For a daytime expedition to two very small villages, this will be rather a long post. No, not because of all the blah blah blah narrative I usually do. I have a lot of photos to share in the post. Get seated, and get ready to scroll.
I've already posted about the Lake Como ferries. We really should have understood better just how awesome a service they are. Comfortable, providing scenic travel, a good price. Our first morning at Filario, we decided at breakfast that we would go somewhere that we could get to by ferry.
Figuring out the schedule took a little doing (no, really - we saw it play out many times at the ferry stops that people did not understand the schedule and sometimes had unrealistic expectations about where the ferry went and when and such), but we settled on crossing over to Argegno and just checking the place out. Onto the ferry
across the lake,
a few stops and sights along the way,
and then we were there.
Argegno had the benefit of not quite clinging to the side of the low mountains and hills surrounding the lake.
It was a little more than on street deep, in other words. Not much more, but a little more. We wandered through the small centre
and made note of a possible lunch option, then headed over to the gondola to take us up to Pigra.
Pigra is a sweet little village. Village? Maybe a hamlet. Wikipedia tells me that the population in 2004 was 294. I doubt it's grown any since then, but maybe? There were a couple of places for tourists up there, but we simply admired the views of the lake below
(the gondola rises over 500m),
walked around the place,
and took a number of photos.
Notable were the many images devoted to cats - it must be their theme.
Also notable: a little public library (we didn't go in).
Further notable: seemingly abandoned homes.
On a lark, we afterwards looked up Pigra real estate, and at least one such building was available at a very low price. Mind you, another home with outstanding views was available at a not-so-low price. Oh, and kudos to the person with the anti-fascist sticker on their garage.
Would that we had that perspective here!
Anyway, we came back down and headed for a late-ish lunch at Bistrò Argegno.
It was a cool place, like a wine shop
that sold food. The husband (we guessed) of the owner couple seemed gruff at first, but he did recommend a good wine
and brought out a platter of meats and cheeses that was so generous that we couldn't quite finish it.
He warmed up, though, when we asked him more about the wines and for a recommendation for a bottle to bring back to sip at the hotel. His wife was delightful, and we talked with them both about how business had been and the weather and such. We bought a few other things at the store, including the wine (which we didn't end up sipping and brought home with us instead), and headed back to the village centre. That was the opportunity for Van to get his gelato on Lake Como, and so we did. I had walnut flavoured,
and I liked it far more than the intense dark double chocolate that the other two had.
Time, then, to head back across the lake!
After a day's adventure, we ventured only close by for dinner, to the Hotel Helvetia Ristorante and Pizzeria. A negroni before me,
a shared plate of lake fish small bites,
and a simple and tasty piece of lake fish for dinner.
Not a fancy meal, no, but everything was prepared well and hit the spot just right!
We had a few more days to go along Lake Como, and we knew - and you have seen - that we would be on those ferries again!
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