Lake Como, Italy

Today we travel from Savona on the Italian Riviera to Lake Como, Italy, which is about a three hour drive.

Another sunrise from our balcony. Woke up a little later today!

A little rainy this morning as we drive through various Italian towns

Our hotel room at Hotel Buchetta Excelsior in Como

The view from our balcony with Lake Como in the background

What a cool parking garage! Fully automated. You drive your car into it, get out, and the attendant punches in what parking space it will go in. It then drops down, spins to The correct space, and lifts your car into the spot. There are two garages with seven levels and spots for eleven cars each.

We had a four hour boat trip on Lake Como planned for today. Since it was drizzling with rain predicted for this afternoon, I emailed the boat company to see if we were still on for 1:00. They assured me we were and told us where to meet. We ate lunch at a covered outside area just across from the boat dock. Then about 12:45 we went out to the dock to wait.

At 1:10 with no sign of the boat, I called and they said “sorry, I think my driver did not find you.” I told them we had been on the dock for a half hour and there was no way they could have missed us. It was a single, small dock, big enough for four boats. He said he would check and get back with us. When he called back he said the driver was having trouble getting the boat out since the water was shallow, but he would be there in 20 minutes with different boat. The lake is not tidal, so I’m not sure how the water level dropped so much, but whatever. I was just glad he was still coming! At this point it had stopped raining and we walked along the water waiting patiently.

Finally at 2:15, he showed up and we had a fantastic boat ride around the lake with our guide pointing out various points of interest.

This is the boat we went on. It actually worked out better than the one we originally requested since this one was covered and it was threatening to rain.

The lake was rough and we were glad we could scoot under the cover to stay dry

Versace’s house until he passed away. Elton John, Princess Diana, Sting, Madonna, and Jennifer Lopez have all stayed there.

George Clooney’s house. He is only at this house from June to September every year. Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon and Prince Harry with Meghan Markle have all visited here.

Love how the houses seem to flow right into the lake

Richard Branson of Virgin companies owns this house. You can only get to it by boat!

This is Villa Balbianello where scenes from Star Wars Episode II and James Bond Casino Royale were filmed.

The scene from Star Wars “where Anakin steals a kiss”

The wind picked up and the waves on the lake were getting bigger. Even the captain was videotaping the swells. We were definitely glad we had a covered boat!