The Unique Cinque Terre

The past week has been terrific.......it started with meeting our Swiss daughter in Lucca and ended with a rewarding Cinque Terre trek. Lucca was charming, a city of 85,000 people but it seemed like a lot less as we immersed ourselves inside the completely walled old town where we were fortunate to find a small two bedroom apartment to stay in. You can actually walk on top of the wall and it is a beautiful 4 km stroll along tree lined walkways that look down into the old town. The annual Comic and Games festival (largest in Europe) was about to happen and the preparations were underway for the massive event which would have been fun to be part of......270,000 people attended last year with many of them wearing costumes of their favourite characters. We still found enough to entertain ourselves, walking up the Guinigi Tower (207 steps, great city views), marvelling at more beautiful churches, catching a Puccini opera recital and having delicious meals with our daughter on hand.

We then took the train to nearby Pisa where we walked around the city but spent most of our time at the Field of Miracles where the Leaning Tower and Cathedral reside. They are special to visit and observe, along with the Baptistery, but Pisa didn't seem to have a lot more to offer (compared to other places we have been in Italy) so our planned short stay was appropriate in our eyes.

The following morning Rachel took an early morning flight back home to Basel, heading to the University right after her flight landed. It was sad to see her leave but that is life for our busy working daughter and we appreciated the time we got to spend with her. Fortunately for us we will see her again soon when she returns to Canada for a Christmas visit. We also left Pisa the same morning, catching a train to La Spezia which was our jumping off point for our Cinque Terra trek. La Spezia surprised us with it's lovely seaside promenade, pedestrian-friendly main street and former palaces around the city which were still in great shape (at least on the outside). It was obvious this historically famous port town was very affluent in its day and remains an enchanting city to walk around.

Leaving our big backpacks behind at our La Spezia guest house, we took the ferry the next morning all the way to Monterosso where we planned to start our hike. It was a fabulous way to view the Cinque Terre from the sea before walking the trails back to the pretty villages that seemed trapped between the mountains and the sea. The ferry and the trains were both very busy with tourists as they were the only public transportation connections between the 5 villages for those that preferred not to walk (or were not able to handle the up and down paths). The train line is actually down by the sea and spends 99% of its time in tunnels getting from village to village. All of the villages, built on rocky, sloped terrain have populations of less than 1,500 people so they are tiny but stunning to view from any angle with their colourful homes and almost cliff-side locations. We spent less than an hour walking around Monterosso.....you can cover every part of all the villages in that time......and had lunch before heading to our first overnight stop in Vernazza. The path contained many steps, both up and down as we passed along several inlets but the rugged coastline views remained spectacular all the way. We decided to spend two nights in Vernazza so that we could enjoy the views and the village even more. It was a good decision with the lovely 20'sC temperature following us around everywhere we have been, giving us a chance to watch other travellers come and go while we relaxed in a very enticing environment.

Yesterday we left early in the morning to walk to Corniglia the next village along the way. The start was a fairly steep step walk up above Vernazza then the path leveled out but once again provided wonderful views of the coastline. We passed through many small vineyards (and olive groves) where the locals were producing their own wines and olive oils, using terraced land which they had created with laborious stonework. After lunch in Corniglia it was time to move on to Manarola, our stopping point for the night. With the coastal path being closed for reconstruction (landslides) it was necessary to take the high path which meant even more climbing and a steeper descent at the end. Another 2 hours of strenuous walking was rewarded with a cold beer and a shower. Manarola was another great choice for a stopover.....a busy tiny village with travellers coming and going, and one main street leading to the waterfront to watch it all happen. We had a fabulous dinner of steamed mussels in a wine and lemon broth, and grilled octopus. Fresh seafood was available everywhere and was the predominant staple in the Cinque Terre area which pleased us and especially me with anchovies being on every menu we came across.......along with local wines and tiramasu!

