Lake Como & Cinque Terre
Date: June 8, 2023
Touching down in Milan, we stepped into a summer of adventure—three best friends chasing beauty, simplicity, and whatever magic the road might bring. After wandering through the towering majesty of the Duomo, we boarded a train and made our way to Blevio, a quiet hillside village tucked along the eastern shore of Lake Como.
Our Airbnb sat above the lake, with shuttered windows and a terrace that opened into stillness. Each morning we sipped espresso under soft light, and in the afternoons we swam beneath gathering clouds. There was a luxurious silence there. A kind of peacefulness that comes when you have nowhere to be but exactly where you are. In those early summer moments, with Timmy and Cole, life felt wide open—full of possibility and grace.
From Como, we traveled north to Switzerland, then made our way back down into the colorful cliffside villages of Cinque Terre. We stayed in Riomaggiore, where the buildings rise like puzzle pieces from the rock and the sea breathes against the shore. One morning, we sat with locals in the square, sharing stories over wine before noon. It felt timeless—like we'd slipped into an older rhythm where joy was the only clock that mattered.
That afternoon, we headed down to the cove and spent the day swimming, sunbathing, and letting the warmth soak into our bones. Everything felt slow, right, golden. The kind of day that doesn’t need documenting because it’s already etched in memory.
The next evening, we made our way to Manarola, where the pastel houses stack like dreams above the sea. We found a small trattoria overlooking the water and shared plates of fresh seafood pasta and delicious house wine made from the very hills behind us. As the sun dipped into the Ligurian Sea, painting the sky in gold and lavender, we sat in silence—just soaking it all in.
It was one of those rare, perfect moments. The bond between us felt deeper, fuller. Like something had been sealed without needing to be spoken. In the presence of so much beauty and simplicity, I realized: this is why we travel—not to escape life, but to find pieces of ourselves in places that feel like home.
