We got up bright and early on Monday to the first rainy morning of our trip. I had two eager companions for my morning coffee at one of the cafes near the slopes in Bormio.
We packed the car to capacity (the Tetris packing game was getting even more challenging as we accumulated bottles of wine, secret Santa gifts, and other Christmas supplies). We were heading to a small village near Lake Lugano where were spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with friends.
The rain cleared pretty quickly, leaving us with another wonderful morning on northern Italy’s incredible roads.
And phenomenal tunnels - many of which go for tens of kilometres through the mountains (literally).
First stop was Varenna, on the shores of Lake Como, for a quick lunch, then on to Como itself. We were aiming for a special Christmas event, but hadn’t told the kids in case the timing didn’t work out. Como was cold and windy but still had a great view.
And a Christmas market (of course).
But the reason we were there was to see Santa and his elves abseil down the cathedral(!).
And then give candy to the waiting kids (and adults).
Then it was back in the car to find our Airbnb for the next two nights. We’ve been using a combination of Waze, Google Maps and Via Michelin to plan our driving. This trip I happened to use Waze, which I’d forgotten does not notify you of border crossings.
If you’ve been following our trip so far, you’ll know that we’re sill not sure our immigration status is 100% legal. As such we are trying to avoid immigration officers wherever possible. So you can understand we were pretty startled when we passed through an official-looking checkpoint and started seeing a lot of Swiss number plates.
We frantically checked the map and realised that we had indeed crossed into Switzerland. Our only hope was that since the crossing from Italy into Switzerland wasn’t manned, that the crossing back wouldn’t be either. We spent the next five minutes with rising anxiety and then…
…crossed quietly back into Italy without incident. Perhaps travelling on Christmas Eve has its benefits.
After five minutes lost in translation with the cleaner, we found our apartment that overlooked (the now pitch black) Lake Lugano. We decided it would probably have a great view in the morning.
We unpacked, changed and headed up the road to our friends’ house where we had an amazing dinner with their extended family. Mandi drove us back (her first driving in Italy - on windy way-too-narrow roads with no street lights well after midnight) and we all collapsed into bed.
The next day we awoke to the view.
We relaxed around the apartment and then headed back to our friends’ house (a converted 5th-century monastery) for Part Two of the Christmas extravaganza - lunch.
The house was amazing, as was the food and the company.
After an epic lunch, the female members of the family took the dog for a walk in the village while the men went to have coffees and digestifs and play Italian Billiards at the local bar.
Then it was back to the house for an equally epic dinner.
The next day three of us had decided to go for an early-morning hike before we all left to go our separate ways. We headed up the (surprisingly steep and rocky and would definitely not be accessible to the public in Australia) trail at Poncione di Ganna.
It was worth it.
Then I headed back to meet Mandi and the girls to pack the car for our two-day trip back to Siena.