Today was our final day in Cinque Terre National Park. With both the coastal and high paths both closed to foot traffic (more landslides), our only option to get to the fifth and final village, Riomaggiore, was to take the train or the ferry (and the ferry doesn't operate in high winds which were forecast). Fortunately for us, we got wind of a temporary train strike happening, which is apparently fairly common in Italy with their train system. We caught an 8:30 am train just before the 9 am strike time to get to Riomaggiore where we walked around a bit and had breakfast. I'm quite sure a lot of other travellers were still having their breakfast at this time, unaware of the strike and soon realizing that the frequent trains they depended on were not running and they were confined to their village for several hours if they were not hikers. We then caught the first ferry (which was operating after all on a less frequent basis) to Portovenere, just outside the park boundary but still along the coast and built on a hill. We walked up to the seaside fortress-like church and then further uphill to the Doria Castle for a great view of the peninsula. Then we took a bus back to La Spezia where we reclaimed our big backpacks and settled in for the night at the same place that treated us so well before our Cinque Terre visit (Atmosfere).

Tomorrow morning we will catch a train that will take us to Siena where we will begin our exploration of the Tuscan countryside.

Lucca - one of the entry ports into the old town taken from our room window inside the old town. The tree-lined wall top was a pleasure to walk around and we found ourselves up there several times.

Lucca - the Pfanner Palace from their lovely backyard.

Walking with my daughter along a pedestrian friendly street in Pisa.

The Leaning Tower (background) and Cathedral in Pisa.

La Spezia harbourfront

One of the many former palaces, most of which have turned into luxury apartments or condos in La Spezia.

Monterosso - at the north end of the Cinque Terre and where we started working our way back. It was the only village with enough space to have a nice beach.

Ten minutes after our first climb began out of Monterosso and Rhonda wondered if the steps were ever going to end. She started thinking this might be the Stairway to Heaven.

Vernazza when we were half way back down to the village.......which only meant we would be climbing back up again another day to get to Corniglia (the next village).

Manarola - maybe the most beautiful village of the five, although they all had their own unique charm.

Riomaggiore - the train tracks were in tunnels below the villages and the stations were only accessible on either side of the villages. Passengers had to walk through tunnels at the bottom of the villages, or walk down many stairs to get to the stations. Almost all the ride was in darkness while in Cinque Terre National Park to preserve the coastline.

Portovenere - our final stop. St. Peter's church is in the back left side behind the sailboat masts and protected  from the sea by a massive wall. The Doria Castle is at the top of the hill.

"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer"

Venice was fascinating. A city built on the water with canals instead of roads and boats replacing cars and motorcycles. Many of the buildings have their foundations below the water level.....travel tip: don't book a basement room (in the unlikely event that you find one). One of the few pedestrian-only cities in the world, it is a walker's dream, except for the travellers who brought along huge, rolling suitcases and had to carry them over some of the 400+ step-bridges to get to their hotels.....another good reason to be a backpacker. An added delight for us was meeting up with hometown friends Jim and Debbie who happened to be in Venice at the same time as us. We spent one full day together touring Venice on the vaporettos (water buses), along the Grand Canal and over to the islands of Murano (Murano glass) and Burano (colourful homes, leaning tower). That evening, Father Peter, our gracious host at the former monastery we all stayed at, and who had previously introduced us to a fun couple from Melbourne, noticed the 6 of us sitting together in a common area sharing pre-dinner wine, snacks and stories. He insisted we join him in his dining room for some of his wine and cheese. More entertaining stories followed and before we knew it, it was later in the evening and we all retired to our rooms for the night.
The next day our old and new friends departed Venice and we walked all around the charming city, across many bridges and temporarily getting lost on occasion while walking along narrow alleyways or winding streets. Some of our highlights included the massive Basilica San Marco (24 carat gold ceiling frescoes), the Peggy Guggenheim art museum (Picasso, Dali, Kandinsky), the Ponte de Rialto (famous bridge) and watching the gondolas trying to maneuver their way around the larger canal vessels. Delicious seafood platters were a dinner staple for us, along with cold beers and gelatos in the public squares during the daytime.

