John Edward Cooper’s Notes

Illustration from the Flipbook

Today, you will visit the nearby Lake Como. The coach will take you to the town of Como, renowned for its lakeside parks and its Villa Olmo, home to many eminent figures, such as Napoleon and Garibaldi. Your Tour Manager will suggest places of interest you may wish to visit, in order to make the most of your day on the Lake. The coach will then take you back to Lake Maggiore late afternoon.

I woke with a start because of a sudden bzz! in the left ear. (Some time later a minor rash came on my back, nothing worse; whether it was because of mosquito bites, or something else, I don’t know.) I lay awake for some minutes, then went to the bathroom… (01:24). “OK…!” Janet said (07:00) as my cue to get up — she’d been up since 06:30. “It had rained heavily for a while,” she noted. “Again, I heard that noisy cock: it started at 5.28am (again!) and went on for an hour (again!).” So, having received my cue to get up, I shaved, showered, etc. We left the room to go down for breakfast (07:35), after which we went back up to the room (08:06) to get ready to go out, then left the room (08:23) to meet the others in the lobby. Kate’s posted itinerary said “Depart 08:30” for today.


Friday 25 July 2025 08:25:24
Assembling in the hotel lobby for our 08:30 departure to Como

This was the first time since we arrived that we had a trip wholly by coach, boarding it actually in the hotel grounds; till now, we’d either travelled wholly by boat, as the day before yesterday, or started by boat with two later coach journeys, as yesterday. Kate had told us, reluctantly it seemed, that it was Riviera policy for the tour manager to assign seats when there’d be a coach trip such as today’s; and indeed this is what happened today: we found a folded card with our names on it on one of the seats.


Name card, showing us which were our assigned seats on the coach

When we boarded the coach, Janet recalled, “it was spitting. En route to Como it rained heavily, but by the time we reached a motorway café for a pee it had stopped.” On the way, Kate handed out maps of Como.


Map of Como
[Click on the image for an enlarged view.]


Map, showing our possible route
[Click on the image for an enlarged view.]

Before we arrived she mentioned some of the places in Como we might like to visit, but I couldn’t really make my mind up and choose between them, or even remember them, and I became quite despondent. As Janet put it, “[John] was out of sorts when we arrived at Como, but was soon fine.” After we arrived (10:06) and alighted from the coach, Kate led the way to Piazza Volta, explaining that physicist Alessandro Volta was credited with the invention of the electric battery. I made some quip about “Voltaic piles”. Before we all went our separate ways, she told us to meet back there, in Piazza Volta, at 2.45pm.


Friday 25 July 2025 10:20:44
Statue of Alessandro Volta, Piazza Volta, Como


Friday 25 July 2025 10:20:44 (detail)
“To Volta — The Homeland — in 1838”

Janet and I first made our way back to Lungo Lario Trento for our only view of Lake Como. “It was still dry — and sunny — when we reached the lake at ca.10.30am,” Janet recalled.


Friday 25 July 2025 10:24:14
Southern end of Lake Como, seen from Lungo Lario Trento, Como

Then we returned to Piazza Volta, and found a café within sight of the statue, where we had refreshments.


Friday 25 July 2025 10:33:22
Piazza Volta, Como, seen from Martinez Cocktail & Food


Friday 25 July 2025 10:35:42
Refreshments at Martinez Cocktail & Food, Piazza Alessandro Volta 55/A, Como


Bill, issued “25/07/2025 10:56”

Then, given that the map was not sufficiently detailed, we managed to find our way along a succession of streets, this way and that way but broadly eastwards, to the Piazza del Duomo, where we visited the Cathedral.


Friday 25 July 2025 11:13:02
Approaching Como Cathedral from the west along Via Francesco Ballarini


Friday 25 July 2025 11:14:03
Piazza del Duomo, Como, with Clock Tower, Broletto (or “Town Hall”), and Cathedral


Friday 25 July 2025 11:16:09
West front of Como Cathedral


Friday 25 July 2025 11:16:49
Broletto (or “Town Hall”) of Como and Clock Tower

Whenever we visit churches, we usually sit first for a few moments’ meditation and prayer; but we weren’t able to do that there, because all the areas with chairs were roped off, and a tourist route was marked out. So that was a disappointment. I can’t remember whether we rewarded this by putting nothing in the offertory box. No, I don’t suppose we were that stingy.


