Harriet and I just love being together and sharing our love of art, beauty, creativity, history and nature. We have so much in common. We just had to explore over the next day the Lake Como area. It was just AWESOME !! The combination of lake water, mountains, people and buildings was wonderful.
The ferry we all came across from Bellagio to Varenna
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A map of Lake Como
A map of Lake Como showing Bellagio where we were based as between the two divides of Lake Como. We caught the ferry that dropped us off at Varenna the next day then Menaggio another day. Where does the awesomeness and beauty start and finish??
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On The Ferry Going to Varenna
Mountains and water …. everywhere …. it was beautiful !!
Out on the water, you suddenly realise that the lake in surrounded by people. On the far edge of the lake are 1,000’s of people. There are stone – built homes for whole families. These homes go along the lake for kilometres but are in villages joined by roads going around the mountain.
Coming into the Village of Varrenna
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The Varenna Concourse
….. a large open space on the edge of Lake Como for accommodating people in boats …
The Varenna Concourse was made up of small hand – cut stones about 75 mm x 75 mm all placed in intersecting curves. They were hand placed and cut vs. machine cut and placed. This gave a very personal and historic dimension to the village of Varenna.
The Varenna Concourse rolls down in a stone wall to the waters edge … this prevents waves from eroding the concourse bank
Feeding pigeons and ducks on the concourse …. gives a sense of interesting movements, especially for children
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The Varenna Arbour
There was an absolutely beautiful pavement cafe on the waterside of the square. I was so stunned by the beauty of this table setting under the arbour set by the water of the lake. It was under an overhead trestle covered with a luxuriant green vine. The many tables were so nicely set out with a pink table cloth, cloth serviettes and silver cutlery. A restaurant on the opposite side of the road had set out this table setting. It was so wonderful and tranquil, I just had to take a series of photos to show you.
Motorbikes and a few cars were parked in the small parking lot on the concourse. The lack of cars and the tranquility of the area gave me a time for contemplation and writing word pictures for this post. I have begun a new process in Vernon two days earlier for myself of pottering and writing which I just love.
Harriet and I began to potter. Pottering is a process where you do not follow a map. You go from one interesting thing to another, then another. I started a new process for myself as an enduring principle. I had my camera hung around my neck but I carried a folder with many pages inside. As I would come across something interesting, I write out as a word picture of the thing which couldn’t be captured with a photograph. You couldn’t capture sounds, movements or smells with a photograph but you could with word pictures. I would then underline the sentence if I had taken a photograph. This led to a whole process of contemplation … of just enjoying the beauty of the item. What is around the next corner to see and discover? There was so much to see !!
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The Varenna Concourse Gardens
There was a wonderful overhead trellis over the tables but there was also gardens with many flowering plants growing in them. It gave a very inviting invitation to come to the tables and share a meal with someone else.
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Varenna As a Big Village
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See the next post: Trip 17: Lake Como = 22nd September 2017 = Varenna walking along the side of Lake Como for about a kilometre …..
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