Calipso Lugano

... hill to the Volta Lighthouse. If it wasn't for the foggy view we would have had a great panoramic view of Lake Como and it's surrounds.
After walking back down to Como we caught the bus out to Belaggio which is at the furthest point on the lake. Town was completely dead. a couple of cafes and post card shops open and that was it!
Some nice ...

... but it was nice to be able to relax and have a quiet walk around the villages. I needed to take a lot of ferries as this is the quickest way to get between each town as they are all placed at different points around the lake. A very nice place that I would love to visit again in the Summertime.

Next stop is Venice, Italy!

... quaint with beautiful villas. We walked the gardens of the Melza Villa. The canons in the photos are not toys....they are from the Napoleonic period...used to defeat Milan. The keys are to the city of Milan from the 1700's.

The food here is terrific. We travel back to Milan tomorrow to pick up our friends and head to the villa in Montanione. Forecast is for thunderstorms...yeah!

Love,
R ich and Kara

... the world as an explorer and mountain climber. Through his travels he had collected art from Africa, Asia, South America and other parts of Europe. The Villa was a museum dedicated to his travels and collections. Very interesting!
Tonight is our last in Lake Como. We had originally planned to stay the last night in ...

... down in a square. The tour guide told the story of this event which was in fact played out around Como with the bodies being hung upside down in the nearby city of Milan.

As with everything these days I was able to retrieve the picture from the internet and have included it to reinforce the adage that violence begets violence - and on a smaller scale even the young love in Romeo and Juliet is destroyed by family conflict ...

... overload.

We toured Villa Melzi and its beautiful English-style giardini (gardens) with groves of azaleas, gigantic rhododendrons and perfectly manicured hedges all which sit on the lake's banks. We enjoyed a panini on the waterfront, lemoncello on la terraza, and just took it all in... this is a place one must experience ...

... Italian. Eventually I did return to reality, but not until after we visited Swiss Miniatur and San Salvatore. Swiss Miniatur is more or less self-explanatory, but I will say it was really cool to visit as a Swiss resident. It gave me and my friend some great ideas for future trips in the country. There are so many castles we never even knew existed! They really captured the great sites and monuments of Switzerland, including mountain ...

... be having their aperitifs, and the area was spotless, and there were no noisy mopeds nor cheesy music blasting from cars driving along the promenade. If you ever go to this region. You must go to Morcote. See for yourself. After Lugano, Francine and Nick returned to London and we went on to Luzern, which is about 2.5 hours by train from Lugano. I went ...

... But, somehow, it works with efficiency that has become a trademark, and as a nation continues to provide a standard of living for its residents envied by the world over. My first experience of the Italian part of Switzerland gave me no clearer answer – the architecture in the city of Lugano looked Italian, the people looked stylishly Italian, and, even with the low rain clouds closing in fast, Italy was plainly in view just across the other side of the lake. Lugano seemed ...

... Lugano where I had resided over a weekend and discussed the Macedonian question with him. He was so well read. Ljubo was one of the brothers of Dianko Markov who was a prisoner (under the communists of course) in Sofia as a monarchist and who made life-long friendship with my father who was also a prisoner with him but as a revisionist or simply said Titoist spy. (to continue)