Day 50 Skipping stones like George

On Day 50 we headed north up the lake on a local ferry to the famous tourist town of Belaggio. On the 90 minute scenic journey we passed many beautiful villages and a number of completely over the top mansions. One of the grandest was the new holiday home of Richard Branson where he is rumoured to have spent 16 million Euro. We wondered which of these huge mansions belonged to Lake Como’s most famous resident George Clooney. We arrived in Belaggio and to be honest were a little disappointed by what we firstly encountered. Unlike the part of the lake where we are staying, where the locals nonchalantly fish off a local wall, Bellagio is a tourist Mecca filled with international hotels and tourist shops. Again we realised that the tourist hubs have less appeal to us than the sounds and smells of local communities.

We climbed up over the hill, away from the crowds and discovered a charming little boat ramp between two high walls that gave us our own private access to the lake. Richard followed his regular custom of trying to regain his youth by skipping stones across the glassy surface of the lake.

Later in the day, after checking emails, we discovered that George’s house is nowhere near the tourist haven of Bellagio but is actually in the village of Laglio, which is next door to Curate Urio and just a hundred metres from where we are staying. We had passed this house on several occasions during our late afternoon walks and had wondered about its tight security, high walls, dense peripheral vegetation, steel gates and electronic monitoring. Ironically fortune and fame seems to deliver less freedom than we are experiencing as budget backpackers who have to do their washing every night in the bathroom basin.

And you will never guess what we also saw on a website - a picture of George Clooney also skipping stones on the lake.