Blogs from Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy, Europe - page 2

Ok, by far, today was my favourite day and it felt like one of my travel days. We went to Cinque Terre and boy did we walk - so it felt much more like one of my normal trips. We had pretty crap weather again today. Pouring rain first thing in the morning - it was supposed to clear up around 9am... eh, it sort of did. So, we drove out to La Spezia to catch the train into the towns (since cars aren't really allowed, and def not giant motor coaches). The trains were an adventure lol. First off we got to the first station like 15min before the train was coming and our guide had to go buy the tickets. I'm still surprised we actually made it - we literally were running down the ... read more

Our last day in Cinque Terre dawned fine so we decided to walk from Manarola to Corniglia. From the train station we walked through Manarola and continued up the steep road until we found the turn off for the track. There were a lot more people on this trail than on any of the others that we had done. It started off up the usual very steep slope through vineyards. The industrious people of Liguria have terraced the slopes over the years and they are extensively cultivated mainly with vineyards, but vegetables and other crops as well. We noticed the local people look quite fit and we doubted that you could get many Kiwis to work on such steep land. You don’t see a lot of fat people like you do in New Zealand, except for ... read more

The day looked fine after the threatening weather the night before so we decided to do our first big walk from Monte Rosso to Levanto, which is a town just to the north west of Cinque Terre. We knew where to start from our recce of the previous day and the trail was quite easy to follow – it went up, up and up. We took our time and talked to various people on the trail in English French or German as required. The standard greeting was Italian. A lot of the trail was through the typical forest of evergreen oak but we had some fine views as well. Near the top is an old hermitage with some ruins which we walked around. We had taken some lunch with us which fortified us for the long ... read more

Italy is a romance for the senses…. taste, smells, sounds, touch and visual…. all your senses need to be keen to truly enjoy all that Italy offers. This blog is longer than usual but so necessary. La Morra – Piedmont Region Italy’s hidden gem from our perspective We’re somewhere in that half sleep, half-awake state early in the morning when we hear the gong of church bells across the street. With eyes closed we are trying to focus on the number. Oh good…. its only 5am, we can continue to snuggle in our crisp fresh sheets at the UVE Wine Bar and Rooms. Just a bit later as we hear the church bells gong 7am we decided we should think about starting our day. As we’re having a nice breakfast in our B&B we were discussing ... read more

Italia! We made it to the beautiful city of Cinque Terre after many winding roads & hairpin turns! It is hard to believe we left the snowy Alps in the morning & reached the sunny beachside village this afternoon! The villages are totally stunning! We went out fir a big Italian meal with our group & the food was ridiculous! The kids all tried calamari which was the best I have ever had by far & anchovies! Even Rose!! I am shocked at all the foods this picky eater has tried! We finally slept in for once in this trip & hung out at the beach all day! We did some shopping & soaked up the views while the kids ate tons of gelato! I stuck with the Rose' wine which is fantastic here! This has ... read more