Cernobbio & Lake Como

This part of our trip was extra special because we had a one-of-a-kind guest… Greg’s father (Jim)! This was his first ever visit to Europe. It was quite special and memorable that we were able to spend it with him! Italy was just the beginning, though. After this 9-day road trip, we also enjoyed a Mediterranean Cruise and a Spanish holiday together. For someone who has never been to Europe, he sure did it with a bang!

Wondering how to spend your Italian holiday? Our next 3 blog posts will go into the details of our time in Italy. Having a rental car gave us lots of flexibility. The road trip highlights include 3 nights in Cernobbio, a food tour in Bologna, 3 nights in Florence, and 2 relaxing nights in Montalcino. This post will cover our relaxing days along Lake Como.

Italy Part 1: CERNOBBIO & LAKE COMO

Day 1

Our early morning actually started in France. We drove from Bargemon and picked Jim up from the Milan airport. Initially we had plans to stay one night in Milan, but we decided to eliminate the hassle of Milan and go straight to Cernobbio. This offered a slower and more relaxed start, which is what we were aiming for.

"You can't put a price on a day like this" -Jim Morreau — **“You can’t put a price on a day like this”**

*-Jim Morreau*

Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel, Hotel Centrale. As its name suggests, it was conveniently located in the heart of Cernobbio. Cernobbio is a small town alongside Lake Como, across from city Como itself. Within the town center, everything is just about a ten-minute walk. The receptionist gave us a few suggestions for lunch. We chose the lakeside restaurant, Lido Di Cernobbio. After our long morning of driving and Jim’s days of international travel, we used this lunch to relax and discuss all of our exciting upcoming plans together. Welcome to Europe, Jim!

The weather quickly turned dark and windy. At this point we had taken a break at the hotel. After much debate, we decided to ‘take a fast walk before the rain comes.’ It felt spooky wandering the roads. The rain came quick. We ran through the rainy streets and cozied into a fancy hotel lobby, Hotel Miralago. It is one of those moments we will never forget! We enjoyed champagne and caviar. It was mine and Greg’s first time having caviar! Honestly, it is just expensive salt bombs, but it was fun and fancy to try. Serving us the champagne was a presentation we had never seen; The server brought a white clothed cart over and swished ice in each glass before pouring the champagne in. He even brought over some ‘complimentary'‘ small bites. This really kicked off the trip with a luxurious flair!

“Even the rain can’t damper my spirit”

-Jim Morreau

As recommended by our receptionist, we ate dinner at Osteria Del Buec for local cuisine. We shared lemon ravioli, charcuterie, and veal schnitzel. We were not overly impressed, but did enjoy giving it a try. One of our favorite things about Italian restaurants… olive oil at all tables1

Day 2

What a beautiful day! We spent this sunny day lounging by the pool at the Lido di Cernobbio. For a small entrance fee, you can spend the day at their outdoor pool. It is advised to book your loungers ahead of time online. It has very strict hygiene practices, including swim caps being required for entry into the pool. This was a funny one! If you don’t have one (we, of course, did not), you can buy one for 5 euro. How good did we look?!

We checked out of the hotel and moved into an amazing airbnb for our next two nights. Aside from the wifi issues on night one, we absolutely loved it! This was a slick, modern home with views to Lake Como. It was an amazing property!

Our dinner was prepared at the house by a private chef. If you have a spacious accommodation with a kitchen, this is a fantastic way to enjoy the space and stay in! The host started with apertifs and aperol spritzers on the patio overlooking Lake Como. Ahhh, an amazing ambience! Dinner included way more food than was needed for just us three… well, all of the courses actually. For dessert, we were given massive portions of 6 different cheeses. We hated being so wasteful so we actually gave some of the cheese back to the chef for her to enjoy. It was great being pampered and not having to leave our place!

Day 3

This was supposed to be an amazing boat tour along Lake Como, but unfortunately due to inclement weather, it was canceled. We were super bummed!

We took a taxi from the house to Como and explored the city on foot. Whilst window shopping, it was easy to get lost wandering the streets! Walking along Lake Como was very peaceful. We had drinks along the waterfront and took in the sights of the marina, ferris wheel, and swans. Our next mission was to find a wine bar. After strolling around for a bit, we finally landed on one and had drinks in the alley at Enoteca da Gigi.

Finding a taxi from Como proved to be quite a challenge! The taxi stand never actually had any taxis there (at least not while we were there!). I eventually flagged down two, but neither of them would take us to Cernobbio, which was only about 15 minutes away. They wanted to stay in Como. It was pretty frustrating. It all worked out though. We took the water taxi to Cernobbio and had a hotel call us a cab to the house. At this time (June 2022), masks were still required on the water taxi.

Our airbnb host made reservations for us at The Black Cat. We were able to walk there from the house. The setting was so nice! Beautiful! Apparently, this is George Clooney’s “spot” for dinner when he comes to Como. The restaurant was much bigger than it appears from the outside. The food was delicious, but the service was awful. As the Italians do, we had pasta for the first course and meat for the second course. My pasta had a scrumptious red wine and beef stock sauce. Jim had a breaded tuna and Greg and I each had a veal fillet. We ordered red wine for our main course, but by the time we got it, we were already finished with dinner. He basically threw the wine at us, fumbling with the wine glasses. Summary of our experience: beautiful lake view, bad service, amazing food. Would I go again? Yes.