Our bags are packed, the car is gassed up, and we’re ready to go. Bellagio isn’t the kind of place that you want to leave, but the excitement of traveling to someplace new takes the sting out of saying good-bye. Today we’re hitting the road to Santa Margherita Ligure.
Santa Margherita Ligure is due south of Bellagio, on the northwestern coast of Italy. We’ll have to stop for lunch somewhere. The question is “where?” There are plenty of options, depending on which route we take.
Cremona or Parma?
I’d like to stop in the little town of Cremona. It’s supposed to be a nice place to visit. It’s famous in some circles as the violin capital of the world. I know this only because on the flight to Milan, I sat next to a fellow who was going to a 3-day violin expo in Cremona. This expo is where those in the know go to buy and sell the most expensive violins in the world.
He was the maestro of an orchestra in the U.S. He and a friend were going to Cremona to sell a violin they co-owned. I don’t remember how much he said it was worth, but I remember that when he told me my eyes got as big as saucers.
Another option would be to stop in the city of Parma. It’s bigger than Cremona, so it would involve some additional hassle to navigate through the city, but Parma is one of the foodie capitals of the world. It’s famous for Parmesan cheese, of course, and for Parma ham.
Hmmm… where to stop for lunch on the way to Santa Marguerita Ligure? – The violin capital of the world, or one of the foodie capitals of the world? Let’s see now… I don’t play the violin, but I eat just about every chance I get. Next stop: Parma!
We picked a restaurant in the historic center of the city and plugged the address into the GPS. Now all we had to do was follow the nice lady’s instructions.
On the Road Again!
It was fun to be on the road again, on our way to someplace new. Leaving Bellagio, we went in the opposite direction from the way we came in. We crossed over the hill behind the town, then drove along a part of Lake Como that we hadn’t seen before.
The road was good. Maybe a bit narrow in a few places. It skirted the lake, passing through one lakeside enclave after another. A picture post-card scene came into view around every corner. And there were a lot of corners.
Apparently this is a popular route for bicycle riders. We saw a lot of them. They weren’t a problem, though. They were usually going as fast as we were.
Bicycle riders over here don’t look like the ones back home. The ones we see over here are pro’s in training. They don’t look like anyone I’ve ever seen riding a bike around town. These guys LOOK like pros.
The Pros
Most of them are tall – extra-tall – and they’re all full of rippling muscles. They have no body fat, so you can see the fibers as if you’re looking right into the muscles.
Their bikes, other than having two wheels, don’t look anything like the bikes back home. They look wild and modern. You can tell just by looking that they cost thousands of dollars and weigh next to nothing.
We saw a lot of bicycle riders in Bellagio. It seems to be a good starting-off point for training sessions. One day we stopped and watched a bicycle racing team in Bellagio getting ready to take a ride. There were seven or eight of them. They had two special vans customized to be able to carry extra bikes and equipment.
The leader of the group was an English chap. He was going around, checking on each rider, saying things to boost their spirits and get them pumped up for the ride. He had a strong accent….
“Ow er the legs, Johnnie? They’ll geh a workout taday, they will!”
(Translation: How are your legs feeling, John? They’ll get a workout today.)
Dicey o’er the Eels
“Ih il be a quick run a Lecco, lad, and then dicey o’er the eels.”
(It won’t take us long to reach the town of Lecco, and then the hills after Lecco could be steep in some places.)
“Weher man sayin’ ih il be balmy o’ the morn, but maybe weh lay her.”
(The weather report is for nice weather this morning, but there’s a possibility of showers this afternoon.)
When we reached Lecco, we left the narrow road and got onto a freeway. Pretty soon the land flattened out and we were driving through farm country.
The freeway turned into the Autostrada. The Autostrada is like a freeway, but there are toll booths, the speed limit is higher, there are fewer cars, and fewer places to get on and off.
One nice thing about the Autostrada is that “Autogrills” are placed at regular intervals along the way. Autogrills are state-run gas and food places. Most of them are small, and some are huge, but even the small ones have espresso bars where someone will make you an espresso. Twenty-four hours a day. No one ever falls asleep while driving on the Autostrada.
To be continued…
