Cinque Terre 23-25

CHINK-weh TAY-re,  what a special place! The rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. "The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterossa, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riommaggiore.  The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that  includes a protected marine area.

The area is very clean and eco friendly with lots of recycling bins and no fast food places anywhere or rubbish. The pass you have to buy to enter the park goes towards helping the villager's well being by providing them with free health screenings, natural medicines, subsidised child care and a free shopping service for the elderly. 

We stayed in the medieval town of Manarola built at the mouth of the river Volastra, on a high rock 70 metres above sea level.You can here water gushing down the streets under the houses as you walk up the hill through the village. It's a very charming village and has lots of brightly coloured tower-houses and steep steep, narrow alleyways leading to the seafront.

Everthing is grown or built on teraces as the landscape is so steep.  Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Walking paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. Known for its Pesto, grapes especially the Sciacchetrà a dessert wine and a dry white wine,  olives (olive oil), Farinata found in bakeries and pizzerias- essentially it is a savory and crunchy pancake made from a base of chick-pea flour and grappa.

We had a very active few days here and on Easter Sunday we spent most of the day walking or hiking  uphill and downhill in the countryside  from Manarola to Vernazza. Had to walk up to the village of Volastra where we had an amazing scene of our village and the sea. We rested outside the local church called  Nostra Signora della Salute ("Our Lady of Health"), very impressive and built around the twelfth century. From there we continued uphill on winding tracks, through olive orchards and vineyards, past small farm lets and old homes, along narrow cliff paths all the way to Vernazza. We then caught the train back.

The next day we caught the train to Monterossa and hired an umbrella and sat on the beach for a couple of hours. In the opposite direction we walked the 2 km trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola  called the Via Dell'Amore ("Love Walk"), a nice easy walk! By the time we left I felt as if I had done one hell of a work out!

Firenze 18-22 April

We did a 6 hour tour called 'A perfect Morning in Tuscay' today and guess what it was just that! We visited the  famous hill top town: Fiesole, we visited a Renaissance Villa that  featured in 2 films, 'A Room with a View' and 'Tea with Mussolini'. At the villa we had a long lunch with local produce and local Chianti. We tasted the local olive oil and of course bought a small bottle to indulge us through the rest of our holiday.  Walked for 2 hours through olive groves, cypress wood forests and visited  some ancient Roman and Etruscan ruins on our walk which was made up of lots of winding paths and roads. We visited the area were Leonardo da Vinci tested his historic flying machines and where Michelango learnt his craft. The spring days have been perfect since we arrived and lots of flowers in bloom - poppies, purple iris, Wisteria in many of the courtyards and pansies galore. Saw many Bay Laurel  trees and Kiwi Fruit trees - heard some wonderful stories by the guide. We all enjoyed the tour very much but had to come home for a siesta.

Visited the Duomo and walked up the 463 steps to get to the top. An amazing building and view but those steps :-(

Caught the local bus the the medieval town of Sienna. In 1966 it became the first European city to banish motor traffic from with the walled city. The city is made up of mostly semicircled cobbled stoned streets that are very steep. What an amazing place - so old.


Visited the most famous sculpture in the world - Michelangelo's David - had to queue up for 2.5 hours to see him - well worth it. The museum also had some amazing art works. It's not everyday that one gets to see a masterpiece renaissance  sculpture created around 1501. 



                                                          Gelati - our daily addiction of choice

 a fancy deli  

Georgia's new hat - she was asked if she was English!

Mia at the local market