Lake Como. Gorgeoups Chillax Atmosphere.

11:51 AM claire 0 Comments

Back to my May-June Europe Graduation Trip blogging!

Left off at Murano (check tags for : europe trip) to read the rest!

After Murano we went to.. Lake Como! To get there though.. Was hell.

You see, the employees of the train stations often go on strike... and only reveal the 'insider information' the night before. And being tourists, we didn't even know about it.

Let me tell you what happened. We left our hotel early in the morning so that we could reach the train platform early in order to not miss the train. And so that we didn't need to rush.

We ended up reaching 1hour earlier. And we noticed that, even though the board on the platform said eg 10am to XX location, when 10am came and past, the train DID NOT COME.

Warning signs already. And the train traffic was very very little. Signs that we were starting to piece together. But we thought that, being a regional train from Venice to Milan (we have to change at Milan to get to Como), the train would still be in service right?

Wrong.

The timing for the train to come came and went. SOMANY PEOPLE were at the train platform, and there was ONE train conductor who walked past, so I 'grabbed' him (everyone was surrounding him) and asked him where the train was.

"No train. Strike."

Friends and I went, WTF? We HAD to get to como TODAY because we already had a hotel reservation there, and we didn't have one in venice. Plus we kinda explored a lot of venice (3-4 days there!) SO WE WANTED COMO.

Here's what to do when you realize that there is a strike in Italy. (train strike I mean)

1. Go queue up at the ticketing desk to ask if there are ANY trains going out of the place and going to wherever you want to go, and change the reservation of your seat to that train. If there is no train going to your destination, you're screwed but you get your money back.

We queued for 2 hours.

2. Some people suggest taking the buses but no WAY were we travelling from north east to north west of Italy by BUS. It would take forever! But if your location isn't that far away, ask the information counter about buses.

3. Might want to rent a car and just drive yourself.

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That's it! THANK GOD we had ONE train going to Milan (because it's MILAN) but it was like at 2pm or something. So technically we would only reach Como near 5? We were supposed to reach at 1pm, which would give us ample time to walk around and explore.

But well, going to Como was better than staying in Venice!

ANYWAY, after we reached the train station at Como, to get towards the lake is quite a far distance. 20 mins walk? And we had to drag our luggages etc. There was a flight of 40 stairs or something but we decided to walk one big round just to go down the slope.

Finally reached our hotel and the view was magnificant! We were JUST NEXT TO THE LAKE! Plus, it looked like bands were doing mike tests on a stage that was set up! WE WERE IN LUCK! There was going to be a gig that night.