Our base on Lake Como was a hotel in Varenna from which it is possible to reach out to most of the towns that hug the Lake Como shore.  Ferries move cars and foot traffic around the lake.

Como is surrounded by mountains, the Italian Alps, and at 56 sq.mi. is larger than New York's Lake George.

The ferries that circle the lake are like a hop-on-hop-off bus that lets you visit any of the towns — like Belaggio here — that constitute their route.

One of these lake towns is Tremezzo where the primary attraction is the Villa Carlotta and its remarkable gardens.

Topiary ducks in the gardens.  The gardens are also slathered with azalea bushes that sometimes look like azalea trees.

These are lemons, not grapefruit.  Italian lemons are — for reasons that escape me — gigantic.  They're not quite as large as your typical grapefruit, but they're close.