Giada Holiday Flats Genoa

... best friends by the time we left... 7 Euro well spent!!<br><br>Fri 13 Nov<br>Drizzle greeted us this morning so we got on our wet weather gear and headed off for a walk along the coast to Portofino which was 5km away. The wind blew away any cobwebs we may have had but it blew the rain away so we were happy. The walk followed the coast where we looked into the deep blues ...

... in the morning. Around every corner there was yet another stunning view of the cliffs and the crashing waves. The walls of the tunnel along the walk was covered in graffiti all with a love theme. I looked everywhere for a 'Ben' but couldn't find one. I didn't come prepared either, no sharpie on hand. People who walk the trails also bring or buy locks and leave them along the trail which was very neat to see. The rain was still lurking at this point so we grabbed lunch in ...

... so forth. Upon our maiden voyage out of Munchen to Luzern (Lucerne) we quickly noticed that the city streets are shared between many forms of transportation. There are trucks, cars, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians, along with golf carts and 4-wheelers. Anything goes. You can license anything that moves. All of this movement is sharing the road with large fast electric trains running down the center of the street. Much like our light rail ...

... ll see how it goes. <br><br>Tomorrow I am off to Milan, and kindly enough staying with a friend of the women who owned the horse place I worked at. Can't beat free, and many of the people that I met there vouched for him so, I'm off to another city. I'm hoping to make Milan, Verona and Venice by the weekend so I can go to Parma and see my cousin on the weekend. Wish me Luck!<br><br>Missing you all!<br>Benita<br><br><br>

Tucked away along the Mediterranean Sea is a lovely little place called Cinque Terre (Five Lands). It is a collection of five fishing villages sprinkled along the steep and rocky cliffs of the Italian Riviera. The buildings are clustered pastel specs on the edges of the coastline. Surrounding these villages are uniquely terraced vineyards, which produce a white wine ...

<br> Tuscan Riviera Portovenere<br> 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&#8230; eating sleeping and watching the boats go in and out&#8230; not much English here but we are not hungry or thirsty so all going well&#8230;.<br> Tomorrow we are off to the South of France.. 3 nights planned in Nice.. Really looking forward to it but have loved Italy&#8230;

... the bull's balls in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. <br><br>Varenna, Bellagio and Lecco are all situated on various parts of Lake Como/it has other names in different areas i.e Lake Lecco. These towns are wonderful!! Especially Bellagio and it is quite famous, many tourists and celebrities go there, and I think sometimes a few things get filmed there? I am unsure. <br><br>Bergamo is a city not far from Merate, I caught the train and met some friends who took me around ...

... hot-water-is-a-gamble, kind of way. But I'd so recommended it - the delicious brekky on the rooftop terrace overlooking the whole town front and all the way out to sea is the BEST way to way up ever. I want one. Each night we'd wander down to the bar on the corner which actually had a really friendly guy working there (apparently rare in Italy), had an aperitif and people watched. FYI - straight Campari tastes red cordial, if it were mixed with not water, but metho. I recommend not trying it.

... which is the only of the 5 towns not on water - perched high on a cliffside. This section of the hike was as hilly as the one before, as these 2 are the most difficult paths. The sun was shining and we could have been in shorts, which was fantastic. We were depressed to find out in Corniglia that the 40 minute hike between it and Manorolo, the next town, was closed due to a landslide. No problem, we figured we would catch the 3 minute train ...

... would get press-ganged onto a ship. Had dinner at sidewalk cafe. Didn't drink, in case the press-gangers were watching. [Of course, while many ship's captains still come from Genoa, there are very few galley slaves taken from there. Galley slaves are generally recruited in the Phillipines, or Vietnam, by HR departments of giant cruise ship companies.]