The Rhone River is full!
People don’t take trips. Trips take people.
-John Steinbeck
One of the items on my “Things to do in Switzerland” list is to visit Lake Como in Italy. On the best of days, it’s a roughly 5 hr train ride from Sion, so it’s close enough to include a little jaunt to there from here. Still, it’s far enough that Phyllis and I decide to stay for two nights to give us a good chance at looking around. We get on the 7 AM bus to Sion and expect that we’ll get into the city of Como sometime just after 2 PM. However, today is not one of those “best of days.”
Phyllis and I expected there would be some off-route diversions of one kind or another, because the flooding in Valais (the region of the Rhone River) is still going on. So, it came as no surprise to find out that our route was going to be a little convoluted. The more or less direct route would be to go from Sion, to Sierre, to Visp to Brig, take a right turn through the Alps, then go to Domodossola, then to Milan and, finally, to the city of Como. But we’re told that there is no train from Sierre to Visp and that we’ll have to take a bus instead. The kicker is that we arrive in Brig at the same time as the train to Domodossola leaves. We’re assured that, even so, it is still doable and we board the train in Sion for Sierre.
The bus ride from Sierre to Visp was pleasant enough and it isn’t long before we’re getting on the train at Visp and off at Brig. At Brig, we run over to the track where we’re supposed to catch the train to Domodossola and there’s no train. We ask when the next train will run and we’re told that there is no train because of the flooding. Back to the ticket office.
Finally, we get tickets to take the train back to Visp, then board another train that goes all the way up to Bern and Zurich, in north central Switzerland, then switch trains to one that will take us to Lugano and then on to Como. All in all, this almost doubles the time it takes get to Como. Ah well, this kind of thing seems to be the theme of this trip and we do our best to grab what we can to eat at the stops on the way and take it all in stride. I have plenty of time to call and check on Waldo once the afternoon hours roll around and he’s doing well.
We get into the San Giovanni train station in Como around 6 PM and walk over to where we’re staying. I called earlier and told the woman running things there that we’re running late and we had no trouble getting our room. Travel ordeal over, we now had time to explore a little and get a good Italian meal for dinner.
Lake Como is a glacial lake that lies in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy. It has the shape of an inverted “y” and an area of about 56 square miles. The city of Como lies at the bottom of the lower western most branch. At some time in my many wanderings through life, I heard, or read (I don’t recall which), that it is and has been for hundreds of years, a popular place to go to get away from the heat of summer that besets points further south, like Rome. It has long been a special spot for people of wealth and power to go for vacation and has many old large villas and palaces which are now open to the general public. The lake is bounded by mountains that plunge down into the water at very steep angles and the higher craggy snow-covered peaks of the Alps look down on the lake from not too far away. Like any beautiful lake anywhere, the shore is studded with towns and houses just about any place where it’s not to steep to build (and in many places that seem like they ought to be).
We explore Como by walking toward the harbor where boats and ferries of various sizes leave to take tourists around the lake. The streets are narrow, running between buildings of stone, brick and stucco whose architecture is reminiscent of earlier years. Cars are blocked from driving on some of the streets and traffic is light. The population of Como is listed at about 489,000, but it has the ambience of something smaller. There are quite a few people out and strolling through the early evening with us, but it doesn’t feel at all like it’s crowded. The closer we come to the harbor, the more restaurants and stores we pass and we have no trouble finding a very nice place to eat and I indulge in some superb ossobuco alla milanese. After dinner, we find a gelateria and I ask for some spumoni ice cream. They don’t have any, but they promise that tomorrow night, they’ll give me a cup with the chocolate, pistachio and maraschino cherry ice cream that’s in spumoni. All in all, this has been a very pleasant ending to a long, protracted grueling day of travel.
Tomorrow, we go on a ferry to Bellagio, the so-called “Pearl of Como.”
To be continued…
Phyllis, strolling down the streets of Como.