The Cinque Terre (Nov 7 & 8)

The evening of Nov. 8 - View from balcony of hotel "Vis-A-Vis"

Sestri Levante
The next morning-Breakfast in hotel dining room on top floor

We loved the breakfasts

View from the dining room - Too bad about the view & beauty
of the Liguarian Sea

Another view from the dining room

No, this is not a postcard!

Veggie and fruit stands on many streets

In the Cinque Terre - very typical

More of the Cinque Terre

"Via dell'Amore" - the pathway of love

Along the "Via dell'Amore"
Pretty cute, huh?

Along the "Via dell'Amore"
(Gene made a "make-shift" lock out of a tie to lock our eternal love
.......awe, how sweet!)

In the Cinque Terre - Pretty large water wheel

Our lunch in Monarola
"Trattoria Dal Billy" This is the black pasta with seafood.

Squid juice is what makes the pasta black!
(It looks gross, but really was delicious.)

After hiking way up, we walked down some tiny stairs to the restaurant.

Some very narrow streets in the Cinque Terre

More town color

An awesome church in Vernazza

This Gothic church is built from black stones & dates from 1318

Again inside this church

Right outside the door to the church in Vernazza
(I took this photo for you, Riley)

Vernazza - Our favorite town

Is this narrow enough ??

The train runs right along the waters edge with lots of tunnels

Now....our time spent today in the Cinque Terre was indeed an ADVENTURE!!! We both slept really well last night and had another delightfully "era squisito" buffet breakfast in the dining room atop the hotel. Let me tell you, we definitely are enjoying these breakfasts that are included with our room rate. We eat hearty to give us the energy to walk long distances each day. Today was no exception! The town of Riomaggiore is where we began our day tripping. It is the farthest south of the 5 towns. We found out this was the best way to visit the towns, by starting in the south and then making our way back to Sestri Levante which is north of the Cinque Terre. Our plan was to visit just 3 of the 5 towns as recommended by the hotel staff and the couple we met last night. (This has something to do with the off-season time we are here.) We did end up visiting just 3 of the towns and it worked out perfectly, arriving back to Sestri Levante at dusk. All of these towns are AMAZING! Talk about adorable, picturesque and different than we have ever seen before. Well, hopefully the photos I posted have shown you a little flavor of what we experienced today. All 5 of the towns are very close together, with 4 of the 5 right on the coast. There is only one, Vernazza, that has a natural harbor and some consider the jewel of the Cinque Terre.(We do too!) It is possible to hike to all 5 towns, but not now in the off-season because of the cooler and more inclement weather. We did, however, hike from Riomaggiore to the next town Manarola. This hike is called the "Via dell'Amore"--the pathway of love. Magnificent views of the sea and rocky cliffs!!!! Spectacular! We never did have any rain today, but experienced major force winds and chilly weather. One highlight of this adventure was hiking way up....and I mean way up, to a restaurant in Manarola, "Trattoria Dal Billy", where we had a fabulous lunch of black pasta (Squid juice is what makes it black) with seafood (squid, shrimp, mussels, clams). That was one dish. The other was grilled tuna.  Another highlight was the town of Vernazza. Here we felt the force of the mighty sea as waves broke with such tremendous force in the harbor. It was quite something to experience! We arrived back at our hotel room and passed out on the bed for awhile before getting ready for dinner in the hotel's fine dining room. We decided we didn't want to venture out again in the wind and cold. Had a delightful, relaxing dinner and now we are ready for bed. Actually, Gene just fell asleep. I'll follow close behind. Another amazing day in beautiful Italy. We leave tomorrow morning on the train back to Florence where we will spend two  more nights and then......California here we come, right back where we started from!

*I ended finishing this up back at our hotel in Florence on Tues. aft. We are heading out for a little more touring...early to bed tonight for a 7 am pick up to the airport.  *Mark is picking us up at LAX 4:55 pm (Wed) flight #0072 Air France

Nov. 7 Sestri Levante

Just before reaching the walkway to our hotel

Our Hotel - "Vis A Vis" - in Sestri Levante

A view from the top veranda of our hotel!!!

A cute Italian I found on the beach!

On our hike up to a "castle-like" hotel

I bet this beach is busy in the summer!

Hiking up a street to the ruins, views and more views!

Ruins of a chapel

The castle-like hotel (Hotel Castelli)

Coffee??? No...this is "hot chocolate"!

This is like hot chocolate syrup. I guess next time we need to ask for hot milk with chocolate!

