Friday 16th Around Lake Como and on to Gandria

A lovely morning and we set off after breakfast for our drive around Lake Como. Initially we headed south east to the southern tip of the lake at Lecco.

All very beautiful with hundreds of elegant period villas. Lake Como is surround by very steep, completely wooded. hillsides with high mountains behind and this all adds to the dramatic setting. There was brief stop at Colico near the top of the lake for a quick coffee (the cheapest ever!)

before rounding the head of the lake and heading south again toward Menaggio where we planned to stop for lunch. Menaggio is delightful!

Brilliant sunshine and clear views across Lake Como helped but it really is a very pretty small town with a lovely situation and we enjoyed a light lunch in the Piazza close by the lake.

Time to head off and to leave Lake Como. We drove almost directly west over the hills and down towards Lake Lugano, leaving Italy and crossing into Switzerland. Some 30+ years ago we had enjoyed a memorable stop at Gandria on the northern side of Lake Lugano and we were delighted to discover that Gandria had hardly changed.

One of the main reasons for this is that it is built on a very steep hillside right down to the lake and there is not much room for any development. Our overnight stay was at the Hotel Moosman and we had a room with a lake view, including a small balcony almost overhanging the lake. Just lovely!

For dinner we found a small restaurant with a wonderful view and we are pretty sure that it is the same one that we visited all of those years ago. We enjoyed an absolutely delicious meal of Rabbit with Tagliatelli followed by some calorie free puddings (??)