It was the first week of November and I was seating in a lakeside cafe in Lake Como, Italy. It was 54 degrees Fahrenheit; the sun was shining and the small city was crowded with tourists. Since the month was just starting, I could only imagine how crowded this popular tourist destination was during the summer. I was eating shrimp ravioli in a saffron and cream sauce while working my way through a half carafe of Italian Chardonnay. I’d been in Italy about five hours, and I was as happy as a clam. Lake Como was beautiful beyond belief and after spending four days in the gray rainy dreariness of Zurich, Switzerland to be sitting in the sunshine watching beautiful girls pass by I felt like I had won the lottery.
Yet it wasn’t easy to get here. While I had spent several hours online getting all the required documents and certifications that I needed to travel from the United States to Switzerland to meet all the COVID restrictions, I spent almost as much time getting the documents that I needed to travel from Switzerland to Italy. Because Switzerland is neutral, and Italy is part of the European Union, I had to acquire a complete new set of documents.
The main form that I needed was called the EU Digital Passenger Location Form also known as the dPLF. You can find the form at this web address https://app.euplf.eu/#/ .
The form is fairly simple to fill out. It’s only three pages long and has sections that include your permanent address, where you’re staying in Italy, how you’re entering the country either by train or by plane, how long you’re going to be there, what countries you’ve traveled to in the past 10 days and also if you were vaccinated. And then it has a declaration stating that you are vaccinated or have had a rapid test to prove that you do not have COVID. I filled out the form online and then downloaded the PDF onto my phone and also onto my computer. There is also a “Green Pass” QR code that you can use. This is the Italian version of the Swiss “Green Pass” which allows you to enter restaurants or concerts or museums. However, I found it very difficult to download even in its QR form. Unless you’re a citizen or are planning to stay there for a long time, the short-term passenger finds when they download the Italian Green Pass that it is only good for a couple of days and then you have to reapply for it. Instead of downloading their green pass, I just carried around my American passport with my vaccination card and that allowed me to get into any place that I needed to go.
So a warning for anyone who’s traveling to Italy from another part of Europe by train. No one will check your digital pass for the EU when you board the train. You must show it to the conductor when he comes through which was 30 minutes after I had boarded the train and we were already 20 miles down the tracks. When we crossed from Switzerland into Italy, the train stopped at the nearest station, and it was checked again. The conductor wanted to see my dPLF document and my vaccination card, because just like Switzerland they take this very seriously. If you don’t have the required material they will kick you off the train at the next station, and on many trains that cross borders there are armed police to enforce rules.
As you cross the border from Switzerland into Italy you will notice a very funny thing that happens. Switzerland is a very organized country. Its grass is cut, fences are fixed and there seems to be no trash anywhere. It’s not only a beautiful country, but also a well-maintained country as well. I saw little to no graffiti anywhere the entire time I was in Switzerland. Italy has a completely different mindset that is more relaxed about graffiti, the care of their lawns and their fences or their trash pickup. It’s as noticeable as night and day as you cross from Switzerland into Italy. Italy is a gorgeous country, it’s just a different way of life.
I had bought a ticket at the main train station in Zurich. The train from Zurich to Lake Como is about 3 hours. Traveling to Europe, you can be told if you’re an American that you need to buy a EuroRail pass online before you travel to Europe. That is not true at all. Europe is full of trains running in all different directions. Local trains, regional trains, and high-speed trains that cross borders. Trains are the main way that most people travel in Europe going from one place to another. It is not difficult to buy a train ticket, and the savings that you will get by buying a European Rail Pass in America online are not that significant. I personally just find it easier to go to the train station and buy the ticket that I need instead of worrying about which train my Rail Pass will allow me to get on.
I chose an excellent hostel that was located very close to the train station and was only four blocks from the main city square and two blocks from the lake shore. The hostel I chose is the Ostello Bello Lake Como Hostel and their address is Viale Fratelli Rosselli 9 Como, Italy 22100. I prefer staying in hostels as opposed to hotels for a couple of reasons. One they’re cheaper and two there is a built-in community of people who are doing the exact same thing that you are. It is an easy way to meet people. You already have something in common and they may have wonderful advice on places that you need to go see and things that you should do. I rented a single room with an ensuite bathroom. I’m just too old to share a dorm room with three or four other people. The room that I had rented was lovely with a view of a private garden and a bathroom with plenty of hot water.
Ostello Bello is a chain of hostels all throughout Italy, and you receive a discount of 10% to 20% at the other locations when you book through them. They have locations in Como, Florence, Milano, Rome as well as others though out the country. The hostels are all different in size and accommodations but the staff in each one is very friendly. I highly recommend them.
The town of Lake Como is not very big. The city centre is probably 10 blocks by 10 blocks and filled with cobblestone walkways, old churches and timeworn buildings but also filled with tons of restaurants and modern upscale shops. The city was founded by the Romans as a holiday getaway for the ultra-rich of Rome, and the gorgeous scenery of the lake and mountains is unparalleled with blue skies and snow-covered mountain peaks.
In my next blog, I write about all the things to do in Como from museums to visiting the ancient lakeside town of Bellagio.
Till then Ciao!
All photos and film by James Carey.
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