Lake Como has been the vacation spot for bishops and princes since Roman times, and of late it is loved by movie stars and the rest of us aspiring tourists. The turquoise lake has steep shores and tiny hillside towns dotting the eastern and western shores. A ferry connects Como to the towns and we selected Blevio for our day trip. It was only a 20 minute ferry ride and it had cute pictures on Google.

Town might be too generous. There was one restaurant, one very cute park, two streets and three docks/boat launches. We swam from the northern boat ramp. We saw five people during our three hour visit. The ferry ride was the highlight of the afternoon. The ferry was really just a boat so we drove at boat speeds and it felt great to feel the wind in my hair while taking pictures of the passing towns.

Back in Como there was a pleasant waterfront walk with plenty of trees to protect us from the afternoon rain storm. Como also had a surprisingly magnificent cathedral. I don’t know how all these tiny towns were able to support their own cathedrals back in the 1100s, but each city seems to have a grand, stone cathedral tucked away. This one had a facade like most other Italian cathedrals, but the inside was painted with the most stunning shades of blue. The stained glass was vivid and bright and the sculptures had swords! A nice break from the cherubs and Madonnas.

We stayed in Cascina Respau, a charming hostel that stood atop a steep hill in the national park. They had nine staff and room for 20 guests. We met people from all over Europe and everyone spoke English as a common language. It was a really friendly group of people and it was fun getting to know them.