Camere Nicolina Vernazza

We will be staying Riomaggiore (one of the five villages) and have booked our accomodation already at Casa Lorenza  We will be staying in apartment Nettuno.

What shouldn't we miss while we are here?

Partie tot ce matin pour se rendre a monterosso, premier village de 5 dans le parc national des cinque terre. Apres 1h40 de train, nous voila au deprt du sentier qui relie les 5 petits villages. A flanc de montagne, nous avons traverser plusieurs champs de vigne et plantations d'olivier de village en village ...

... so we decided it was best to settle away from the centre of town for a change and park in a residential district about 1km away... much more tranquilo!!

Splashed out on take away pizza for dinner but ate it in the shop and washed down with a bottle of beer. We became the hot topic of conversation when owners and local patrons found out we were Australian and were ...

... bad so we were just happy to be indoors. Due to the weather and the amount of traveling and transfers we decided to save our exploring for the next day. We split a litre of wine (which would later be supplemented with another 1/2 liter) over a game of Monopoly after catching up on emails. Off to bed and hoping to stay dry and see more on our second day in Cinque Terre.

Day 7: Thursday

The view from our hostel room was absolutely breath taking. The church tower with ...

Tuscan Riviera Portovenere
Had seen it on Getaway and looked very pretty.. Found a hotel with sea views and have spent 2 nights here resting , climbing around local castles… eating sleeping and watching the boats go in and out… not much English here but we are not hungry or thirsty so all going well….
Tomorrow we are off to the South of France.. 3 nights planned in Nice.. Really looking forward to it but have loved Italy…

... Ivo's mom, pecorino cheese with white and red wine from last years harvest. 2nd course lasagna and cannelloni ( with veggies from garden) 3rd course beef short ribs, steak and sauges cooked over an open fire (no grill here) dessert chocolate, biscotti and Sciacchetra (itialian dessert wine,very sweet) made in 2006 at Ivos's All in all we are very glad we stayed another day and missed Bologna ( maybe next year) Cia!

... and took my time getting back to Vernazza, getting to take many beautiful pictures. When I got back to Vernazza, I got a large ice water (something rare in Italy) and took my inhaler and finally began to relax again. I had a few hours to spare, so I took some pictures and video of the city I had already grown to love, then headed to the train station to wait for the gang to pick me up. While waiting, I wrote a few post cards and began writing in my ...

... as well as homemade lemon liquor and fantastic food. At our first stop and swimming spot it was focaccia [sp] meat, cheeses, home dressed anchovies, marinated carrots and drinks then to a very narrow inlet to anchor and more swimming and lunch. Grilled [on the boat] fresh fish, tomato/buffalo mozzarella/basil salad, bread, and with all that wine who knows what else. About 5-6 hours of great fun! Then we hiked the Monterosso to ...

... that had like a 1 inch heel on it, and then of course the two American girls and one of them didn't want to get her shoes dirty. Ok, for anyone who wants to go to Cinque Terre, just to tell you, you HIKE Cinque Terre. This is not a place to leisurely stroll around. So don't wear sandals, non hiking boots, or skirts. So here's the story of the two Americans. I was actually walking behind five other American girls, whom were prepared and ...

... we'll hike from Riomaggiore to the next village up, Manarolo. It's an easy 20 minute hike with little incline, mostly just views of the sea and grape vineyards. Beautiful! Once in Manarolo we walk around for a bit then catch the next train up one stop to Corniglia. Corniglia is the smallest of the villages with no beach, but a main hiking trail up to Vernazza. According to Alaina's book, Rick Steve's says this trail is ...