Friday 25 July 2025 11:19:31
Como Cathedral: south aisle


Friday 25 July 2025 11:20:19
Como Cathedral: nave and apse


Friday 25 July 2025 11:21:35
Como Cathedral


Friday 25 July 2025 11:24:41
Como Cathedral: organ pipes between nave and north aisle


Friday 25 July 2025 11:26:03
Como Cathedral: rear of organ pipes between south aisle and nave


Friday 25 July 2025 11:26:55
Como Cathedral


Friday 25 July 2025 11:28:42
Como Cathedral: west end and rose window


Friday 25 July 2025 11:30:56
Como Cathedral: rose window


Friday 25 July 2025 11:29:33
Como Cathedral: apse at east end


Friday 25 July 2025 11:32:20
Como Cathedral: central stained glass window in the apse


Friday 25 July 2025 11:32:30
Como Cathedral: left stained glass window in the apse


Friday 25 July 2025 11:32:46
Como Cathedral: right stained glass window in the apse


Friday 25 July 2025 11:29:38
Como Cathedral, looking upwards from the apse: the dome


Friday 25 July 2025 11:33:18
Como Cathedral: north transept


Friday 25 July 2025 11:34:13
Como Cathedral: organ pipes between nave and south aisle


Friday 25 July 2025 11:35:01
Como Cathedral: north aisle


Friday 25 July 2025 11:36:08
Como Cathedral: stained glass window at the west end of the north aisle


Friday 25 July 2025 11:41:07
Como Cathedral: last view


Friday 25 July 2025 11:45:02
Broletto (or “Town Hall”) of Como and Clock Tower, viewed from Via Pretorio

The tourist exit door was on the other side of the Clock Tower from the Piazza del Duomo. We found a café situated behind us and to the right from the viewpoint of the above photo; or ahead of us and to the left after turning about. “We… found a café/bar and had coffee,” Janet wrote. “I was a bit cold (I had my denim jacket on) so it warmed me up.”


Friday 25 July 2025 11:56:44
Coffee at Bar Argentino, Via Pretorio 1, Como


Bill, issued “25-07-2025 12:06”

We wanted also to visit the Basilica di San Fidele, but we couldn’t find it. If we proceeded, as I think we did, south-eastwards along Via Vittorio Emanuele II, we must have come upon the rear of the building, but perhaps didn’t recognise it for what it was. Anyway, we were ready to eat by now, so retraced our steps along Via Vittorio Emanuele II and turned left down Via Rusconi and found a pleasant, rustic-looking establishment. I had a hot “stuffed sandwich” and Janet had a mixed salad with some bread. She had a Coke Zero and I a strong, “red”, unfiltered beer, which I enjoyed. We both had coffee to follow, and I had two glasses of Grappa di Moscato. (I didn’t notice the name of the establishment at the time, and the bill did not help because the address on it was in a different city! Anyway, after we got back home, I tracked it down: it was Il Vicolino del Paninaio (“Sandwich-shop Alley”).) “It was very rustic (and busy),” Janet wrote, “and the toilet was impressive. Very clean.”


Friday 25 July 2025 12:57:02
Lunch at Il Vicolino del Paninaio, Via Rusconi 18, Como


Friday 25 July 2025 12:58:12
Lunch at Il Vicolino del Paninaio, Via Rusconi 18, Como


Friday 25 July 2025 13:41:56
Lunch at Il Vicolino del Paninaio, Via Rusconi 18, Como


Friday 25 July 2025 13:54:51
Lunch at Il Vicolino del Paninaio, Via Rusconi 18, Como


Friday 25 July 2025 13:55:03
Lunch at Il Vicolino del Paninaio, Via Rusconi 18, Como


Bill, issued “25/07/25 14:31”

We weren’t sure of the way back from there to our 2.45pm rendezvous in Piazza Volta, and we were getting rather anxious as we tried to make sense of the inadequate map. “It was dry and sunny,” Janet wrote, “and we got lost trying to reach our pickup point: the Volta statue. We just made [it by] 2.45pm by the skin of our teeth — and we were not the last [to arrive]. Phew!” Kate led the way back to the coach. It set off, ca.15:00, and arrived back at the hotel (as Janet noted) “just after 4.30pm.”
 “We had a tidy up, then set off for dinner,” Janet wrote. We left the hotel (ca.17:00), and went back, after a search around for other restaurants, to Il Centrale. Janet felt a bit chilly so we went indoors. I had an Aperol Spritz and Janet had Coke Zero with ice. I also had a Forst Sixtus, a strong reddish-brown ale. Janet had a salad, specifying that it be without onions; I had a pasta dish. We had coffee to finish, Janet’s being decaffeinated.


