Riding High Above Lake Como

This day we set out on an adventure up the mountain. Yes - UP the mountain.

Did we drive? No. Did we hike? Definitely not.

We did what any sane person would do. We crammed (along with a bunch of other people) into a very small cable car for the 4 minute ride straight up the side of the mountain. Don't look down!

Ok - so this isn't so bad - Those boats aren't that far down

And up we went . . .

And up . . .

And up . . .

And up . . . (yikes - those boats are just specs now!)

Looking out isn't much better than looking down!

Finally we made it

Solid ground - and a railing!

Our little cable car made it

Our destination was the little town of Pigra

First stop - the only restaurant in town, a pizzeria of course

Fantastic pizza

And tiramisu! This is not a country for dieting

Next we went on a walk - that's a cute little Italian car we saw


The mountains were beautiful - in the far distance you can see the peaks of the Swiss Alps (Lake Como is right near the Italy/Switzerland border)

Gorgeous sunflowers

Really gorgeous

Then we came upon this pretty little church, high on the mountain overlooking the Lake

It had a very small, ornate cemetary

But best of all, it had a playground!

Now it's time to go back down - I'll just be holding my breath on the cable car - no more photos

Goodbye to Pigra

Epilogue: As the cable car descends along the cables, it comes to several junctures where it must go slightly up and over a post that holds up the cables. On our way down, as we crossed the first one, we started to swing and the cable car stopped moving forward and just swung back and forth in the wind. You could tell that everyone crammed into the very small space was nervous, but what can you do? Will we make it? Will we plunge to our deaths? If the car were to fall, would we die or just be badly injured? DON'T LOOK DOWN! All these things flash through your mind, as you start to consider various forms of escape (not possible, they lock you in before they send you on your way). After many nervous jokes and silent prayers the swinging finally ceased and the cable car resumed its descent down the mountain.