Leaving Venice we took the high speed train to Florence where we are finishing a three night stay. Florence is obviously completely different, being well inland from the sea. Lots of cars, motorcycles and bicycles but also filled with impressive churches, often only a block or two apart, and major art museums containing classical Renaissance art, many of which are monumental in size and secular. That was our focus today, spending hours at both world famous art galleries, the Uffizi and the Accademia, where we were awed by masterpieces by the Italian masters including Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Da Vinci and sculptures by Michelangelo.......'David' alone was over 5 metres high which made it easier to view with throngs of admirers crowded around. Audioguides were extremely helpful in describing the artist's intent, background highlights and often stories within a painting. We also toured the main Cathedral, with room to hold 30,000 people and a fabulous Brunelleschi designed dome which had a scenic view of the entire city but was unfortunately sold-out for the day by the time we arrived. The exterior of the massive church is even more impressive than the interior (picture below). We also stopped into many more churches which we do by habit since almost every Italian church we come across seemed to be filled with both famous art and architecture.
Yesterday I took my beloved wife on a walkathon, mostly south of the wide Arno River. Our main destination was the 15th century Pitti Palace, a monstrous building occupied by the ruling class of Florence but now a very large and impressive museum. It is filled with finely designed rooms, ceiling frescoes and over 500 Renaissance paintings. I now feel like an inadequate provider of accommodation for my princess, living in our tiny home that could fit inside one of them many grand rooms inside the palace. After two hours in the palace we walked through the attached Boboli Gardens and then took a steady uphill route to the top of a hill overlooking Florence. A church built in 1013 facilitated the lovely view, as did the Piazza Michelangelo further down the steeper side of the hill. We reached the main part of the city by crossing the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge which has shops built on the bridge. The shops were originally occupied by local fishermen and butchers but the ruling class decided the smells were not of high quality and ousted them for gold and silver merchants (who paid higher taxes....the real reason). Today almost all of the shops are jewelry stores selling expensive gold, silver and diamond pieces. Fortunately my dear wife was tired from our walk and so anxious to get back to our room that she spent very little time looking into the shop windows (another useful travel tip).  The bridge also contains the non-accessible Vasari Corridor.....for those Dan Brown fans it is the secret passageway Langdon used to get back to the Cathedral from the Pitti Palace. They actually have Dan Brown Inferno tours available (our friend Jim took one when he was here) but we ran out of time.

Tomorrow we will be taking the train to nearby Lucca where we will have the pleasure of meeting up with our oldest daughter Rachel who now resides in Basel, Switzerland....looking forward to that.

Venice's Ponte di Rialto bridge along the Grand Canal. Water bus coming through and home owners with leaky first floors on the side. With sea levels rising globally this city has an ominous future.

The Comet Glass Star made out of Murano glass. There were lots of factories producing the famous high quality, colourful glass on the island.

Burano's colourful homes along one of their canals. The church tower in the background is leaning much more than it appears here when you are up close to it.

The San Marco Plaza in Venice containing it's well adorned Cathedral which required a 30 minute line-up to get into.

A painter capturing some of the beautiful views along the Grand Canal on one of the many bridges in the city.

Various types of biscotti for sale in Florence's Central Market. The  olive oil here in Italy is also quite incredible.....I don't believe they are sending their best products to other countries.

Just one of the 50+ rooms in the Pitti Palace.....and this was just a waiting room for nobles to see the ruling family.

A very small portion of the 111 acre Boboli Gardens forming the backyard for the Pitti Palace.

The Ponte Vecchio bridge and the Arno River taken from the top floor of the Ufizzi art museum. It seems like a very secure place for jewelry shops with its limited access.

The main Cathedral in Florence - Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore. It is much more impressive when not in the shade. The Baptistery is in the foreground, the bell tower to the right and the dome at the back which covers the main alter inside. Tourists can get to the top of the dome for fantastic city views but apparently you need to pay for a reservation earlier in the day than when we arrived.

Michelangelo's 'David' at the Accademia art gallery. We have closer pictures but this one provides a better perspective on the massive size of this masterpiece.

Lakes, Mountains and Sun

Buonjorno.........we have spent the past week in the scenic Lakes Region of northern Italy, splitting our time between Lakes Como and Garda, using a rental car to get around. Still sunny every day and temps in the low 20s C. The highway from Milan to Como was fine, similar to North America, but then the excitement started. Narrow, winding roads squeezed between the surrounding mountains and the lake called for attentive driving skills. The city of Como had lots to see......the spectacular Cathedral (somewhat surprising for a small place), the medieval pedestrian-friendly alleys and the lakeside promenade. We kept an eye out for George Clooney, who has a home there, but he must have kept his distance from us.

