Going for lunch on Lake Lugano – a trip from Lake Como

We were staying in Lake Como last year in August, and fancied a trip to somewhere different. The Swiss border is very nearby, so we popped over and headed over to Lake Lugano to find some lunch. From Nesso you can either head down to Como and take the E35 or drive up to Bellago and take the car ferry across Lake Como and follow one of the smaller roads over to Lugano.

We went via Como, and ended up at the southern end of Lake Lugano in the village of Morcote. The area has a different feel to Como, even though it’s so close ( it took us just an hour from Nesso.

Morcote is a very attractive and quiet spot and we had a choice of places to eat, quite a few of which are right over the edge of the lake. We ate in the Ristorante della Posta, which is part of the Albergo della Poste which was lovely and we got to say that we’d been to Switzerland for lunch!

Morcote, Lake Lugano

Morcote, Lake Lugano

Morcote, Lake Lugano

Ristorante della Poste, Morcote, Lake Lugano

Ristorante della Poste, Morcote, Lake Lugano

Morcote, Lake Lugano

Morcote, Lake Lugano

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Press coverage

Here’s a piece from the Herald newspaper, written by a journalist who stayed in Nesso on Lake Como and did some walking and foragin

The Herald Magazine

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Winter around Lake Como

Some people ask us,  ‘what can you do around Lake Como in the Winter?’  thinking that it’s just a Summer resort.

Well, we came across this website link yesterday which pulls together lots of information about events around Lake Como over Christmas and New Year. There are Christmas markets, an dinner cruise on the lake on New Year’s Eve (Capodanno) and lots more.  It’s a nice place to come for a few days after a skiing trip.

One Festival not mentioned in that link is La Befana which I wrote about earlier this year. La Befana.

Apart from Christmas and New Year festivities there are other things to do in Winter. The Moto Guzzi museum is open every working day from 1500-1600 except during August and in Como there’s also the Silk museum. The Como area is famous for silk, and many shops in Como and Bellagio sell beautiful examples.

Como also has a lovely theatre, Teatro Sociale Como which has dance and opera throughout the year…today, 10th December it’s ballet..

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The Festival of San Lorenzo in Nesso

The beginning of August is a great time to be in Nesso. The village is humming with visitors and there are the celebrations for the village saint, San Lorenzo.

We were there last year and went to the village Sagra, which is on the Friday and Saturday evenings

The village is all decorated with ribbons

And lots of people lend a hand to make sure it goes with a swing….

And they certainly know a thing or two about dancing!

The fireworks took place on the Saturday evening. They’re launched from a barge in the middle of the lake and people come in their boats to watch. We watched if all after dinner from our next door neighbours’ terrace. It’s a quite a spectacle..

 

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Tre Rose Restaurant & Hotel in Nesso

I have been meaning to write this post since way back in March this year, when we were in Nesso. We have been eating at the Tre Rose for ages. It’s is a simple clean hotel with beautiful views, and a lovely restaurant which also has a terrace on the other side of the road overlooking the lake.

The Tre Rose

The whole place is run by the fantastic Antoinetta; here’s a picture of her from a few years ago

Antoinetta

She doesn’t speak English, but it really doesn’t matter at all!

In March we were there on the weekend of Festa della Donna (we saw lots of traditional Mimosa flowers and also Mimosa cakes for sale) which meant it was a busy Saturday evening in Tre Rose. We had a drink before dinner at the cafe just opposite (which is also where you buy bus tickets) and just as we got to the restaurant it started to get busy with lots of locals.
There were groups of friends dining and various teenagers popping in and out, chatting at the bar, and saying Hi to Mum & Dad who were there eating. The atmosphere was lovely and as always the food was great; you can choose from pizza, or have the more formal Antipasti, Primo, Secondo etc.

Of course in addition to the lovely Antoinetta, the other star of the Tre Rose is Carlotta…and here she is….

Finally they have free wifi, which is always useful.

 

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Free WiFi in Como

If you are ever in Como with your laptop and looking to get online there are very few places at the moment that do it, but I found two places I can recommend.

The best (for me anyway) is the tiny cafe ‘Seven Stars’ cafe at Via Garibaldi 42. If you’ve just arrived and are walking from the main railway station (Como, San Giovanni) towards the centre of town it’s on the left just across the traffic lights from that sculpture of two huge hands. You’ll see them don’t worry! The place has been run since the beginning of 2010 by a charming guy named Simone. He decided to see if offering free wi-fi would help business. I hope he keeps doing it, as few other places are. The place is tiny, but it’s in a convenient location and has plenty of power sockets. A tucked away and quiet little spot to settle in with a coffee or an aperetivo and catch up on some emails.

The only other place I could find was Bar Touring on Piazza Cavour (which is the main square down by the ferry ticket office). It’s a bit of a larger and more trendy place (in the Italian sense of the word!) and many of the young staff in there speak English. An even more convenient location, but they have few power sockets. Also it seems a bit like a place to ‘see and be seen’, so I felt a bit conspicuous sitting there with my laptop… or maybe I just felt a bit old! Either way I guess it’s nice, if you are in the mood, that you also get the chance to watch the world walking by as you check your emails.

That’s about all I could find in Como town centre. Please drop us a comment if you find somewhere else and we’ll check it out next time we’re in town. 🙂

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Mushrooms and Chestnuts

We were in Nessoat the end of September. The weather was still lovely and on a couple of days it was up to 26C. A lot of of our friends and neighbours were very busy going out into the woods mushroom picking; one friend explained that the moon was right so he was going first thing in the morning. Another neighbour had an amazing collection of different types and explained exactly how each one should be used eg. this should be fried with steak…. We’re a tad hesitant about venturing forth collecting mushroom ourselves, as we’re not sure how to decide which ones are edible and that’s not a mistake that you want to make! However next year I think that we have to get someone to take us up in the woods above Nesso and show us what we can pick.
There were plenty of chestnuts on the paths around Nesso. It’s another big thing in the area at this time of year and I was tempted to collect some to take home for chestnut stuffing. They are a big Italian export and they feature in recipes from Lombardy (Lake Como is in Lombardy)
I’ll finish with this picture I took while we were there, a rather lovely view from the lakeside garden, looking down the lake towards Como.

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