Lago Maggiore and Lago Como revisited (and Milan in Nov.)

When I lived in Hungary there were certain places there - especially Szentendre and the Danube bend - which I visited so many times I got to see those places in every possible season and condition - in the dead of winter, in spring, in the fall and in the summer, when the Danube was overflowing and when the water was low and even once from a balloon.... I enjoyed it each time anew.

Here in Italy, it seems that the two lakes - Maggiore and Como are destined to be my favorite spots for taking my guests. As I wrote in the past, I've already visited the lakes in the rain, in the early spring, in the middle of the summer - dying of the heat, in autumn and just recently with a new friend - during two freezing days, but beautiful nonetheless, at the beginning of winter. These two days were exceptionally beautiful, both because of the friend I was with and also because the days were clear, which is rare here, what with pollution and almost permanent haziness and/or fog. In this post I'll let you mostly enjoy some of the excellent pictures taken by my friend.

Strong winds blew the day we went to Stresa (on the shores of Lago Maggiore) which cleared the air (and froze us, too...). It was so windy we couldn't go very far and settled for a great lunch in the restaurant at the bottom of the cableway at Piazzale Lido. Here are some pictures in which you can practically "see" the wind (notice the waves on the lake, and me in a typical frozen look):





It snowed during the night on the mountains but the weather cleared in the morning. It was a glorious drive up to Como - we could see the snow capped mountains clearly as we drove north. We took the funicular up to San Maurizio and climbed up to the lighthouse. We had lunch up there - again, great local food (it doesn't cease to amaze me how good the food is here - you can go into practically any trattoria or restaurant and be sure you'll eat well, even in the simple places).

Lago di Como was its usual beautiful self, as were the mountains in the distance:




and here are some special pictures taken from the windows of the lighthouse:



next some pictures of me en route between the lake and the lighthouse:


we also met two friendly dogs who were waiting for their owners to finish their lunch:

Back in Milan, here are some pictures of the Navigli (the canals) at sunset:

To end this post, here are some pictures of ducks (who are also known as katshkes in Yiddish, I discovered) and swans living happily on Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como:

and who is the friend you'd like to know? Here is a picture of us taken in Stresa:

Merry Xmas to all and to all a good night....