Como, Italy
April 6 – 10, 2023
Saturday
Today’s plan was for some sightseeing – from the top of one of the surrounding hills. We went down to the breakfast room and put very little on our plates in anticipation of ordering something hot from the kitchen. Scrambled eggs and bacon was a great way to start the day.
The funicular is the easy way to get up to Brunate, but there was also a trail. “Stairs”, it was noted, and they weren’t kidding. The hotel was just a couple of streets from the start of the trail and it immediately went up.
The stairs were marked for San Donato, a little village part way up the hillside. The trail stayed under the trees for the most part, giving us peek-a-boo views back down to the town and across the lake.
View across the valley to Castello Baradello, a small medieval castle overlooking the town (c. 1158)
Still going up – it never stopped
Looking back at some switchbacks
Have I mentioned the constant gain in elevation?
The final approach to San Donato
A sweeping view of Como
Zooming in on our hotel
We had only gained 200 meters, but it had been a steady climb and a steady pace. Fortunately the weather was perfect: it had started out slightly cool and now that the sun was coming out and warming things up, a fresh breeze made things comfortable.
Oooh – the Alps!
City gates and walls are discernible from here
Goat!
Leaving San Donato behind
I was surprised that there wasn’t more to see at San Donato. The main building visible from Como is the Eremo di San Donato, a monastery from the 1400s, although it was originally built in the 7th century, possibly as a signal tower. Today this historic building is a condominium, the only evidence of its glorious past being many works of art and a church still in the building.
The trail passed in front of the Hermitage, up along one side of it and then crossed behind it. There was little to see from our perspective and nothing to do but keep on climbing.
At this point I stopped taking pictures; how many pictures of a steep trail does there really need to be? I used the “trail side poetry” plaques as an excuse to stop once in a while. Wooden boards were attached to trees periodically, with large, flowing text painted on the boards. Each poem was only four lines long, but posted in both English and Italian, and I tried to understand the deeper meaning behind some of the phrases.
I am not a fan of poetry but in this situation, I appreciated its presence: it gave me a valid reason to catch my breath.
And then finally we were at the town of Brunate! Over 500 meters of elevation in 1.5 kilometers; I can’t believe I made it. We had arrived via the trail and not the funicular and it felt like we snuck in through the back door. Although from what I gather, once the summer crowds descend on Como, a lot of them take the stairs to Brunate. Yuck – I can’t imagine making that trek in the heat of summer.
More views of the Alps, with Chiasso in the middle ground
Brunate Cathedral “Chiesa di Sant’Andrea Apostolo”
Rooftop details
I enjoy looking at the organs in these buildings and would love to hear them
The town was small and we had a further destination in mind: the Volta Lighthouse. Our breakfast hostess had suggested it when we told her that we were going to hike up to Brunate. We’d made it this far – what’s a little further?
I had seen his name before, but hadn’t realized just who he was until now. Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) was the inventor of the electrical battery and is one of the most important historical personalities to come from Como. This was evident by the number of places dedicated to him: Piazza Volta, Via Volta, the ancestral home of Alessandro Volta, Volta museum, Life Electric sculpture, Volta’s tomb…I’m surprised that they didn’t rename the town after him!
Zoomed-in view of the Volta Museum from Brunate
Narrow streets of Brunate
Grottos! Grottos everywhere! (Want to know more about their history? Click here!)
While I was taking pictures of the church, Dan was scouting for the path to the Volta Lighthouse. I caught up to him and we started on a relatively flat road that followed the side of the mountain. It crossed through a cemetery and by some amazing homes, most of them partially hidden behind tall walls and hedges. This was quite an enclave of fine Victorian architecture.
A look at the lake – see the circled white thing?
Compliments of the Super Zoom(tm): Now you can!
Then we reached the end of the path and there was no lighthouse in sight. We had taken the wrong trail. Fortunately it had been a level detour and it was a quick return to Brunate, where we found the correct trail.
Ah! this must be the correct way: it goes UP!
The correct path was busy. The people who had taken the funicular to Brunate now joined us to the top of the mountain. There wasn’t much to see during this section: just another constant uphill trudge. Eventually we reached a roundabout surrounded by hotels, restaurants and tourist information. From here there was yet another set of stairs that led up to the Lighthouse itself. And with a final climb, we were at the base of the lighthouse!
