Settling into Dervio, on Lake Como
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Late yesterday, we arrived in the small town of Dervio, Italy, after crossing the border, uneventfully, from Switzerland. Our host, Eleen, was delightful, and walked us through our small flat at Residence Antico Torchio.
Road space and parking are tight. We had to move the car to a tiny roadside parking spot between poles, which took some careful seven point turn reversing. The best way to walk through town is via the many alleyways between buildings.
At the train crossing that bisects the town, a sign asks motorists to turn off their engines while waiting. Like most rules in Italy, the locals seem to ignore them, so the street often fills with car fumes, punctuated by cigarette smoke. But away from the traffic, the walks are beautiful.
We grabbed some local pizza for dinner, after translating the menu. We bought a couple of things in the local store, via communication with the staff that was mostly laughs, but not many understood words in either direction. Whenever we tell someone we’re from Australia, the usual response is “wow, so far!”
Washing time again. The on site shared washing machine has some rudimentary coin machine that just shuts off power when it runs out. We followed the locals, by just hanging washing to dry wherever we could.
Charging
Our hosts are considering getting EV charging. But the main challenge will be parking space. We’ll just charge wherever we stop somewhere that has one. I’m not going to try to un-park the Tesla for a couple of days anyway 🫣.
I’ve noticed in Italy, but also in other parts of Europe, that the traffic lights only appear on the approaching side of the intersection. In Australia, we’re used to looking at the lights on the other side, when first in line. We’ve had a few times here where I’ve had to look at the light change either through the glass roof, or on the Tesla’s screen.