Friday 25 July 2025 17:45:28
Indoors at Il Centrale, Via Principe Tomaso 27, Stresa


Friday 25 July 2025 18:37:40
Il Centrale, Via Principe Tomaso 27, Stresa: the bill


Friday 25 July 2025 18:46:52
Il Centrale, Via Principe Tomaso 27, Stresa

“Then,” Janet recalled, “we went to find a delicatessen for me to buy some Amaretti Classici — and we did [find some], so I finally had a packet of ‘the real McCoy’. We strolled back to the hotel and were back just after 7pm.” At some time, when we’d entered one of the two lifts in the hotel to go up to our room, we’d stood back to admit a woman who was waiting; but she’d declined to join us, because she needed the other lift: it was the only one, she said, that stopped at Floor “A”. Anyway, we used that other lift this evening, and there it was, between the ground and first floors. So she wasn’t crazy after all! After we were back in the room (19:07), I lay on the bed, and listened to music on my phone using earphones: Richard Harris MacArthur Park; and two versions of Goodness of God, one by CeCe Winans and the other by the Foster Triplets. Janet wrote that she “had a shower, did my teeth, and ‘sorted some bits’.”…
 What was featured in the Flipbook for tomorrow evening, actually took place this evening:

After dinner, as part of our signature tour experience, you’ll absorb the magical ambience of the beautiful Borromean Islands on a unique and atmospheric evening cruise around this trio of stunning isles.

Janet didn’t go, but I headed down to the lobby (20:51) to join the others.


Friday 25 July 2025 20:57:15
Boarding the boat at Stresa for an evening cruise


Friday 25 July 2025 21:01:53
Evening cruise on Lake Maggiore


Friday 25 July 2025 21:01:58
Evening cruise on Lake Maggiore


Friday 25 July 2025 21:12:36
Approaching Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:15:10
Going ashore at Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:15:56
Mausoleum of Luigi Cadorna, Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:16:08
Parish Church of St. Leonard, Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:17:45
Lungolago di Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:21:36
World War I memorial, Pallanza


Friday 25 July 2025 21:21:36 (detail)
“We were soldiers of Italy, 1915–1918”

We were back on the boat when there was a display of water fountains with lighting and pyrotechnic effects.


Friday 25 July 2025 21:34:20
“Pallanza Fountain”


Friday 25 July 2025 21:34:23
“Pallanza Fountain”


Friday 25 July 2025 21:34:29
“Pallanza Fountain”


Friday 25 July 2025 21:34:46
“Pallanza Fountain”


Friday 25 July 2025 21:35:32
“Pallanza Fountain”


Friday 25 July 2025 21:35:38
“Pallanza Fountain”

There were snacks and bottles of prosecco on board. I had two or three pours of the prosecco in my paper cup, but it quickly foamed up to the top, so I didn’t get much more than a thimbleful of wine each time.


Friday 25 July 2025 21:40:22
Refreshments aboard the boat


Friday 25 July 2025 22:07:41
Returning to Stresa: passing the north-east side of Palazzo Borromeo on Isola Bella


Friday 25 July 2025 22:10:34
Approaching Stresa

We disembarked at Stresa (22:15), and walked back to the hotel.


Friday 25 July 2025 22:19:32
Returning to the Regina Palace Hotel, Stresa

I went up to the room (22:23), where Janet was in bed. (“I updated this [journal],” she wrote, “and was in bed at ca.9.30pm.”) I took medications, cleaned teeth, and went to bed (22:42).
 Janet concluded about today, “We didn’t do an awful lot today, but we really enjoyed our day.…That’s all that matters. We weren’t bored!”

[Saturday 26 July 2025]