Menaggio, Lake Como
It was a very hot summer’s day when we took the ferry from Bellagio to Menaggio, a small village on the northern side of Lake Como.
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Safe mooring in small marina.
This small Marina is near the centre of the village.
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Recycling centre on the foreshore
Right beside the marina is a very interesting Recycling Centre. There are several different bins for different types of products to be recycled. Pressing down on the front foot platform opens the bin. The holes inside the bins correspond to the size of the product. The recycled waste drops down into larger bins below. Restaurants and businesses have keys to open the back of the bins for larger amounts of waste. We thought this was an excellent idea.
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Clear instructions on each collection bin.
Clear visual instructions were given on the top of each bin. The message here was not to put bottle tops in with the bottles.
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The main square, Menaggio.
Each small lakeside village has a square used for market days, for getting together for festivals and for restaurants.
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The main pedestrian street leading to the church
David leads the way up a short pedestrian street from the square to the main church. In fact there are two churches in the street, both catholic but both quite different. It seemed amazing to have two churches just 50 m apart but I guess that allows for choice. Church is such a very important part of life for the village people here and a visit to a village without a visit to the church, is not really a visit to the village.
We went first to the church on the right hand side …. the one with the rose window.
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Simple interior of the smaller church
We were pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of this church. We were also pleasantly surprised by the note from the Bishop welcoming us as tourists to enjoy the church. In other churches we have been told… don’t do this, don’t do that … no welcome at all.
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One of the two sculptures in this church
Churches in these old villages are wonderful museums of art and sculpture since churches were great patrons of both artists and sculptors. This sculpture of the Madonna was beautiful in its simplicity, the folds in the material particularly well depicted.
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The much more ornate larger church
The larger Church, further up the road, was much more ornate inside, but still welcoming. Walls and ceilings are covered in murals or in beautiful Italian marble.
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Close up of the mural above the altar.
As in many old churches, some of the murals depicted horrific scenes. I wondered if this one depicted the stoning of a sinner. Or was it meant to visualise the saying that” he who is without sin should cast the first stone.” Perhaps it can be either but it was obviously an important message of the time as it is above the altar. I was left thinking of the recent news stories of the stoning of women in Muslim countries in this day and age.
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The ceiling and much of the walls are covered in murals.
There were many more murals painted on the ceiling and walls
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Madonna and child.
This was a much more traditional sculpture of the Madonna and Child. Again the material and drapery are beautifully crafted. The surround was made of small gold and glass tiles.
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Marble font
The font and several of the pillars are crafted from beautiful Italian marble.
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No-one around. Shops were closing for siesta.
Back out on the street we are amazed to see there were no people. It was now siesta time and the shops were shutting up. But two small food shops remained open; one sold gelato and the other was a deli. We succumbed to the enticement of a cold ice cream on this extremely hot day. And then we checked out the deli.
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Any guesses what these are?
This is my abstract photo for the day. Do you know what it is?
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Tagliatelle is the right answer!
How do they get pasta coloured like this?
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We had really enjoyed this short walk in one of the smaller lake side villages. Next day we took the ferry right down the northern arm of Lake Como and just relaxed and enjoyed the views for a couple of hours. Here are a few of my photos of this really beautiful lake.
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From the ferry on Lake Como
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Typical village scene.
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One of the many mansions that dot the fore shores of this lake.
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This mansion is one of the grandest.
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A house that made a bold statement.
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My favourite house with its sweeping lawns and masses of blue hydrangeas.
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Every village has at least one church.
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The Lido or swimming spot is always a popular spot on a hot summer’s day.
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An impressive waterfront position.
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Almost to Como.
We took one last look back up the lake before we moved on to the next part of our European adventure. We still had two train rides to go that day to get to Locarno for the night and get ready for a special scenic train trip to Domodossola in the Italian alps.
More of that anon.
Jennie and David