Here we are on the beautiful Ligurian Coast in Sestri Levante! Sestri Levante is a skinny peninsular town with beaches on each side. We arrived here on the train from Florence (changing trains in Pisa) at about 2 pm. We walked from the train station to our hotel, making it here with no wrong turns! The hotel "Vis A Vis" is lovely and we have a delightful room overlooking the sea. The weather has turned rather cool and cloudy with a few sprinkles, but that didn't stop us from exploring the town. We opted to spend the rest of the afternoon in Sestri Levante, rather than hop on a train again and head to some of the northern towns. Wow...this place is amazing! As you can see from the photos, the views are breathtaking! The town itself is very charming. We walked up the main drag, "Via XXV Aprile", checked out the beaches, and hiked up quite a steep cobblestone road, past ruins of a chapel (bombed during WWII)), arriving at the end of the road at a castle-like hotel (Hotel Castelli). Amazing hotel with amazing views! We ate dinner in a restaurant back on the main drag recommended by the hotel and our guide book, "L'Osteria Mattana". Excellent dinner- Gene enjoyed his pasta with meat sauce, and I had a pasta with pesto. This area is the birthplace of pesto! It was delicious! We sat near a young couple from New York who are working in Germany for about 5 years. He is a shoe designer for Adidas. They were both really sweet and gave us some hints regarding our visit to the Cinque Terre tomorrow. It almost seems unreal that we will be heading for the states in just a few days. This trip truly has been fantastic. We are excited to be coming home, but sad for our European Adventure to be ending! Need to get to sleep for another fun-filled day tomorrow! We send our love to all.............

PISA & LUCCA TODAY

Pretty cool, huh?

Lifting weights really helps!

WOW!

The wall aroung the city of Lucca

Walked through a dark tunnel to get to the train station

We have had a big day of train and bus travel....first a train to Pisa of 1 hour.....then bus to Lucca 1/2 hour....then, back to Florence. The highlight of our trip was the "Leaning Tour of Pisa"! So amazing. Gene and I continue to get a bit turned around when we are doing a "walking tour" on our own......adding quite a few extra steps....Continuing, though, to have lots of fun seeing the sights. Met a couple today on the train to Pisa from Spain and sat next to a couple from Vancover, Canada when we were having lunch in Pisa. We decided to have a little picnic in our room tonight of fruit, cheese & rolls. We are too tired to go out, plus we needed to get organized for our 2 night trip tomorrow to Siestri Levante and Cinque Terre. We are just taking one small suitcase and leaving the others at this hotel since we will be back on Tues afternoon for 1 night before heading home on Wednesday.

The town of Pisa is not great, except the "Leaning Tower" & the Duomo. It is really a fantastic sight. We opted not to pay 20 euros to hike to the top and wait our turn. I tried to get some photos of Gene "holding" up the tower. I did ok, not the best, but they work!

The town of Lucca is surrounded by an ancient wall, which made it quite unique. If we had been up to it and had more time, we would have liked to ride bikes around it. Oh well, maybe another time...ha...ha! Gene and I are both amazed by the number of Europeans who smoke. It seems they didn't get the word that smoking is dangerous to your health!

I am really tired tonight...so I better sign off for now. Much love as always

Nov. 5--"Siena, we loved it!"

No McDonalds for us! Thurs. night dinner--Yum!!
Florence

My dinner Thurs. - Very gourmet mushroom soup---Delicious!
Florence

The city Hall and "Torre del Mangia"- Italy's tallest secular tower (330 feet)

This building dominates the El Campo (main square)
Siena

"Fonte Gaia"- the Fountain of Joy in Siena's main square

" Il Campo": Siena's Main Square

Pretty impressive, huh?

Our own "walking tour" of Siena

Most of the streets are very narrow.

Check out the size of these mushrooms.

(Displayed at a little restaurant in Siena)

This is a street in Siena!!!

No shortcuts for Jo!

(inside joke)

Yes, we climbed to the top of this!

(Panorama del Facciatone)

Looking out a window part way up the staircase - glad we are not claustrophobic!!

Quite a spiral staircase to the very top!

"No sweat, training with Lanae really helps us!"

I made it!

Oh, what a beautiful day!

View from the very top, looking over the city of Siena.

Looking way down from the top of

"Panorama del Facciatone"

What an amazing view! The Duomo (cathedral) in Siena

Gellato in Siena --Yum!

Today, we were up by 7:30 am. and refreshed & ready for our trip to Siena. As it turned out, we ended up taking the "rapido" bus to Siena as suggested by the hotel desk clerk. We were there in just 1 hour! We traveled through countryside with rolling hills, trees, and vineyards. Beautiful! Reminded us of northern California. Just a short 15 minute walk to the center of town....Il Campo. We walked by many stores selling all sorts of goods: food, clothing, souvenirs and many small restaurants. So picturesque with narrow little streets, flower boxes hanging from windows, continual cobblestone streets, and of course your occasional beggar. The highlight of our adventure today was climbing to the very top onto the "Panorama del Facciatone"....and what a climb that was!!! We ascended about 200 stairs spiraling upwards in a very narrow space...pretty crazy, but also fun and very rewarding when reaching the top! So magnificent!! The view was superb...such a clear and warm day (probably in the low 70's). Had lunch in a little cafe' on the Il Campo, and then of course, some Gelato to round out our meal! Back to Florence by 4 pm for a little "R & R" in our room, blogging and then dinner of pizza & salad. It has been another delightful day in Italy! Tomorrow, we are planning to take the train to Pisa and Lucca.....the adventure continues................................arrivederci!!