We were able to sleep in a little bit today, we did not wake up until 7:30 AM. After getting ready, and packing up our suitcases as much as we could in case we need to leave today to avoid the train strike, we walked to the train station. The travel agency that is coordinating the alternative bus transportation to Milan tomorrow during the train strike is located in an office at the station.
We arrived at the train station just a little before 9:00 AM, which was the posted time for the opening of the travel agency. We only waited a few minutes and they opened their doors. We wanted to get there right at opening time because we were worried there would be a line of people needing to reserve the buses they had arranged for replacement transportation to the central station in Milan.
Luckily, there was not anyone there other than us, but the agent did get two calls for reservations for the buses before she could even get to us. Fortunately, there were still 12 spaces left on the early bus. The agent told us that the early bus was scheduled to depart Varenna to match the arrival time in Milan of the 10:37 AM train from Varenna, which was the one we were originally scheduled to take, and which was the most popular train departure time for people leaving Varenna for Milano Centrale.
We paid our Euro 30.00 per person, non-refundable bus transport cost, which was just slightly higher than the Euro 12.60 we paid already for both of us to travel by train……..sarcasm. We assumed that this bus transportation was scheduled by the travel agency, and although it was nice to have alternate transportation, they probably really love it when there is a strike, it is a pot of gold for them. However, we were glad we did not have to worry about getting to Milan on time for our next train to Riomaggiore, which is also already booked, and non-refundable. The agent explained that the strike tomorrow is only for the north of Italy for a company called Trenord, which is loosely interpreted as the “north train”. It is apparently a subsidiary of Trenitalia, the main Italian Train Company. The strike does not impact train travel from Milan southward on the normal Trenitalia trains, so once we get to Milan, barring the bus being late, we should not have any other strike related issues.
We asked if the strike might be settled before the start time, but she indicated that it was “serious” and those strikes most likely always occur. Of course, we wondered why the bus cost was non-refundable, so there must be some times when the strikes are averted. At least we felt comfortable that we would get to Riomaggiore tomorrow without any delays.
With that settled, our next task was to try and figure out a plan to get Stephanie’s cell phone repaired. We had located a certified Samsung repair facility in Como, which is quite a distance by train and bus to the south. Because we had train schedule issues getting there yesterday morning, we asked the travel agent what she recommended for travel to Como, and she said go by fast ferry and not by train.
We headed back to the apartment to try and call the repair facility to make sure they had the parts and could do the repair before we headed to Como. I called and got an Italian only phone menu, so I just stayed on the line and eventually, someone answered. Unfortunately, she could only speak limited English, and so it was a struggle to figure out what information they needed from us. We finally understood that she needed the serial number of the phone to make sure they had the parts, and that they were compatible. We finally found out where the serial number was on the phone via a Google Search, and gave it to her. The serial number was in tiny print on the back of the phone. It took a couple of times of repeating the number, but we finally got it to her. Then she was trying to tell me that the screens for USA phones and European Samsung phones are different. I thought she needed us to bring her the phone to verify something, but we finally found out that was not the case after I was able to talk to another person who spoke more English. The second person verified that they could not repair the phone without ordering USA parts, and we needed to call Samsung to find out who else might be able to do the repair sooner.
At least we had not spent the cost and time to go back to Como, so the call was worthwhile, but did not resolve the phone repair issue.
It was already about 11:00 AM, so we decided to take the ferry to the town of Lenno, across the lake and south of Varenna, to visit the Villa del Balbianello. The Villa was used in Star Wars Episode II, and also in Casino Royale, the James Bond movie. It had beautiful gardens, and was on a prominent point on Lake Como. It was originally built the late 1700’s by Cardinal Durini when he acquired the land on Lake Como. It was his summer residence. It was sold and bought a few times and now is owned by something called the FIA, the National Trust of Italy, who inherited it from the last owner Guido Monzino, who was a famous Italian explorer in the 1960’s and 1970’s, who died in 1988.
We headed down to the ferry dock and purchased our tickets, and waited about 15 minutes for the next ferry. We were able to get tickets that are for just the towns nearby to Varenna, and they allow us to ride all day and get on and off as we please. At least the weather was really nice today, a lot more sunshine, but some high clouds in the mountains, and a little bit of a foggy haze. The ferry ride to Lenno was nice and took about 30 minutes.
