Our swarthy southern Italian driver. Not a word spoken during the hour long trip. Just subtle gestures with head and hand. He was a man of many talents as he operated his bus along the narrow, twisty roads, honking at every turn, breaking, stopping and sometimes even backing up so the opposing traffic could squeeze through and then so could we. Then his cel phone rang! After he managed to extricate it from the pack around his waist ...Prego! The only word we'd heard so far.....a short conversation ensued using his right hand, he didn't miss a beat, or a honk and continued steering all with his left hand.
Sitting in the front seat we could see everything and it was also easy to get a couple of pictures of him without distracting him, Bahahaaa ....talk about distracted drivers!! The driving is crazy over here but nobody gets upset. They're animated and excitable but in a relaxed manner. An oxymoron of behaviour?
As with Lugano it was a bit overwhelming to arrive in a city by bus for only an afternoon. You start out not really knowing where to go. As we are interested in the old buildings and churches we looked for the tallest spire or dome and walked towards it. Sure enough we find ourselves in the main plaza, the heart of the city with its famous Cathedral Duomo. It's construction started in 1396 but wasn't completed until 1770 when the famous 70 meter high cupola was set in place. Coming to Como was a spur of the moment side trip away from the group so other than figuring out how to get here we didn't do much investigating as to what we should look for. We wandered the spacious and busy Plaza Duomo finally settling in a cafe facing the beautiful front facade of the church.
For a few hours we enjoy a small look at the old city of Como while we do what we are becoming quite good at; relaxing in a cafe with cappuccinos and pastries enjoying the beauty of the scenery in front of us. We sketch and people watch until it is time to find our way to a bus station and head back to Bellagio. The return trip wasn't quite as much fun as we could barely get a seat, let alone the front one. The bus is filled with young kids that attend school in Como but live in the many small communities along the lake.
We found a photo booth at the bus station.... but whether or not they are different than we remember them as kids we couldn't figure out how to make it work. €10 later this is the best we could get. Didn't request the 'Valentine' background either....but we have a memory photo and did have a few good laughs.
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