Hotel Pensione Moderna La Spezia

... the Med before taking us inland and through the olive groves. <br><br>On arrival at Portofino we were greeted with a similar village to those in Cinque Terre but not quite as quaint. Not sure what all the fuss is about...Santa Margherita wins our vote.<br><br>Back at Scooby for lunch of bbq chicken wraps and biscotti for dessert, then onto the autopista to lovely Lucca. <br>

... to the marina. Cinnamon (the best ever!), Nuts and Chocolate, and Tiramisu were the three flavors I chose. We walked to the water and sat around at the marina just soaking up the long awaited rays and eating our gelato. With the sun finally being out and the hoards of people that marched towards the water it really helped me envision how these little towns must be like in the summer. <br><br>We made it back to Manarola in time to watch the sun set over the Mediterranean ...

... you share the road with the train. <br><br>Departing Munchen was actually quite simple thanks to the BMW Navigation System Dawn ordered with her car. The BMW system is now all contained on a hard drive so there is no need to insert various DVD's of regions that you may be traveling in. BMW programmed in the map system for all of Europe prior to our arrival and will reprogram the car for the US before they ship it over. It is a lovely system ...

... going to hike as far as my wee tired legs will take me today, and then take the ferry back to Riomaggiore, its a bit of an expense but a view that cannot be beat!<br><br>So I'm starting today at Riomaggiore, taking a 30 minute walk to Manarola, then about 45 minutes to Corniglia, 90 minutes to Vernazza and maybe 2 hours to Monterosso al Mare, the last stint I may forgo as it's, I hear built for Oylimpic atheletes so ...

<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;

... it was in a tunnel and we couldn&#8217;t see a station so we didn&#8217;t get off. It started moving again and we found out that we had just missed our stop! Whoops! So it looked like we were going to the last town after all!<br> It turned out ok because the last town is the biggest of the five and it actually turned out to be my favourite. We spent some time just wandering around and exploring the little alleyways. There was a crowd at the front of the town where some children were ...

... the hostel. The road was very pretty and even more windy than the Adelaide hills - to the point where at every turn the driver honked his somewhat musical horn. Biassa (the town which I'm staying in) is absolutely gorgeous - it overlooks La Spezia and is one of those towns nestled in the green hills. The hostel I'm staying at also seems rather nice - there are two American girls and a Canadian girl in my room (I went out for pizza with the American girls when I came).

... vineyards which are a great backdrop to the whole area. One of the best parts of this weekend was that I was able to loosen my purse strings in the name of good food. The food here, especially the fresh pasta, is so incredible that it would be a sin to waste it (hence the quote above). Among the dishes I had were fresh tagliatelle-style noodles with crab meat (bellissima!), fresh pasta with home-made pesto and parmigiana cheese (incredibile!), and stuffed ...

... people who started it with me started turning back- mostly due l think to the most inappropriate footwear they were wearing- Italian women and their heels seem to be inseparable! The first part of the track winds through beautiful vineyards full green vines at this time of year and lemon groves. The grapes grown on the steep slopes produce the fragrant and fruitz Cinque Terre wine and the rarer, stronger and sweeter Sciaccherti. Another local specialty ...

... language. I want to be able to converse with the locals. I think if I stay long enough I would be fluent. We decided to stay in our hotel.. no more camping for a while. I dont like to walk to the bathroom in the wee hours in the dark! Its nice not having your sheets stick to you when you wake up... jejeje I am not sure how I ended up in La Spezia but I am soo gald I am here! It is all here!!!