I set off on an early mission to find a store I had read about, Antichi Sapori, which I had read about that sold prepared food (and I thought was in Varenna but turned out to be in Bellagio). I took the ferry over to Bellagion, surprised that cost almost 10e just to go back and forth to Bellagio when an entire day pass for the lake was 15e (clearly the better deal). Luckily, after wandering for five minutes, I asked a sweet little old lady who gave me excellent directions (the fifth street off of the covered shopping arcade), and I found it quickly. I bought eggs, butter, cream, bread, croissants, a prepared lasagna and two shishkabobs of chicken and sausages and was back in Varenna in an hour. We packed a picnic of cheese, salami, crackers, biscotti, and chocolate (and of course wine) and got a mid-day start on our hike to Vezio. We stopped at the travel agent adjacent to the train station and bought our tickets for tomorrow to Tirano and were also able to make reservations for the Bernina Express scenic train to St. Moritz (reservation required and 20e per person more expensive than the local train, but what the heck, we’re only here once). We will take the local back to Tirano from St Moritz. Happy to have all of our arrangements made for tomorrow, we headed up the mountain for what we thought would be a 20 minute hike.
We took the pedestrian trail rather than follow the road and even though we passed several hikers coming down the hill from Castello di Vezio, we still managed to get ourselves what felt turned around if not lost. After asking directions several times, we found our way to a 15th century mill beside a river, and already hot and sweaty, the boys decided to explore the river and go for a swim while we rested in the shade and opened the bottle of red wine. They reported finding a waterfall and bottomless pool.
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When we finally reached the Castello, our hike was worth it because the views were spectacular.
The fort housed Roman soldiers 2000 years ago when Roman ships plied the waters of Como (the deepest in Europe), supplying troops for the conquest of northern Europe.
They have displays of falconry and we saw a huge owl and several tethered falcons. There was also a bar on top, so we sat and enjoyed a cold beer before beginning our trek down the other side of the mountain, which had been described as much more 
arduous.
The dappled lanes were full of birdsong, and to our complete amazement, we got down the mountain in 15 minutes and landed at the back door of our apartment. Had we only known, we could have started from our back yard and saved ourselves an hour and a half hike (but then we wouldn’t have found the old mill and river).
We enjoyed our picnic lunch in our own dinning room and then set off to explore the Villa Ciprese and Villa Monastero gardens. Unfortunately, a wedding was underway in the Villa Ciprese gardens but we loved the Villa Monastero gardens, originally a monastery and convent dating back to the early 1200’s but closed in the 1500’s because, I read somewhere, too many of the nuns were pregnant. The botanical gardens are stupendous, with breathtaking views over the lake.
On our way home, Steve and I stopped at the Hotel du Lac bar for a martini, surely one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever had a martini.
Our walk back through Varenna was filled with glimpses down narrow streets to the lake.
Jordan making friends with the local cat. Tonight, we will eat on our terrace and tomorrow we will be off early to the Bernina Express to St. Moritz.