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lecco |
| Flanked by mountains of scored granite, Como's eastern fork is
austere and fjord-like, at its most atmospheric in the morning mists.
The villages wedged along the shoreline are far more workaday than those
of the rest of the lake, and LECCO , at its foot, is a frantic
commercial centre. You almost certainly won't want to stay in Lecco, but
its public transport connections are good, and there are some
challenging hikes in the nearby mountains. Trains run to Como, Milan and
Bergamo, and back up the eastern shore by way of Varenna to Sondrio, and
there are buses into the mountain villages. Buses leave from outside the
train station , from where it's a brisk five-minute walk to the ferry
station (go straight down the central street, Via Cavour, and across
Piazza Garibaldi, to the shore and turn right). Lecco's business-like
tourist office is on Via N. Sauro, off Piazza Garibaldi (Mon-Sat
9am-12.30pm & 2.30-6.30pm; June same hours plus Sun 9am-12.30pm; tel
0341.362.360, www.cot.it ). If you need to stay , the only central hotel
is the Moderno on Piazza Diaz, outside the train station (tel
0341.286.519; L90,000-120,000/46.48-61.98). There are a number of snack
bars and pizzerias around the station, though none of them is
particularly special. If you've time to kill you could pop into Lecco's Basilica , which boasts a set of fourteenth-century Giottesque frescoes, and the birthplace of Alessandro Manzoni, author of the great nineteenth-century novel I Promessi Sposi ("The Betrothed"). The Villa Manzoni , on Via Amendola (head left out of the station along Via Sassi then Via Marconi), is open as a museum (Tues-Sun 9.30am-2pm; L5000/2.58). Above Lecco at the end of the road to MALNAGA a cable car - and paths #1, #7 and #18 - climb up to the Piani d'Erna , from where trails lead further into the mountains. Alternatively, buses from outside the train station run up to PIANI RESINELLI , another starting-point for hikes. These are not Sunday afternoon strolls, however, and unless you are experienced, you really should get hold of a reliable walking book as well as a good map before you go. Many of the walks involve scaling a via ferrata. Some stretches are vertical, and once you've started it's often impossible to turn back - the vie ferrate are popular and there will probably be a queue behind you. |