Italy is a place with its romantic interiors and exteriors, delicious pastries, amazing pizza, spaghetti and the best gelato I have ever indulged in. That feeling after watching a romantic movie gets amplified tremendously. The small streets that you can get lost in, the buildings decorated with flowers and the oh so beautiful nature makes me want to explore and get lost in the beauty of this country. With our suitcases packed we travelled by car from The Netherlands all the way to Italy, high up in the mountain where we had our holiday house near Como lake and lake Lugano. We spent our first day enjoying the mesmerising view of our new house and exploring the city of lake Lugano. Lake Lugano is a glacial lake situated on the borders between Northern Italy and Switzerland.
Our first stop was the city of lake Lugano, as it was also our first day in Italy we just had to taste the well praised gelato. We noticed that the shop didn’t have vanilla flavour but instead milk flavour, so for my order I had one scoop of milk flavoured gelato and one scoop of hazelnut flavoured gelato. I don’t need to say this but I finally understand why this ice-cream gets praised so much. In the Netherlands we also have Italian ice-cream but for some reason the gelato in Italy is 10 times better. I think it has something to do with the milk they use here, as everyone in the family preferred the milk in Italy vs the one we have at home.
The restaurants generally open late in the evening, so to finish the day we stayed in the city to eat at our first Italian restaurant. Of course we had to order pizza and spaghetti, I mean we are in Italy after all. And let me say it was delizioso! Eating in the streets of Italy gave me the feeling that I was in a romantic movie eating at the restaurant of ratatouille.
Waking up in the morning and seeing the beautiful view outside the window looking upon the mountains is something I can get used to.
On our second day we visited bennet which is a large supermarket in Italy there we bought some food as our stay in Italy will be two weeks. We filled our supermarket trolley with a lot of fish, as for example the salmon was three times cheaper in Italy compared to back home. Of course I had to buy some cookies, desserts, bread and lastly some fruits and vegetables. My father loves to cook so on this holiday he got inspired to cook a lot of Italian recipe’s with his own twist. When we didn’t eat at a restaurant we ate outside surrounded by trees and mountains in the garden. At home I usually feel distracted by work and the internet, so it was nice to spent more of my time outside getting some well needed vitamin D and just enjoying the music of nature.
The weather in Italy was amazing, but some days where a bit too hot for us. Gladly we could cool down anytime by jumping in the cold water from the lake. We reserved an entire day to visit Como lake, there we went with the ferry to the other side of the lake. It was absolutely stunning, the sidewalks where filled with beautiful flowers and the weather was just perfect. We also found a nice spot to swim, it was an amazing time.
Of course, as always we had to try some food. We found an amazing spot with its breath taking view where we ate some well needed pizza. Lastly we finished the day with gelato, this time I was able to get my hands on some vanilla flavoured gelato and caramel.
A little tip: When it is weekend, we will recommend to leave early if you would like to swim as a lot of Italian people and tourists try to find a place to swim on those hot weathered days. This will make it more difficult to find a place to park your car and the places to swim are often very crowded on those days.
Whenever we are on holiday we always like to imagine how different the lives of the locals is compared to in The Netherlands and other places we have visited. As both my parents have their own company, we also always get inspired for new business ideas. Like opening an Italian restaurant with a beautiful view. However they are just two people and aren’t able to do everything that comes to mind but it still nice to dream and explore different business ideas and the success stories from others.
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