The fairy tale beautiful Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como was our final destination in Italy last summer before heading to Switzerland. The pictures speak for themselves to the beauty of this one-of-a-kind playground for the lucky people who get to call Lake Como home -or one of their homes...

A little about Lake Como, courtesy of Wikipedia...
"Lake Como has been a popular retreat for aristocrats and wealthy people since Roman times, and a very popular tourist attraction with many artistic and cultural gems. It has many villas and palaces (such as Villa Olmo, Villa Serbelloni and Villa Carlotta). Currently, many celebrities have or had homes on the shores of Lake Como, such as Matthew Bellamy, Madonna, George Clooney,[2] Gianni Versace, Ronaldinho, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Branson, and Ben Spies. Lake Como is widely regarded as being one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy."

click on any image for a larger view

just a humble lake house...

Pictures don't do the grand villas justice

A view of the mountain tops from the ferry we took to tour the lake.

...just the local swimming hole. I steered clear of the water because in 2007 the bacteria levels in the water were deemed too high for safe swimming.

Here's that list again of all my posts from our travels that I've posted -

Spain
•Introduction to my European backpacking trip and a list of places we visited
• Galicia - Baiona and Isle de Cies
• Galicia - the coast, some charming vineyards, and Pontevedra
• Santiago de Compostela and gorgeous hidden beaches
• Gorgeous mountain lakes of Picos de Europa
• Stunning mountains - Picos de Europa
• Bilbao and San Sebastian
• Beautiful Barcelona
• The amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona
• Art Nouveau dream house by Gaudi in Barcelona

Italy
• Not to miss - the gorgeous rocky coast of Italy's Cinque Terre
• More from my summer traveling Europe - amazing Rome
• From my summer in Europe - amazing Pompeii
• Turquoise ocean and vineyards on cliffs - the amazingly stunning Amalfi coast
• My Summer in Europe: Pictures from lovely Florence, Italy
• Enchanting Siena
•Venice

Thanks as always to my boyfriend Chris, who took these amazing photos.

Venice: the famous attractions, but also the true beauty- intimate canals and charming old facades

Venice needs no introductions. This summer was my second time in Venice. The first time I went it was winter and we only had time to see the main attractions, so I left feeling unsatisfied. In my humble opinion the real beauty of Venice is in the residential areas - narrow canals, 1 person wide bridges, and laundry hanging over the canal to dry. I'm still going to show you the famous sites, but the last images are where I found the charm.

The one and only Grand Canal


St. Mark's square. A place where people try to touch pigeons they would otherwise find disgusting. Unfortunately Basilica San Marco was covered in scaffolding at the time we were there, so I'm including a picture from my fist visit below.

Souvenir shops abound

Street parking can be hard to find

The bridge is the famous Ponte di Rialto, which was so packed when we arrived that we could barely walk. If you don't like crowds or tourist traps don't linger here.

On the larger, commercial canals you can find beautiful and varying architecture

Gorgeous!

Now for my favorite parts of Venice - heading into the narrower canals





The facades on the back streets show wear, but combined with the lovingly tended flower boxes and laundry hung out to dry it creates a charming scene of life in Venice.


Sunset over a canal.

Have any of you been to Venice? What was your favorite aspect?


Here's that list again of all my posts from our travels that I've posted -

Spain
•Introduction to my European backpacking trip and a list of places we visited
• Galicia - Baiona and Isle de Cies
• Galicia - the coast, some charming vineyards, and Pontevedra
• Santiago de Compostela and gorgeous hidden beaches
• Gorgeous mountain lakes of Picos de Europa
• Stunning mountains - Picos de Europa
• Bilbao and San Sebastian
• Beautiful Barcelona
• The amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona
• Art Nouveau dream house by Gaudi in Barcelona

Italy
• Not to miss - the gorgeous rocky coast of Italy's Cinque Terre
• More from my summer traveling Europe - amazing Rome
• From my summer in Europe - amazing Pompeii
• Turquoise ocean and vineyards on cliffs - the amazingly stunning Amalfi coast
• My Summer in Europe: Pictures from lovely Florence, Italy
• Enchanting Siena

Thanks as always to my boyfriend Chris, who took these amazing photos.

A beautiful mountain trail with the bluest river below

More pics from my summer in Europe! These photos are from the Cares Gorge walk, one of Chris's favorite parts of our trip this summer. Read more about it here. At 12km, it's quite long, and can get very busy during peak travel season, so go early or off-season. DEFINITELY wear some hiking boots and be careful on the trail. It does get skinny in some parts and the gorge is deep.





looking down from the trail!



the water was so clear and beautiful!

If you love a beautiful beach you'll love this post

More pictures from my Europe trip! These are still from our first week in Galicia, Spain.
The first few are from Santiago de Compostela, famous for it's lichen covered cathedral and the hordes of pilgrims that arrive to the site via the Way of Saint James.

You can see a bigger version of each image just by clicking on them.

The amazing cathedral is the main attraction of Santiago de Compostela.

I hadn't ever seen a cathedral so covered in moss and lichen, it made the building even more interesting and steeped in history.

The other side of the cathedral.

The interior of the Cathedral. The interior wasn't any different than most Roman Catholic interiors of the time. What's really cool is the censer - see it hanging from the rope? It's now only brought out for high days - but one of it's original uses was to help mask the smell from hundreds of unwashed pilgrims. It's the largest of it's kind in the world.


An entrance to a charming garden cafe where we enjoyed a cafe con leche after touring the cathedral.

This map shows Santiago de Compostela on the coast, and the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James)
Read more about Santiago de Compostela and the Way of Saint James.
map via World Nomads

Now for those gorgeous beaches! On our way from Santiago de Compostela to Oveido to drop off our rental car, we stopped by some of the most beautiful, remote beaches in the country. They were simply gorgeous. See for yourself -


Can you imagine living in that house at the bottom right?

Beautiful beach two -

Isn't it stunning?

You can tell how off the beaten path this is just by looking at the "Vehicle Exit" sign.




Looking at pictures from this beach always makes me think of Maxfield Parrish's "Ecstasy"
via Print Mag

Thanks to my sweetums for taking all these gorgeous pictures