April 11th - Uphill Above Lake Como In Northern Italy.

Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

The Independent

Places & Travel, Leisure, Society & Culture

3.6 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2022

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this fine Spring day I'm hiking The Brunate Trail in Como, the Northern city in Lombardy, Italy, coveted by celebrities and holiday-makers alike. I explore how to get here and what gems there are to enjoy, from the homes of a-listers, to charming restaurants and bars, to 12th century churches. And if, unlike me, you can still catch your breath after climbing to the hill-top town of Brunate, you'll find it taken away by the stunning views of Lake Como below.

Of course this podcast is completely free, as is my weekly travel email. You can sign up at independent.co.uk/newsletters.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with a slightly out of breath, Simon Calder.
0:09.0	Yes, I'm walking up a mountain in Italy, so therefore I'm very happy but slightly breathless.
0:18.0	Just looking down to my right over the fine city of Como and today with
0:27.1	the assistance of some birdsong I would like to sing the praises of this particular
0:34.1	location it's taken me quite a lot of years to get here. I did actually pass
0:40.6	through by train when I was, oh, 19 and on my way to Italy. But that of course was a couple of years ago and I didn't get off the train there and I'm making up for it now.
0:59.0	First of all, let me place it for you.
1:02.0	If you were in Milan, the great city of northern Italy, you would be about 40 minutes by train from Como. There is a wonderful train that comes
1:17.4	right to the lakeside. You catch it from Cardona Station, which is on the northwestern side of
1:25.4	Milan City Centre, and it takes you straight to the lake and
1:30.2	literally you cross the road and you are by this gorgeous lake which is shaped in a kind of
1:37.0	upside down why um and Como is situated at the south-western end of one of those arms of the upside-down.
1:50.9	Why?
1:51.7	What's different about Como compared with, say, Mayori, the bigger lake just to the west of here,
2:04.9	is that Como is blessed by a really proper small Italian city, which is just a dream to explore, because you wouldn't know that
2:14.6	you were in a really touristy location.
2:18.3	It feels just absolutely lovely and a very ordinary kind of Italian city if there is such a thing.
2:29.3	It's very, very...
2:33.3	I'm just trying to find my bearings here.
2:36.0	I think the answer is I just keep going uphill.
2:39.0	It's very charming.
2:43.0	It's full of lovely little restaurants and bars.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Independent, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Independent and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.