Menaggio

Menaggio is located on the west side of Lake Como. The hostel there is marvelous -- clean, hospitable and reasonably priced. (See www.menaggiohostel.com/ ).The view from the window alone was worth the stay, but we also rode a bus to the foot of a mountain and spent a day climbing. The bus ride was an adventure, hurtling through narrow twisting roads, often at more than twice the speed limit. How do I know? The one time there was a radar speed indicator on our whole trip was on this bus ride when we were slowing down in a 40 km speed zone and the radar report was 82 km. I took the movie below when it was safer -- other times we had tree branches coming in the windows. Negotiating switchbacks required the bus driver to honk his horn and forced oncoming traffic to back up.