It has been close to a year since my wife and I spent four days relaxing along the shores of Lake Como. As I have thought back on that trip, the memories from this particular part of two weeks in Italy have bubbled to the top as my favourite. That’s not because we did a lot. It’s because at that time, I really needed a true break and some peace, and the setting and backdrop allowed me to relax and soak in some very simple pleasures.

We picked up a tiny rental car in Bellano, loaded it up with groceries, our luggage, and some wine we brought along from earlier in our trip, and did a bit of a driving loop north along the east coast of Lake Como. It was fun to be in a tiny Italian Fiat, sunroof open, barely able to fit my 6’2″ frame fully inside, driving the curvy hillside roads. My wife enjoyed the same fun as she drove us back down to Bellano a few days later.

We rented a house in Dorio and after arriving we both agreed what our plans would be. To spend as much time on one of the three decks our place had that overlooked the lake and the mountains.

Mornings, afternoons and evenings – these views would be our company as we unplugged from the big city energy of the early part of our Italy visit.

On our first afternoon, there was no question that we would pull out the bottle of Stroppiana Barolo that tasted so good earlier on our trip. Sitting and watching boats cross Lake Como and enjoying a wine that somehow tasted even better was an absolute highlight for me. I could feel anything I was carrying melt away.

There were many, many drinks on that deck over our stay. Italian bubbly, craft beers, blood orange mimosas, and more red wine. Pouring myself and my wife a glass of something, easing into a comfortable chair and resting my eyes on the view never lost any of its charm.

We managed to motivate ourselves to do a bit of exploring along the coast and to tear ourselves away from our patio views. We spent a leisurely morning and afternoon exploring quaint Varenna on a picture perfect mid October day. It was a beautiful small town.

Varenna is perched on the side of a hill leading down to Lake Como and as we wandered along the main street we were offered extraordinary views like this down to the lake and across to the mountains on the other side.

After a lovely lunch where I thoroughly enjoyed a risotto with fresh lake fish, we continued our walking around the town and made our way down to the water. Luckily for us, a table overlooking the lake opened up as we walked past a small cafe and we took advantage of that for a drink with a million dollar view and the sound of small waves coming ashore only a few feet away.

We look pretty happy, eh?

Days like this when I travel are something I thoroughly enjoy. We took our time, had absolutely no plans other than where we would park our car in Varenna, and just let our mood and the town guide us to a lovely day.

Truth be told, that was the most active we were for these days along Lake Como. Once we got back from Varenna, we piled a couple of plates high with a variety of cheeses, meats, olives and bread sticks and opened another bottle of wine we picked up on our day touring Barolo. It had become very clear that the star of the show was the evening views we had of water and mountains and the company of each other.

On our last day, after having a very lazy morning of good coffee and a couple of patio drinks that whiled away the afternoon, we went for a short walk in Dorio along a path high up on the hill.

We walked past beautiful residences and gardens and stopped briefly to watch a few men rebuild a stone wall before making our way to the church in Dorio that we used as a turnaround point for our short hike.

Once back at our rental place, it was time for a critical Yahtzee match and I pulled out a dramatic win to tie our overall Italy competition. I looked pretty happy with my epic comeback after bring dominated for the first week in Italy….

… and skipping ahead to the morning we left Italy, we played a final “winner takes all” match while waiting for our flight home in Milan. I completed the comeback to be crowned the champion of Italy while celebrating with an early morning Aperol soda.

Back to our last night, and by that time in our stay we settled into a pretty nice routine. My wife reading, me enjoying a glass of wine, and both of us soaking up the lingering daylight as the sun started to set behind the mountains.

On this last evening, my wife whipped up some pasta while I put together some small touches on a nice spread. We used the lower level patio of our place to enjoy a delicious dinner together.

And like the other evenings, we made our way back up to our main deck to watch the sun sink behind the mountains in what was a sight that we both relished on each of the nights. A beautiful cap to a relaxing part of our visit to Italy. Fingers crossed we can make it back here someday.