Arriving in Lake Como

From Milan, we took the train to Varenna in Lake Como. I love traveling by train, it's so quick and convenient, I wish it was more of an option in the states. When we arrived in Varenna, we were greeted with gorgeous weather and beautiful sunshine. We had a little while before we were able to check into our airbnb, so we decided to grab lunch at the train station cafe.

We sat outside on their patio, and enjoyed the scenic views of the lush hills. We were pleasantly surprised by the presentation and quality of the food, it was a delightful, spontaneous meal.

Vienne and Reece did some dancing while we waited for our food to arrive.

After lunch we began the adventure of getting ourselves, and all our luggage, to our new home. Roller bags aren't as amazing when on cobblestone streets ... We eventually came up with the plan to send Reece and all the baggage up to the house in a taxi since we discovered our new home was at the top of a steep hill and we weren't sure we would make it with all our bags. Beth, V and I walked since our luggage took up the whole taxi.

Our airbnb had a private gate off the the road which lead to a long staircase that took guests up to the house.

The stone wall next to the stairs was covered in wild flowers, moss and little ferns.

The view from the top of the stairs.

The stairs led to a gravel covered landing where on your right, you were met with an inviting garden path, that led you through the beautifully overgrown hillside garden, to a pergola with a picnic table and a breathtaking view.

To the left of the gravel covered landing, were the stairs to enter the house.

One of the best perks of this house, was the view from the front door

The house itself was a little eclectic, it had beautiful patterned tile floors and a few pieces of mismatch furniture.

The house was wonderfully spacious. There were three bedrooms upstairs, I got the corner room, which meant I got twice the amount of amazing views of the lake.

Beth, Reece and Vienne stayed in the room across the hall from me. At one end of the hall was a balcony, at the other end of the hall was the adorable, little bathroom we all shared. (There was another bathroom downstairs we could have utilized, but Bethy saw a big spider in there. So, like that mature adults that we are, we closed the door and no one dared go again...)

After taking the afternoon to settle in and have a little rest, we set out in the evening to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We loved exploring the little town of Varenna, which is one of the more quiet towns located on Lake Como.

Piazza San Giorgio, the town center of Varenna, is home to the Church of San Giorgio. The church was built in the 14th century in a style somewhere between Romanesque and Gothic, and hosts many paintings from the late 15th and 16th century.

We continued to walk among the colorful houses that brighten the village and found ourselves at the Riva Grande, the charming lake promenade of Varenna.

We found a table right next to the at one of the charming restaurants and had a seat. We got to enjoy the sunset while we read through the menu. 

We ordered two kinds of bruschetta for the table to share, and butternut squash soup as our main course since there was a slight autumnal chill in the air.