Italy 2017

A short  and relatively cheap bus ride from our B&B brought us to the front of the main train station. This left us barely 200 yards to cover as opposed to the 1.6 km we covered when we walked the entire route last Friday.   The plan was to catch the 12:10 pm train to Siena but as it happened the 11:10 train was still at the station even though it was already 11:15. So a quick dash got us onto what appeared to be a very crowded train and we struggles to get through the crush of passengers and luggage surrounding the doors.  As it happened, the train wasn't anywhere near as full as we thought- just a bunch of anxious tourists making sure they didn't miss their (next) stop.    For some reason there are few stop announcements on many Italian trains and they are often indicifereable due to background noise etc.   Arriving at Siena shortly after 12:30 we exited the train and made our way to the town by way of seemingly endless series of escalators which ...

Depending on your point of view, 4 days in Florence is either 2 too many or only half what you really need.  For those into art and culture the Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery are a great way to kill the better part of a day. With artworks dating back to the Renaissance and earlier, the hassle and expense of last minute tickets might put many people off. But after travelling all this way, who cares. We met couples who had paid scalpers up to 50 euro per ticket for each place so I think we got off easy.  With a couple of dozen churches, galleries, museums, gardens etc to see, a comprehensive visit of this city would take at least two weeks. We contented ourselves with the basics. The duomo, it's museum, the baptistery and the bell tower kept us busy and tired for a good day and more. Adding in a visit to the Basilica of Santa Croce ( a who's who of famous Italians are buried there) and that was quite enough for 4 days.   I haven't dared to check how many km we walked l...

My planned early awakening Sunday morning happened promptly at 6am. However it was rather brief as I rolled over and went back to sleep until 8:30.  Breakfast was a rather salty bacon and eggs at a restaurant a few metres away from the hotel. The name escapes me since I didn't even bother to learn it, having no desire to give it any sort of on line review.    We set off for the Field of Miracles just before 10, surprised to find that few tourists had arrived yet.  A visit to the Museum of the Sinopias afforded us a view of many of the frescoes from the Camposanto Cemetery. Originally a hospital, the lighting was rather subdued hiding many of the details of the faded frescoes.  With it being Sunday we decided to postpone our visit to the Duomo until the afternoon, when most of the Masses had been completed.   Instead we spent a couple of hours exploring the downtown and riverside areas. I think we were the only ones heading in that direction as we passed...

We left Cinq Terre  by train around 11:30 this morning, connecting through La Spezia and arriving in Pisa around 1:45. While the original plan was to get off the train at the main station, we were actually able to get off one stop before, reducing the walking distance to our hotel by half. For some reason that option wasn't available when we booked but it made a lot more sense. Only 2 other couples got off when we did, so I am guessing the rest of the tourists visiting for the day just didn't realize the difference.  The famous tower came into view a good half a km or more before we reached the Field of Miracles. Several dozen African vendors lined both sides of the street selling all kinds of "stuff" including umbrellas, toys and souvenirs to anyone who got within 5 feet of them. Passing through the stone wall surrounding the historic district we were stunned to see a couple of thousand tourists. Most seemed to have one purpose in mind- the inevitable "I'm ...

Yesterday we managed to exceed all our plans for walking. Due to the rain, many if not all the walking trails in the area were closed down so we purchased a one day rail pass- 16 Euro each.  With trains running every 20 minutes or so it was fairly easy to get around. The 5 "Terres, starting at Riomaggiore run along the coast with Manarola being the next followed by Corniglia, Vernazza then Monterosso. We actually stopped at Vernazza first then Monterosso and finally Manarola. Due to time and the rain we skipped Corniglia altogether. It was raining quite heavily when we arrived in Vernazza. A short walk from the station brought us to the centre of town where we made a brief stop to visit the main church before wandering into the upper parts of the town to explore a ruined church yard with a rather spectacular view of the harbour. Returning to the station we then set off to explore Monterosso. A much larger town with most of the buildings at sea level it was definitely the most co...

After taking a good look at the historic district of Genoa ( Genova) it is clear we should have allowed a couple of days to get a better look at the place, as opposed to just an overnight stay.  We spent much of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning exploring the area around the bay. There was no shortage of seafood and it seemed like almost every third shop was selling some type of food , panini, pizza, gelato etc.   Our train left at 12:45pm and stopped at almost every town on the coast, arriving in Riomaggiorre about 10 minutes late, at 2:15pm  The walk to town was about half a km and once we reached the Main Street the road seemed to be a steady uphill climb. The office for our accommodations was fairly easy to find, but from there to our actual room was a somewhat confusing trick up stairs that were better suited to mountain goats rather than people.  Our home for the next 3 days is a decent size apartment with a fridge and a 4 burner cooktop but no o...