We had not eaten much for breakfast, and since it was close to lunchtime when we arrived in Lenno, we found a nice restaurant near the lake. We enjoyed some of their specialty hamburgers and a liter of red wine to relax from the stress of travel alterations and phone repairs.
After lunch, we walked to the Villa, which was quite a hike, about 30 minutes of pretty steep walking. It was quite warm today and the hike was not the easiest after just eating a big lunch with adult refreshments. By the time we arrived at the Villa, any relaxing effects from the lunch beverages was completely sweated out!
We purchased our two entry tickets, which included both the Villa gardens, plus a 50 minute guided tour of the Villa and adjacent buildings. It was a beautiful setting, right on some high cliffs on the lake, but the Villa also had direct access down to the water. We had about 30 minutes to explore the gardens before our tour, and at 2:40 PM, we gathered at the tour meeting point.
The tour was nice and informative, but we were all distracted by a young German couple with a small boy about five, who was climbing all over the furnishings during the tour, and their two twin boys, about 2 years old riding in their stroller. Discipline was not apparently practiced in that household, and it was really distracting for both the guide and the rest of the people in the tour. The tour was in English, so we are not even sure they understood anything our guide said.
After the tour was over, we headed back out to the grounds for a few more photos, and then started the 30 minute walk back to the ferry dock. At least most of the way back it was downhill, so it was easier than the walk to the Villa. We arrived at the ferry dock and had to wait about 20 minutes for the next ferry, which was of course, late. It seems that the Italians have published schedules, but only for the purpose of having them, apparently adherence to the schedules seems mostly optional.
It was a nice 30 minute ferry ride back to Varenna, after stopping at a few towns on the route back. It was nice to be out in the sunshine, and we had seats outside on the bow of the ferry boat for the ride back.
We got back to the apartment about 5:20 PM, and had a few minutes to refresh and relax before heading to Catholic Mass at the church in Varenna. We had all of about a 3 minute walk to the church, and luckily, it was all flat. We were a little sore and stiff from the walk to the Villa, and then just sitting during the 30 minute ferry ride back home.
After Mass, we walked around a little bit and then purchased some yogurt at the small, and we mean really small, grocery store near our apartment for tomorrow’s breakfast.
It was a little cooler tonight, so we got some jackets from the room, and then headed to dinner. We ended up eating at the same restaurant as last night, Il Molo, we knew the food was good, and so was the wine. They have such an extensive menu, there were certainly plenty of options to try new things. It was more crowded tonight, there was a large wedding party of Brits taking up a large section of the lower outdoor eating area, so we had to wait for a table in the upper terrace area away from the noise of that crowd.
We waited about 20 minutes before a table was ready, and although it was not the most scenic, we were ready to eat. While we were waiting for a table, we realized from monitoring where other people were in their dining process that no other tables were opening up anytime soon, so this table was really been our only choice.
Dinner was nice, I had pasta and Stephanie tried a different white sauce pizza, with of course a bottle of their own Red Wine, Il Molo Rosso. After dinner, we split a to-go cup of chocolate and chocolate chip Gelato, and then headed back to the apartment to pack for our travels tomorrow. We are finding that living out of suitcases is tough, we have not done that for quite a few years while mostly taking cruises, but we seem to be adapting.
We were also able to complete this posting, which is good, it is hard to keep up if we go too far out into the trip without doing the updates, we often have to take a few notes to be able to remember the details of each day. While we were writing this post, we received a notification from our hotel in Riomaggiore about a severe weather “Orange” alert for tomorrow in Cinque Terre, which Riomaggiore is part of. Orange is only one level lower than the highest warning of Red. We think all of the storms may be from the remnants of TS Humberto that has made its way across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean. They are expecting a lot of rain, and flooding, so they said a lot of the stores and restaurants are required to be closed, and suggested we bring some food with us. That will be something we will have to address tomorrow morning before we leave. There is not much food available here to purchase in the small food stores, and we are not even sure they will be open tomorrow morning since it is Sunday. Maybe we can get something in the train station in Milan tomorrow as a last resort.
That is all for today, we will be travelling tomorrow, and may have an opportunity to download and post some photos. It is forecast to be a rainy day tomorrow, and most of Monday in Riomaggiore, so that may give us time to catch up on photos, which is an unfortunate circumstance, we would much rather be out exploring Cinque Terre in the sunshine than inside our hotel, safe from the rain
We headed off to bed at about 10:30 PM.