Lake Como

From our home base in Chieri, Italy Lake Como is about a little over three hours to the lake plus a ferry to get to the lake side village we were staying Menaggio.  Prices in lake Como were the highest we have seen so far so we booked into a Hostel.   There were no private rooms so we booked a room with two bunk beds and a private bathroom.    The Hostel was fun with a common area that turned into a restaurant at 7pm and then evolved into a bar as the night progressed.  One night the Australian bar tender pulled out a guitar plugged into an amp and got the whole place singing.    Aside from roaming the narrow winding streets of the various towns around the lake we toured two of the most interesting villas.   Villa Cara Carlotta and Villa Balbianello.   My favourite was Balbianello because the family that donated it stipulated that nothing be changed - so as you walked around it literally felt like Count Guido Monzinio just packed his bags and walked out the door.  The Villa has appeared in many films including Casino Royal 2006 and Star Wars Attack of the Clones 2002,   There is a wedding here almost every day 365 days a year and we saw multiple brides either checking out the premise or changing into wedding cloths for a quick photo shoot.  You can even book a Star Wars themed wedding complete with Star Wars and a blessing from Darth Vader.