I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with taking pictures on vacation. On one hand, I love having great pictures to look back on, and beautiful photography is one of my favorite things in the world. On the other hand, I am far from a skilled photographer (something I am working on!), so making the effort to get a good picture tends to take me out of the moment. Dave and I share this sentiment, which is why we didn’t take a ton of pictures on the busy streets of Rome. In leisurely Lake Como, however, taking pictures of the incredible views felt like part of the experience! We happily toted my camera around for the whole week, and I’m so happy with the memories we ended up capturing. I’d love to share a few today!

After our week in Rome, we took the train to Milan, and then another to Como. From the Como station, it was about an hour-long bus ride to Menaggio, one of the major towns in the province, and the place where our AirBNB was located. It was quite a trek, but it worked out wonderfully, and we were so pleased with our apartment! The view was unreal, and the owners did a great job decorating–it reminded me of an understated Italian Anthropologie, if there was such a thing :) With the whole place to stretch out in, we really enjoyed cooking our own breakfasts and about half our dinners, eating on the porch, and reading in bed with the windows wide open. It was blissfully relaxing, and a perfect way to follow our time in Rome!

Each day, we hopped on the ferry to go explore a different town. There are lots of beautiful villas to tour in Lake Como, but we were content to wander up and down the streets on our own for the most part. Varenna, pictured below, was one of our favorites–no matter where we were in the town, we could take in this amazing view! Just like in Rome, afternoon drinks were a must, sometimes paired with bruschetta or gelato :)
One of our favorite days of our honeymoon was when we hiked on the Greenway trail, as per our AirBNB host’s recommendation. We took the bus from Menaggio to Colonno, had lunch there, and then walked the 10 kilometers to Cadenabbia, where the trail ends. It took us a little over three hours, and we love that it gave us the opportunity to see tons of things we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, from different gardens, to little towns and back roads, to paths along the lake.

On our last day, we took the ferry to Bellagio, one of the most popular towns in Como. It was definitely a little busier than Menaggio and Varenna, and we had fun checking out some of the shops. We also had an incredible lunch at Ristorante Bilacus–we sat on the gorgeous, ivy-covered terrace, and loved it so much, we kept ordering more food and drinks so we wouldn’t have to leave! It was the perfect, celebratory meal for the last full day of our honeymoon.

It was so hard to believe our honeymoon was over as we left Lake Como, but we were ready to be home, catch up with our families, and start getting Dave settled into our apartment. We had some travel hiccups on our way back that made us get home a day later than planned, but by the time Dave carried me “across the threshold” at our new home (which my sister had so sweetly cleaned up and decorated for us after the wedding–thanks, Dana!!), we had forgotten all about our delays and missed flights. We were home and we were married!! And from what I’ve heard, the good stuff is just beginning :)