the area |
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A little town with its church |
The
Mandarin Oriental Hotel is a high-end property that has its own dock, a pool in the lake, and an area for guests to sun themselves.
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Mandarin Oriental Hotel |
This house was originally built by a Russian aristocrat. It's only accessible by water or the elevator in the upper left of the photo. It's now owned by the head of
Apple in France.
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Russian Villa |
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More of the lake |
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Back by Como |
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More of the town |
We really enjoyed the boat tour of the lake. Keeping up a vacation theme, we rode the funicular train up from Como to Brunate. It is a very popular attraction, though we did not have to wait too long to ride up.
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Funicular Station in Como |
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The train |
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View from the Brunate station |
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View on the other side of the mountain |
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Enjoying the view |
Not far from the station is the church of St. Andrew the Apostle. All the buildings up there are on the hillside, so there's always some stairs to climb or ramps to go up.
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St. Andrew's |
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Nave |
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Main altar |
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Back of the church |
Like most every other old church in Italy, the art is fantastic.
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An unidentified saint |
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Trinity dome |
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Symbol of John the Evangelist over St. Joseph and toddler Jesus |
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Nativity fresco |
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Fake statue! |
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Saint in chains |
We thought about going out to the lighthouse, but it was a half-hour hike and we were out of water. A jeep takes people over in ten minutes but the line was long to get on (and it was a little pricey). We headed back down the mountain.
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Happy riders |
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View of Como |
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More of Como |
Back in Como, we found a small beach and enjoyed the water a tiny bit.
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Checking water temps |
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A swan nearby |
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The swan getting close |
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Back by the harbor |
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A last view of the lake
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Como is a great place to visit.
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