Bellagio, Italy

On April 19th, I went with a group of four other American ladies to the town of Bellagio, Italy. Our plan was to drive to the city of Como, park the car, and take the ferry to Bellagio. When we got to Como, however, we were having problems finding parking. So DeeAnn, our fearless driver, decided to just drive to Bellagio. The distance between the two towns is 36 kilometers (a little over 22 miles). The roads, however, are narrow and windy, which meant the relatively short distance took us 45 minutes to drive! 45 rather nerve-racking minutes, I might add. But we finally made it! And it was well worth the tension!

Since it was already 11:30, we decided to go shopping first. You never know if shops are going to close for a few hours in the afternoon - even in tourist areas. About half the shops in Bellagio closed, so it was good we shopped when we did. Shopping was a workout. This is the view looking back down the steps we climbed to go shopping. And I wasn't even at the top! The shops lined the hill on either side. We found some really fun stuff. I fell in love with a small 3 piece nativity, but it was very expensive, so I was good and left it behind.

After shopping and eating lunch, we wandered around admiring the scenery. We saw so many beautiful flowers, including these, which I have been told are called Banks roses.
We had fun looking at the interesting buildings.
We admired the views looking out across the lake. Too bad my pictures never do it justice.
Bellagio was a beautiful town. It was a lot of fun to explore, and well worth the white knuckle drive!