travel with aimee

As much as the views of Switzerland had me in awe, entering Italy had me ecstatic. Italy has such a big hold on my heart. The music, the romance, the culture (can’t forget the spag bol!) So i was very excited to be heading that way and beginning our Italian chapter.

Our first location was Como, well known for Lake Como. It’s one of those places that i always see on social media and it looks like such a serene place. Not too touristy either.

We arrived there on the 6th of February and luckily only had a short walk from the station to our hostel : Ostello Bello. It was around £25 for the night which is on the pricier side of places we stayed but the options in Como were very limited. We checked in, ditched our bags and went to explore.

The sun was out, the atmosphere was peaceful and we strolled along the lake and into the town. Wandering its cobbled streets, seeing Como cathedral and all the charming shops and coffee spots felt like a dream. We stopped off at Piazzo Alessandro Volta and had some tea at a surrounding restaurant. Of course, this is a must in Italy! We both got a gorgeous fruity cocktail and a pizza (when in Italy, am i right?!) Despite being on a budget, it’s important to indulge once in a while and I think Italy is the perfect place to do it as you can’t beat the Italian Cuisine.

That night, we headed back to our hostel for karaoke night! I made the decision to make a friend as i overheard her saying about the song ‘Before he cheats’ by Carrie Underwood. I swooped in to the seat opposite her and began talking about the song. Soon we agreed to do it together. After the initial icebreaker, that was it, karaoke madness! Best part? If you sung you got a free shot! We chatted with our new friend, Yasmin from the Netherlands, and soon we acquired more friends including two people from the area and a guy called Benji from Manchester. It was a brilliant night. One of the staff members made a deal with me and Ben, that if we sung ‘gotta go my own way’ from HSM2 together, then she would give us free breakfast tomorrow. No brainer. Despite not knowing the song, i was very proud of Ben and we smashed it. Other songs to note were ‘Never gonna give you up’ sung by Ben and Benji and ‘Baby’ sung by me and a random girl (she was so cute and hugged me at the end). To end the night everyone got up to sing along to ‘Bella Ciao’ which was so fitting as me and Ben had just finished a series called Money Heist in which the song is featured. Feeling on cloud nine, we jumped, we sang and had a surreal night.

After a bit more chatting, we retreated to our beds. For Ben, it was not a peaceful night. While i slept soundly, in the night we had a guy in our room, spluttering, coughing, farting and burping to which Ben eventually reached breaking point and told him to ‘Have some manners and be quiet’, it was quite disgusting. I think he got the message as from then on, he went outside to do his business.

The next morning, we had our free breakfast…heaven. Then checked out and left our bags in the luggage area so we could walk around the lake a bit more before leaving Como a few hours later.

I loved Como, it’s stayed near the top of all the places we have been throughout our journey and my only regret is that we didn’t stay longer. In summer time i imagine it’s amazing as you can swim, paddle board and get boat rides around the lake. It’s also ideal for Star Wars lovers due to all the locations. If we stayed longer i would have also loved to visit the surrounding towns including Bellagio. So yeah, it’s definitely on my list to come back to!

TOP TIPS:

• Walk around the lake
• Explore the cobbled streets and charming shops
• Visit the Cathedral
• Get a boat ride
• Visit the surrounding towns such as Bellagio
• Indulge in pizza!
• Don’t get caught by the tourist trap restaurant people trying to pull you into their place
• Swim and enjoy!