This is the final post in my three-part Italy series. When we planned our itinerary, I told my husband that we had to go to Lake Como. Lake Como, specifically Villa del Balbianello, is where portions of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones were filmed. Lake Como is located in the northern part of the country, close to the Switzerland border. We took a train from Florence to Milan, stayed in Milan for a day, then took a train from Milan to Lake Como. Lake Como was gorgeous and one of the trip’s highlights.

When we got to Lake Como, the train station was right near downtown. Lake Como is a small town with shops and several clothing stores. Approaching the lake, Lake Como is surrounded by grassy mountains. Lake Como is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It makes sense that portions of the prequels were filmed here. I was in awe of how pretty the lake was. I don’t want this paragraph to be repetitive, but I can’t help it. Lake Como was stunning.

After checking into our Airbnb, my husband suggested we take the Cable Car. There’s a cable car nearby downtown that will shuttle people to Brumate, a town on the mountain. I don’t do well with heights, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t do it. The line for the cable car can be long; however, two cable cars run simultaneously, so I felt that it kept things moving. It was cloudy by the time we made our way to the station, so the line wasn’t very long. The ride up to Brumate was smoother than I anticipated, especially because it was at a steep incline. At the top, there are several hiking trails, one leading to a lighthouse. We walked around, but only ended up staying for about thirty minutes before taking the cable car back down. We lucked out because about an hour after that, it started to rain. It was good timing that we were able to buy tickets, hop on the cable car, walk around, hop back on the cable car to make our way back to Como, all before the rain started.

The real question is, did we visit Villa del Balbianello? We didn’t. Most of the villas that we could tour weren’t within walking distance of where we were staying. For Villa del Balbianello specifically, there was a bus you could take to get there, but it doesn’t drop you off right in front of the villa, so you’d have to walk up to get there. We could have taken the ferry, but the lines for the ferry were extremely long, much longer than the cable cars. It was odd because you think that for something so well-known, it would have been easier to get there. It would have taken us a full day to navigate there, and I didn’t want to take up that much time. While I didn’t visit the exact villa Star Wars was filmed in, I was close enough to Naboo, and that was good enough for me.

If I could describe our time in Lake Como with one word, I would say it was relaxing. Our first day was packed with the train, walking around, checking into our Airbnb, and riding the cable car. The other days we were there, we had no plans, and it was needed. I enjoyed the time when my husband and I would get an espresso to go, and I’d bring my book to read while we sat on the bench near the lake. After spending a good amount of time on the lake, we took the train back to Rome, toured the Vatican, and flew home.

It’s been fun to reminisce about our trip to Italy! With that said, I’m looking forward to being home for the rest of the year. I don’t have any other travel plans for this year, and I’m perfectly okay with that.