Chiesa di San Maurizio on the left (the Lighthouse is behind us)
Dan asked if I was going to go to the top of the tower – are you kidding me? I said no, but he tried to entice me with “Don’t you want to see the view?” I could see the view just fine from here, thank-you-very-much. And to be honest, while the Alps were beautiful in the north, the view to the south was hazy. We had heard that on a clear day one could see the top of the Duomo in Milan. That wasn’t going to happen today.
We had brought our lunch with us and found a quiet place to sit and enjoy our meal. It had been a good morning and we discussed our return to Como. I had assumed that we’d walk back to Brunate and take the funicular down. After all, who doesn’t like a funicular? But Dan had other ideas…
Back in Basel, Dan had printed out a topographical map of this area. As we looked it over, we could see that there was an alternative trail down to Blevio, the next village along the eastern shore of Lake Como. The path looked steep, but we could then take a ferry back from Blevio to Como, or maybe even walk back on a lakeside path. It sounded like an adventure – just what we like!
Starting down the north side of the mountain
Dan double checks the map
A touch of spring in the forest
It was a steep hillside
The trail was obviously not as well-used or maintained as the one we had taken to get to the top. But it was trodden down enough so that we could see the path, and periodically there was some signage. It was peaceful and no one else was around.
A literal string of cans was hung along one section
An abandoned house in the middle of nowhere
And then it got steeper – this is looking back up the trail
Most people hate to hike downhill, but I can normally go downhill “all day”. However today was not one of those days. My right hamstring tendon was inflamed and it hurt. It hurt to lift my leg, and I started to hobble ever more slowly behind Dan. I was really hoping that we were almost done with this hill!
A house prone to flooding
Finally entering Belivio!
We had reached the main road, “via Torno”, where we hoped to find signage for a nice walking path back to Como. Nope, no signs whatsoever. I did notice a sign for a ferry terminal and we started to follow a road even further downhill, to the water’s edge. There was a couple with their child also walking in this direction and they confirmed that yes, there was a ferry and yes, there was a path along the lake to Como. Excellent!
We reached a parking lot at the bottom of this hill but there was zero evidence of either a ferry or a walking path. Dan kept checking GoogleMaps on his phone, sure that he’d see something there. But no, nothing showed up except a boat rental place and a park. We were stuck. Our only option at this point appeared to be to walk back up the hill to via Torno and wait for a bus. Walking along the road was out of the question: it was a very narrow road and the vehicles that drove by, drove by fast. But neither of us wanted to go back up the hill, so what do we do now?
We called an Uber.
It was going to be an expensive ride, but it would be worth it not to have to walk any further. Dan made the arrangements with his phone and said that the car should be here in twenty minutes.
Five minutes before the car was to arrive I noticed some movement on the water: it was a ferry boat heading away from the shore. There WAS a ferry terminal here – we just never saw it! Well, it was too late now and the car arrived just a few minutes later. I was very happy to grab a seat and relax for the drive back to Como. It was only 3.5 km and it would have been an easy walk – if there had been somewhere safe to walk. The car was smooth and quiet, and while our driver spoke English, it was not his first language and conversation was awkward. We sat in silence, enjoying the views across the lake.
And then the traffic stopped.
We sat still for minutes at a time before creeping forward a few feet, only to stop again. This went on for thirty minutes. Thirty minutes to go 1.5 kilometers! Finally our driver suggested that we could walk if we wanted to. There was clearly no danger of speeding cars at this point so we took him up on his offer, grabbed our backpacks from the trunk and started walking.
We had assumed that the delay was due to inefficient traffic control at a construction site but no, it was nothing as simple as that. Instead, there were simply too many vehicles on a road not built to accommodate them. Wider vehicles tried to wedge themselves passed other vehicles, some pulling over as much as they could, stopping while oncoming traffic streamed by. Amongst all of this were bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles, literally slaloming down the middle. Chaos, Italian style!
Google knew…
We ended up walking two kilometers to the city center. We were both tired and done for the day. We knew that we wouldn’t want to go back out once we had returned to the hotel, so we hit Carrafour again and grabbed supplies to tide us over until breakfast tomorrow.
What a day!