From the day I first learnt that some of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was filmed at Lake Como, it’s been on my list of places to visit. Those scenes were at the Villa Balbianello, which we wouldn’t get to see, but we would see something of Villa Olmo.

My only knowledge of Como is from what I’ve seen in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and in James Bond: Casino Royale. So not exactly extensive, but enough to feel like it was worth booking a day trip there. As I’d be travelling all that way anyway, this trip would also cover Bellagio and Veranna - two more towns that are located on the lake. In order to get there, we needed to meet a guide at the central train station at 08:00. This meant leaving the apartment no later than 07:15, but aiming to be out earlier if possible. To fit in a long run, it meant being ready earlier still.

After having covered so many miles on foot yesterday, I decided I wouldn’t do the twelve miles I’d planned, and would instead see how my legs felt. Based on this I didn’t get up until 05:00, wanting more sleep, and was out around twenty minutes later heading in the direction of the city centre.

My phone uttered directions as I ran, and they weren’t the easiest to follow. It wasn’t that hard to find my way to the Garibaldi train station we’d been near yesterday, but from there I didn’t take the most direct route to the Il Duomo. Last night I’d had the idea of trying to get some photographs of it early as there wouldn’t be so many people about. As it took me to 4.5 miles I realised this run would be a little longer than I planned.

I photographed the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II as there were so few people about, before doing the same for the Il Duomo. I then headed straight back to the apartment, this time taking a more direct route, and getting back at around 06:30. Forty minutes later we were ready, and waiting at the bus stop unsure if there was actually a Sunday bus from there.

The bus took us all the way to the Central Railway Station, and it wasn’t too hard to find the right bus stop. As I’d made sure we were early in case we missed a bus, or one didn’t show, it meant we had almost thirty minutes of waiting until our tour bus arrived. It’d picked up quite a few people already from a more southerly stop, so we were stuck near the back.

The tour guide spoke in English and Spanish and told everyone a few bits as we were on our way. After almost an hour we were descending from the high road down into the town of Como where the coach parked up behind the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta. We were led on foot from there by the guide into an open area where we could now see the lake and the cathedral at the same time.

We’d got free time here to do with as we wished, so we started with a lap of the cathedral, but did not go in. There was a gelato store outside so even though it was still early we decided we may as well. Once again it was €3.00 for two scoops, and we both went with Kinder Bueno flavour as it was different to flavours we’d seen anywhere else so far. They also had a few others that would have been tempting such as cookies and cream.

With gelato in hand, our pace was slower now as we walked down to Lake Como, and followed some of the path around. The immediate area was filled with boats for tourists, but by the time we made it to the Alessandro Volta museum we found we could get down to the water level. When we left there to explore more of the town we also found a square that had a statue of him - the famous creator of the battery had once lived in a house in this very square.

Our path around Como was very random, going down whichever streets looked the most interesting until we found Porta Torre, part of the mediaeval entrance to the city. We’d only got twenty minutes left, so we headed back via the Basilica di San Fedele. As we walked passed we could hear music being played from its organ. I wouldn’t have minded going in to record some video, but my sister was done with walking for now.

When we left there we were already five minutes late due to two groups of people being late back to the coach. We didn’t leave Como straight away as we were driven to Villa Olmo, about a ten minute drive away, where we had twenty five minutes to look around. It didn’t give us time to look inside, but we saw most of the exterior. We got back to the bus with a minute to spare, but once again a couple of people were lagging behind and were late.

Getting out of Como and to our next stop seemed to be taking forever. The traffic was slow moving, and we’d got quite a few miles to get covered to reach Bellagio. Eventually we heard that a bus had collided with a cyclist and was causing massive traffic delays. It was so unusually slow that they had plenty of time to point out George Clooney’s house to passengers.

