Charge your batteries.. (Lake Como)

Member Name: vhart

Product:	Lake Como
Date:	17/09/00 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good ice cream, beautiful lake, beautiful scenery , especially good for Volta fans

Disadvantages: quite small, more expensive than other parts of italy.

Como, a city, unsurprisingly on the edges of Lake Como, is a small 'genteel' city, a wealthy town, too large to be 'just' a resort, but not large enough to reach the heights of 'sparkling metropolis'. It is a pleasant city in which to spend time, the kind that one would possibly describe as 'civilised', where you can imagine the richer, middle-aged Milanese businessmen might spend a weekend, or a couple of weeks in the summer!

I hope that doesn't sound too damning because I certainly don't mean it to! Of course, the Lake is the key draw, there are boat trips you can take from the shore, and it is one of the larger of the lakes in northern Italy. Switzerland lies a few miles north, and Como is well-located in the foothills of the Alps.

Como's most famous son, Alessandro Volta, certainly has a ubiquitous presence, with many statues, roads, parks etc named after him. Actually, my friend and I played a version of Volta cricket, where you get four runs for a statue, two for a street or plaque, one for a shop/restaurant and a six for a piazza.. ok, that probably says a lot more about our mentality than about the city, but it is indicative of the city! (I won, incidently, after finding the mausoleum in the park.. he couldn't beat that!!).

Speaking of the park by the lake, it is very pretty, nice for picnics, with a beautiful view of the lake itself and the mountains rising in the distance.

I also had one of my favourite ever ice-creams in Como (green apple and lemon, for the record, it remains engraved on my heart.. or should I say thighs :).

Como is not a large city, it's key attraction is, of course, the lake and the scenery surrounding, but it can be worth a day or two if heading north, and is especially recommended for fans of Alessandro Volta! (they have a good line of postcards with pictures of him!). It has good train connections to and from Milan and is only about
an hour north.

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