It was the final public holiday until Christmas in Netherlands. And it happened to be on Monday, I spent the last weekend in Amsterdam bored to death and I didn’t wanted to do the same this weekend. I started looking for cheap tickets and found tickets to Milan from Amsterdam. I wanted to hike so I search for options near Milan to hike and found that Lake Como is really nearby. So I planned my hike near lake Como.
I took flight from Amsterdam to Milan on Saturday evening and I was at Milan airport in 2 hours. Before landing to Milan, we flew over Alps and I could see pointy peaks from my window seat.
Later from airport, I took bus to Milan city and I was in city in next 45 minutes or so. My hostel was really close to central station so I walked there. I checked in and went to grab my free welcome beer. There I met an Scottish guy and an American girl Sierra. After dropping in my stuff in my room. I went outside to hangout and eat with Sierra. We walked around in city for 2 hours and looked around different places. Later I came back in hostel and slept. I had to wake up early in morning tomorrow.
Next morning, I woke up at 8. Grabbed the free breakfast at hostel and went out to station. I asked the lady at counter for the train and she gave me ticket and told me platform number. I went there and got into train A. Ticket checker lady was really nice and she told me where to get off and get into second train. I got off at the station but there were 30 minutes before the next train so I walked around and bought juice and water.
Later, I got into train and I was there in less than an hour. My plan was to hike to summit of Monte Bolletto (1235M) and Monte Bolettone (1317M). From lake como, it was 4 hours of hike one way. I got off the train and started hike. My first milestone was to Brunate which is a small town that overlooks Como, which lies on the shore of Lake Como some 500 metres below.
After I started hiking, I was done in first 5 minutes as usual. But then I told myself, it’s gonna be fine. And it turned out to be fine. I came across a couple from US and we hiked together until Brunate. Some pictures of hike from Como to Brunate.
When I reached Brunate after more than an hour, I was soaking wet with sweat. So I decided to stop at a shop and get ice cream and more drinks. Then I started hiking further and came across Laszlo and Erin, a couple from Zurich. We hiked together to Monte Bolletto and talked about different things like travel, life and stuff.
Laszlo and Erin had to catch a cruise ship so they decided to go and I felt like staying in sunshine so I sat there and had my lunch. A sandwich I bought from Albert Hijn at airport yesterday and some chocolates. After 15 minutes, I felt like going further to Monte Bolettone. I started hike and after another hour and half, I was there. Some pictures I took on the way
At the summit, sun was shinning on my face and there were only a couple of people, so I decided to rest a bit on a slope. I even took a nap there for 15 minutes. I had my headphones on as I was listening to some ambient music. After a long time, I didn’t come to mountains to find happiness but to share the happiness I had found recently.
After resting there and soaking in sunshine, it was time to return as it was 16:00 already and it was another 3-4 hours hike back to lake. I started hiking back and on the way back, I met another girl name also name Sierra (Chiara in Italian). We started hiking back together and we also talked about different things. We took a different trail this time and here are some pictures of our hike to Brunate,
After hiking for an hour or so, we reached Brunate. Chiara suggested that we should visit The Lighthouse of Brunate, which was on the way and I said, why not? She even paid for the ticket for me. Some pictures of tower and from tower overlooking Como lake.
After spending sometime there, we decided to go back down so I can take train and Chiara can take bus. It was another more than an hour of hike so we decided to take cable car from Brunate to lake and in less than 15 mins, we were at lake. I bought a sandwich to eat and then said good-bye to Chiara and got into train. I chilled in train and after changing another metro, I was in hostel at 10. I took a long shower as there was no in my dorm and went to sleep as early as 23:30.
Yesterday, I had done good amount of hiking so I wanted to stay in city today. I went lounge downstairs and ate breakfast. I saw a girl sitting by herself and I started talking to her. She was Tanya from Russia and was also a solo traveler. We decided to explore city together and went out, we walked a lot. Some pictures we took on the way
After that, we went to eat lunch and walked again in city, stopped at places but I didn’t take many pictures. We later came back to hostel in afternoon. I stayed in lounge listening to some music and chilling. It was my time to get into bus already to airport. I went to station and got into bus. I was at Airport in less than an hour. I went to airport food court and ate Pasta. It was pretty good. Later, I got into plane and it landed in Amsterdam at around midnight. I was at home around 1:00. It was a short, tiring but satisfying trip and I was glad that I didn’t spend this weekend in Amsterdam.
Abby On Travel 