After eighty minutes we reached a tunnel through the mountains and finally started making good progress again. It was then another 25 minutes before we arrived in Tremezzo, and we’d missed the public ferry that would have taken us across to Bellagio. It wasn’t clear what the guide was saying, but it sounded like this was as far as we were going, and the tour company had arranged for a private taxi to take the group on a tour of the lake instead. That would mean no visiting Varenna. I guess getting an expensive taxi was cheaper than refunding everyone for part of the tour if we had to abandon it.

Unexpectedly, the boat she got us to go on actually took us all the way to Bellagio in twenty minutes, and we were told we’d have until 15:50 to do whatever we wanted. It was longer than normal, but we wouldn’t be having a tour of Veranna due to the delay we’d experienced. The boat would be leaving at 16:00 no matter what. This was almost two and half hours anyway, and not really that much to see there. At least, what there was to see my sister didn’t really want to walk to get to. She grumbled as we went up the many steps onto the main tourist road through Bellagio, but at least we got there. I suppose it was to be expected that the street would wind back down to almost sea level from there.

As we walked down the street, whichever way we looked we saw restaurants and shops that were filled to overflowing. My sister wanted somewhere to buy some juice from, but anywhere here would have been quite a wait. When the street starts to level out, it opens up into square with the Basilica of St. Giacomo, and an old defence tower opposite. A lot of the space in this square was taken up by the combination of a large stone fountain, and someone selling artwork on easels.

My sister wasn’t that keen on walking up the steps to Bellagio Castle, so instead we walked down the road to the viewpoint near the La Punta restaurant. I found we could get down to the water there, so we sat on some rocks for a while, before heading slowly back. We returned to the same square as before, and this time went to a cafe to buy some bottles of water and a cake each.

With time to spare, we sat on the fountain to eat, and then walked back along the waterfront until it was 15:50, and time to board the boat. We got on quickly, and made our way to the back so we could be out in the sun this time. At 16:00, there was still somebody missing from our group and the boat left without them. The guide seemed to think it was me that was missing, and asked if I’d been contacted by the tour company when she saw I was on the boat.

Whilst the boat took us on a tour of the lake, the guide began checking the group by name to see who it was that was missing. We passed Villa del Balbianello which was the one I had known to be used in Star Wars and James Bond. Maybe we weren’t getting to see Veranna, but this was a nice alternative. It then turned around and I thought it was going to stop at Tremezzo again, but it kept on going and headed towards Veranna. It was unexpected, and it was nice we were still getting to see something of the town. The buildings were so varied compared to Bellagio, and some of them were colourful. To my surprise we made landfall there at 16:50, and was told that we’d have no free time there, but this is where we’d be meeting the coach.

The guide led us to the coach and had an argument with someone in uniform, I think potentially the police, about where the coach was parked. We couldn’t linger here too long. The tour company had planned to get the missing passenger to Veranna to rejoin the coach for the journey back to Milan, but due to the much-needed haste, we’d left them behind once again as we began our journey back twenty minutes later.

We knew the drive to Milan would be slow, but we’d not expected it to be over two hours as once again the traffic was bad. We passed the familiar sights as we got close to Niguarda, but unfortunately we had to go all the way to the central station to be let off the coach. We got in at 19:25, and missed the bus we needed by mere seconds. Our next best option was the metro and a tram rather than wait another thirty minutes.

The metro wasn’t that straight forward as we found it hard to get the right platform, but eventually did, and this took us a couple of stops down the line to where we switched to the tram - I actually got the right one first time. By the time this got us back to the apartment it was 20:10 so I got the food cooking as quickly as possible. Fortunately it was pizza and what was left of the roast potatoes, so my sister got hers fairly quickly, and once there was space in the oven I got mine sorted. By the time I’d started it was already 20:45, but within half an hour I’d finished, and we’d done the washing up to make it easier in the morning.

It’d been a long, and tiring day, but it was now at an end. I finished this with a small amount of packing, with the intention of getting it finished after my run in the morning when I’d be able to pack the remainder of my things.