We escaped the rainy weather at the lake and went to Torino where it was supposed to be sunny and mild.  The weatherman was right on!   The forecast for the follwowing day back at the lake was supposed to be sunny, so we decided to put all our bets on it and planned a day on the opposite shore, at the little town of Varrena.  It was perfect!   We had the ferry boat almost to ourselves.

The eastern shore of the lake is definitely quieter than the western side where we are based.  Varenna is a picturesque town with a handfull of small hotels, one quite posh in an old villa, and a small amount of shopping.  Nothing is overdone and the little piazza above and separate from the shoreline is very charming, with a few small restaurants, a church, and some large sycamore trees lending greenery and shade.  On the south end of town we toured the beautiful botanic garden on the grounds of the Villa Monastero.  There were still lots of flowers still in bloom, and the statuary and setting immediately above the water were stunning.

We had a wonderful lunch in the piazza and watched as a wedding party pulled up in a vintage red Fiat and took some photos before racing off, to the church I presume.  Afterwards it was exercise time and we chose to hike up the hill to the small castle/fortress overlooking the town.  It was only 750 feet away as the crow flies and 550 feet higher in elevation.  This should be easy.  The cobblestone path wound up the hill through some dense woods, eventually emerging next to a small cluster of houses at the foot of the stone walls.  We poked around for a bit,  Laura played warrior queen, and we made it back down in perfect timing to catch the boat back across the lake.

Where is everybody? Did we miss the announcement?

Often times we can see from either our apartment balcony or while traveling on the lake quite serious plumes of dense smoke . I am not certain, but think they are from small smoke houses preparing meat.

A portion of the town of Varenna.

This is the business end of a classic street sweeping broom in Italy. There is actually a small bush grown here which supplys the branches that are then bundled to make the broom. I was saddened to see that green plastic had replaced many of these. Green plastic makes for ugly photos.

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Here I am! Take my picture.

The gardens are directly above the walled shoreline of the lake.

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Really, I wasn’t thinking about fishing the shoreline. Not!

Did I say the weather was nice this day?

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Not exactly a limo. But oh so Italian.

Did anyone tell the florist about air cooled engines???

Off to the next stop!

I need one of these at the ranch house.  I like the varying rind of color and moss above the water line.

I am not even sure what to say!

Heading back home before the gelato shop runs out of cones.