We then moved on further up Lake Como to the pretty town of Bellagio on the tip of a peninsula. The scenic drive there along the lake featured many Tour de France wannabes on the shoulder-less road adding another degree of difficulty for drivers where there was already barely enough room for two vehicles. It was hard to imagine being there in our camper van or making this journey in the busier summertime. We survived the drive and settled in for a 3 night recovery program in an apartment that was in easy walking distance to the lake eliminating the need to use our vehicle. We spent one day walking all around Bellagio checking out the beautiful murals in the Basilica, the gardens of Villa Serbelloni, the medieval alleyways and walking along the shoreline. We even found a couple of geocaches along the way. We had a fabulous dinner at a small restaurant in their back room wine cellar surrounded by excellent Italian wines. My brother had kindly recommended this spot to us. The following day we cruised around Lake Como with a short stop in Tremezzo on the opposite side of the lake. Villa Carlotta was the highlight there featuring not only a palace with fascinating stories but also a massive botanical garden that we walked all around.

The following morning we took a car ferry across the lake to Varenna where we did a short hike to Castello di Vezio, perched on top of a steep hill with great views of the lake. The hike down was much quicker and we then drove south along the east side of the lake before heading inland to Bergamo. We spent our time walking around the upper historic walled town with many sights to see. Completing a busy day we then drove on to Lake Garda and up the west side of the lake to Riva del Garda at the north end where we stayed for 2 nights. The Lake Garda road seemed a bit wider and the surrounding mountains both higher and steeper than Lake Como so it was a bit more comfortable drive with non-stop fabulous views. Riva was a treat to walk around.......wider streets, very large public squares and a lengthy lakeside promenade making it feel a lot less crowded than the Como towns we visited. We enjoyed Riva del Garda very much.

From Riva we drove down the east side of the lake stopping in both Garda and Bardolino where we walked around the lakeside towns and had drinks at outdoor patios by the lake to people watch which is often entertaining. We then left the lake and headed inland to Pastrengo where we are currently staying at an agriturismo (small farms / vineyards that rent out rooms). Pastrengo sits next to the Valpolicella wine region and we tasted wines at three different high quality wineries today......Le Salette, Allegrini and Tomassi and we came away with 4 nice bottles of wine including two Amarones. Wines that have to be carried in your backpack don't get a chance to age very long!

Tomorrow we will drive the short distance to Verona where we will part ways with our car, walk around the historic city centre and then catch a train to Venice. Happy belated Thanksgiving to all.

A typical Bellagio alley rising up from the Lake Como waterfront. Plenty of shops all along with the shop owners usually living above.

Bellagio's San Giacomo Basilica. All of the churches we have seen so far have beautiful frescoes painted on their walls or ceilings.

Bellagio waterfront with a frequently sighted lake ferry about to arrive.

While in Tremezzo we walked by the Grand Hotel which offered the only sand beach on the entire lake......the many other so called 'beaches' were covered in small pebbles, common throughout Europe. Note the pool in a big pool.

Villa Carlotta which was first completed in 1745. It is now a museum that shares very interesting stories of  its past.

A view from one of the balconies at Villa Carlotta. The massive botanical gardens were behind and beside the villa and its 20 acres were divided into sections from around the world.

One of our last views of Lake Como from the Castello di Vezio following our hike to the top. At the beginning of the tourist season they actually get visitors to pose in various positions while they drape them in cheese cloth dipped in plaster. Then they have them pose in that position for 60 minutes (for hardening to occur) at which point they cut them free and recreate the cast. Not sure if they entice them with alcoholic drinks served through a straw.

One of the large lakeside public squares in Riva del Garda.

Taken during a stopover in Garda. The European Union flags displayed in the harbour had one empty flagpole where the British flag used to hang.

Our agriturismo stay in Pastrengo. Our room was the one on the top floor where my dear wife had rearranged the curtains to allow for more sunlight into the room. The had a small winery that produced some nice tasting wines.

We came across this during our visit to the Tomassi Viticolltori winery. It was an all cork replica of the Verona Arena. Looks like another idea for the cork master designer.

