For a Brit living in Japan it’s a bit strange tgo to Europe for a holiday without visiting the UK to see family and friends but that is exactly what happened 15 years ago. The plan was to fly from Tokyo to Zurich in Switzerland with my return flight to Japan’s capital being from Croatia. I then had to decide how best to fill the fortnight in between. This is the second part looking back on the time I spent in northern Italy…

The train from Lucerne in Switzerland to Como station was immediately followed by a 45 bus ride to Tremezzo which is home to two of the most luxurious villas in all of Como. I was staying next to one of them in a two-star hotel! To be fair, the view from my window was great….if I leaned out far enough!

A ferry to Lenno and a much smaller boat ride to Villa del Balbianello was next, and this delightful place was one of the highlights of my whole Euro adventure. It was built in the 18th century and later turned into a museum run by an Italian art, nature and landscape foundation who show tourists around.

The villa is a stunning sight in itself but the fact that it featured in ‘Attack of the Clones‘ (2002) and ‘Casino Royale‘ (2006) helps propel it to legendary status in my opinion. The most beautiful part for me was the loggia (featuring a map room and a library containing over 4000 geographical-related books) that dominates the terraced garden with fantastic views of the lake and its shores.

That wasn’t the end of my movie location hunting for those aforementioned films as I also took a bus or three to see Villa La Gaeta in Aquaseria albeit only from the outside as it is a private residence. It features in the climactic finale of ‘Casino Royale‘.

The following day involved some minor Star Wars locales and I also took a ferry to Bellagio which is probably the most touristy part of Como. It has many narrow streets lined with souvenir shops and restaurants whilst the five-star Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni towers above it all up in the hills. I popped in to see the display of messages written by the rich and famous who have stayed there since it opened in the 1970s with the most interesting one for me being that of a certain George Lucas.

As well as eating the Italian essentials (pasta, pizza and gelato) I also walked along the shore to Villa Melzi which is the most famous villa in Bellagio. I didn’t go in though as I was already tired of villas and gardens by this stage and I also didn’t want to splash out more cash on entrance fees!

The next morning I left Como for Venice but there was some time in Milan en-route. My only goal was to visit the San Siro Stadium which made a big impression on me when it  debuted at World Cup ’90 for the opening game.

A tour of the stadium (plus entry to the museum) cost 13.50 euros, and took about 40 minutes. It was a little chaotic with about 50 people in the tour party and we got to see both clubs’ changing rooms and sit in an empty stadium of green, orange and red seats.

The museum had everything you’d expect to see with matchworn shirts from famous matches and players such as Roberto Baggio, Brazilian Ronaldo and David Beckham.

Other memorabilia included famous player waxworks and trophies including both the European and the UEFA Cup. At that time I never thought for a moment my team Leicester would ever compete in such European competitions but it did actually happen!

The rain was starting to get heavier as I took a tram into the centre to briefly see the wonderful Duomo before moving on to my next destination.

Torrential rain on my arrival in Verona wasn’t the best start but thankfully it had died down a bit by the time I got off my bus at the foot of the steep hill leading to Ostello Villa Francescotti. This was a huge and beautiful hostel at a good price with breakfast included too. It also had some strict rules like a curfew but given that I wasn’t planning to paint the town red that didn’t bother me.

With daylight fading, I instantly headed out back down the hill and across the river towards the old town. Even with the rain pouring down on that bus ride I could see what a beautiful city Verona was and that became more apparent when it stopped raining. I wandered the atmospheric streets and saw the glorious amphitheatre.

Verona is of course the setting for Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet‘ and so I went to Casa di Giulietta (house of Juliet). Even though I knew it was closed, I still wanted to see it in some way. A handful of tourists were hanging round a gate covered in graffiti but it was just about possible to peer through the gates towards the courtyard below the famous balcony where there is a statue of Juliet.

In the morning I took a train to Venice and was lucky to escape a fine. I’d bought my ticket two minutes before departure and made a dash for the train but the rule is that you have to validate the ticket at one of the platform machines. Thankfully, the conductor was of the understanding kind.

On my arrival in Venice mid-morning I eventually located the cheap (20 euros per night) but rather dirty, rundown hostel where I’d be staying. My dorm had three single beds for myself and the two Japanese guys in there. One of the guys had taken the isolated bed by the window leaving his mate and I to the two beds in the middle of the room which honestly were only about an inch apart. Closer than either of us would’ve liked I’m sure!

Venice was a stunning place but its maze of alleys, canals and bridges left me exhausted by the end of the day. Only three bridges cross the grand canal though and walking between a couple of them seemed to take an eternity as I lost my way walking through the San Polo district having started at Scalzi Bridge by the train station. The view from Rialto Bridge  was absolutely beautiful and typical of what I had imagined.

From there I decided to take a break from the streets for a while and so got on one of the over-priced vaporettos (small passenger ferry) and headed for the island of Lido. While it was no gondola it was still nice to get on the water albeit a very crowded method of transport.

Lido was nice enough but it didn’t exactly get my pulse racing. I walked over to the other side of the island which is home to an overly-popular beach and across the road from there was Grand Hotel des Bains which appeared in both ‘Death in Venice’ (1971) and ‘The English Patient’ (1996). However, I was rather disappointed to discover that it had closed down!

I took a ferry back to the main area and headed for the picturesque St Mark’s square in the San Marco district which was stunning even amidst the hordes of pigeons and fellow tourists.

I later walked on to the much quieter Dorsoduro district where, after losing my way a few times, I eventually came across Chiesa di San Barnaba which may look like a fairly ordinary church to many but it played its part in movie history with an appearance in  ‘Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade’ (1989).

On my way to Slovenia I took a train to the Italian border city of Trieste for a few hours there which was a far more impressive place than I’d ever imagined with some beautiful sights including the remains of the old Roman amphitheatre …

…. Canal Grande and a couple of nice looking buildings.

That was it for my northern Italian encounter but there were still three more countries to visit on this Euro trip, and that experience will be reflected upon in my next flashback post in mid-August.

Click here to read ‘TF Flashback: Euro Trip Vol. 1 – Sneaking Into FIFA, Feeling Under-dressed On A Beautiful Mountain & A Popping In To Europe’s 4th Smallest Country (2010)’

Click here to read ‘TF Flashback: 4 Nights In Rome On My First Italian Encounter (2009)’

Click here to read ‘Italy Filming Locations: Star Wars Traveller – Naboo (a.k.a. Caserta)’

Click here to read ‘James Bond Filming Locations In Venice’