Sunday, August 7, 2011

Lake Como and Bellagio

Are you ready for some more photos from our stay in Bellagio last May? Lake Como has an excellent ferry and passenger boat service to shuttle residents and visitors among the many delightful towns that line the shores of the lake. We enjoyed relaxing at our hotel and watching the ferries and other boats gliding across the lake.
This is the view from the rooftop terrace of our hotel, the Hotel Metropole. We have stayed there twice and love its lakefront location. The rooftop terrace was perfect for our group of 13 friends who visited with us, as we would buy Proseco, wine, cheese, bread, and other treats from a local deli to have happy hour on the roof. Sometimes happy hour morphed into dinner. The bell tower in this photo belongs to the 12th Century church of San Giacomo.
A sunny Sunday afternoon was a perfect time for a group of kayakers to enjoy paddling past Bellagio on Lake Como.
This is the view from the gardens atop the Villa Serbelloni. The Villa is owned by the Rockefeller Foundation and is used as a retreat for visiting writers and scholars who can pursue their own independent studies and creativity there, but they eat dinner together, which I am sure provides intellectual and creative stimulation.
This was the entrance to a restaurant where we ate dinner one evening in Bellagio. With such natural beauty and charm, it is no wonder that Bellagio was chosen as the name for the casino in Las Vegas. Try as it might, the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in Vegas cannot come close to the experience of the real Bellagio.
The Vegas casino has added to the allure of Bellagio, Italy. On our first visit there we talked with a clerk in a ceramics shop. It turned out that he was a young English lawyer. He had been to the Bellagio casino in Vegas and he and his girlfriend decided to see what the real Bellagio was like the preceding summer for a one week vacation. They liked it so much they decided to come back for the entire summer in Bellagio the following year. His girlfriend decided she could not go through with the idea of quitting her job for a summer in Bellagio. He decided to leave his girlfriend behind and came to Bellagio by himself, finding a job selling ceramics.

8 comments:

brattcat said...

I can see why one could walk away from their former life and commit to this exquisite setting.

RIZALENIO said...

Every area in this place will really spark creativity. The setting can be used by writers in their stories & readers will find it so interesting to read. Very fascinating place.

FilipBlog said...

I already heard lake Como was so beautiful. We have never been there but it is on our list of things to do.

Greetings,
Filip

Traveling Hawk said...

Beautiful photos. Como reminds me on Garda Lake.

Lowell said...

A wonderful series of shots. That is truly a gorgeous area. I can see why you would come back again and again.

I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed the story of your mother-in-law throwing out the faux flowers! Sounds like something I would do! :-)

glenda said...

Great memories from our happy hours on this rooftop terrace. Interesting story of the couple and the beauty of Ballagio.

Jack said...

Your comments about the Villa Serbelloni sent me to Google. We stayed at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, which is out at the point and on the water. My Google search pointed out that the Villa Serbelloni is further up the hillside. We wandered in that area, but were only in town for 48 hours with some other commitments, so we didn't explore the Rockefeller's place. I guess Bellagio needs to go back on the bucket list.

Margaret said...

Seeing the kayaks reminded me of the time I sent an Olympic hopeful to the lake one summer to practice her rowing all summer. I think I would have a passion of visiting all the lakeside villages.

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