La Dolce Vita

We are indeed living "the sweet life". travelling every year to different places around the world. This adventure brings us to Italy, one of our tamer countries to visit unless you enjoy driving a vehicle in street-busy, large cities.......which we are not doing! We arrived in Milan two days ago following an overnight flight from Canada. After checking into our Airbnb apartment we did a short walk around the neighbourhood and went to a nice restaurant recommended by our host, Gian. The pizza and salad were good and the house wine was very drinkable.......especially when a half litre cost only $5. We were off to a very good start.

After an unplanned 13.5 hour badly needed sleep, we walked around the historic city centre taking in many sites.......Parco Sempioni with its Arena Civica (1897, still in use today) and the Sforza Castle (15th century, former Duke of Milan built) which was surrounded by a large and dry deep moat, currently guarded by (killer?) cats....might be a good time to stage an attack if you dream about having your own castle. Next was the Duomo (Cathedral) which was magnificent to behold. We waited patiently in line for 30 minutes to enter the tightly secured Cathedral which can hold up to 40,000 people (3rd largest in the world) but only seemed to allow approximately 200 people during non-mass times......perhaps we shouldn't have slept in and caught the 7:30 am mass :-)  Then we walked through the Galleria Emanuele II, an elegant outdoor shopping arcade with a glass roof, filled with stores we can't afford to shop at.....although we did consider going into the Armani or Gucci store to purchase one of their  classy shopping bags to use for our dirty laundry. Our final stop was at Santa Maria delle Grazie, a church built in 1490 but more famous for its refectory where Leonardo da Vinci spent 4 years (1494 - 1498) painting his Last Supper masterpiece. Fortunately I had made an advance reservation to get inside which is necessary all the time since they only allow 30 people at a time for 15 minute intervals via several sealed rooms to protect the massive mural from deteriorating. Tired after walking 15+ km's on our first day we purchased dinner and a good bottle of Italian wine (a $20 favourite at home) for a total of $12 and retreated to our apartment in a very good mood.

Today we took the express train (up to 300 km/hr) to Turin (Torino), home of the 2006 Winter Olympics but with a 22C temperature on this lovely October day. We walked all around the city centre, first along the well used River Po and then into the older part of Turin. The city buildings almost all seem to have porticos.....covered arched walkways which are wonderful on hot or rainy days. Our first stop was at Mole Antonelliana (1864 start), a city landmark with it's 167 metre spire on top of what is the still the tallest unreinforced (non steel skeleton) brick structure in the world. We tempted fate by taking an elevator to the top for a scenic view of the entire city. The building also housed the National Museum of Cinema showcasing the Italian film industry which got its start in Turin and from 1906 - 1916 was the film production capital of the world......until Hollywood took over. There were many interesting exhibits including the use of shadows, mirrors and the beginnings of 3D technology. Next we wandered over the massive daily market where we purchased some sunglasses to replace the ones we forgot to pack. We had lunch in one of the large public squares, went into a few well dazzled churches and walked around the impressive Palace Reale grounds (16th century). We then took the high speed train back to Milan but not before picking up a nice Borolo wine which came from one of the nearby Piedmont region wineries.

Tomorrow, before leaving Milan, we will pick up our rental car to tour around the Lakes region starting with Lake Como. More to come.

Arrivederci

This is how we know when it's time to leave on a trip.

This is part of the moat outside the Sforza Castle in Milan. You may need to expand this picture to view the cats spaced out protecting the castle.

An interior section of the Sforza Castle.

So far my dear wife has not succumbed to the mounds of gelato seen everywhere but it is only a matter of time.

The impressive Duomo in Milan with a small portion of the line-up to get in along the bottom right of the picture.

My princess resting while I wait in the line-up to get us into the Duomo.

The Galleria Emanuele II where the shopkeepers wouldn't want the weather to interfere with your desire to spend money.

Leonardo's masterpiece The last Supper when Jesus announced to his apostles that one of them would betray him. It was fascinating to hear how Leonardo depicted the scene.

The Piazza Vittorio Veneta in Turin. The porticos were always behind the building pillars

Almost every church we enter is stunning inside and always has a style of its own.