After a very long day yesterday, we all went to bed pretty early—but this also meant we were all awake early.
The kids did well and slept from 7 pm through to just after 4 am, and stayed in bed until about 5 am when restlessness got the better of them (as it does).
So it was time to get up and have a chilled, slow morning—leftover pizza from last night’s dinner and a coffee or two while taking in the views. What’s not to love!
Morning Varenna
Coffee with a view
We decided to spend the morning in Bellagio. We headed out at about 8:30 am, which was quite pleasant as the tourists had not arrived in town yet.
We walked down to the Varenna ferry terminal and bought return tickets.
The ferry ride over to Bellagio took about 15–20 minutes and provided some amazing views of the mountains and towns on both sides of the lake.
Bellagio was still quiet when we arrived. It was great. We explored the streets and alleys and worked our way back from the ferry terminal up the hillside into the back streets of the town.
Up in the back streets, we found a lovely little bottega where we picked up a few supplies for our morning—a large punnet of sweet cherry tomatoes, a punnet of strawberries, a packet of chips, some prosciutto, and some mozzarella.
Feels funny to say, “We just popped over to Bellagio to pick up some groceries.”
Anyway, that had the morning snacks and lunch sorted.
We continued exploring. Bellagio is a beautiful little town. It was clean and refined, with interesting things to find around most corners.
After a few hours of exploring, we decided it was time to head home—but not before picking up some more supplies for dinner from our favourite little backstreet bottega: more cherry tomatoes, a mixed salad, some beers, a bottle of wine, as well as a bottle of Aperol spritz.
Just up the street from the bottega was a funky homemade pasta place. They cook fresh pasta while you wait. We picked up a packet of their dried pasta and a bottle of their homemade passata to take back home for dinner.
I note that the 300 ml of passata, while tasty, was 8 Euro (about $16 AUD 😱).
After finishing our grocery shopping in Bellagio, we continued to wander and headed back to the ferry terminal to catch the 12 pm ferry back to Varenna. After a big morning out, it was certainly time for some lunch back at the apartment.
After lunch, we chilled out in the apartment to let everyone recharge a little—our version of a siesta, I guess.
Later in the afternoon, we walked up to the main piazza in Varenna and took a walk through the beautiful botanical gardens that line the waterfront.
When we finished at the gardens, we made our way back to the apartment—via a gelato shop. Did I forget to mention we have two at the bottom of the stairs of our apartment? (Spoilt for choice—the kids have tried both.)
So, a well-deserved gelato all round to finish off the day’s outings.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling out back at the apartment, taking in the view and people-watching… The influencers and their boyfriends with tech skills are everywhere 😬 (I’ve started to narrate what they are doing from the balcony.)
Eventually, it was time for dinner. We prepared the pasta and sauce we bought in Bellagio, paired with our salad and a bottle of red wine from the bottega, as well as a focaccia and a healthy wedge of parmesan cheese. Delicious and just what we needed after such a big day.
One last walk after dinner. We circled down to the ferry terminal and back home—making it back just in time to see the last rays of sunset from our balcony as it slowly dipped down behind the mountains.
Everyone is pretty tired after today. We have pushed through to a lot later than last night, and hopefully that will flow through to improved sleep tonight—here’s hoping anyway. 🤞
Photos of Bellagio
Varenna from the ferry
Lunch back at the apartment
The Botanic Gardens
Passionfruit icey pole
Spritz time
Dinner time
Evening
