Il Borgo di Campi Riomaggiore

It's Saturday morning and I'm hitting up this internet cafe on my way through the begining of my day long hike through Cinque Terre.

I left San Fillippo yesterday with happy memories and sad steps. I really did enjoy so much about my stay there that I truly didn't want to leave, but alas my faithful readers needed something more excited to read so I have graciously decided to continue on this path of a new ...

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 ...

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…

... a means of defence, since it gave very little means of entry into the towns, and offered the defenders a height advantage on any seabourne marauders. The local white wine is fantastic.

For those of you with more of an interest in trekking, all five towns are connected by a well-maintained pathway that you can use to traverse from city to city. In short, start saving your nickels and dimes and visit this place at least once!

... staying in Torano a small town, perched in the mountains where marble is mined.

This will now be our home for the next couple of months.

As we aren't technically travelling at the moment we are temporarily suspending our blog, but will start up another blog about our lives in Tuscany.

Happy reading for now, and we hope you enjoy the winter or summer where ever you are.

... on a lock and then throw away the key, essentially promising they will forever have the key to each others’ hearts (even though the actual keys are at the bottom of the ocean). You couldn’t ask for a better chick-flick movie scene — I don’t know how Hollywood hasn’t tapped into this yet.

The second town, Manarola, was the first little village we’d really seen up close. I’ve never been to a more ...

... to the wine. Staying longer was just not an option...
Next destination: Rome. The hostel was quite a challenge to my new I'm-taking-it-easy-nothing-bothers-me-a nymore philosophy. When Caleb asked me why I wanted to trade beds with him, the answer was quite simple: I prefer to be near the door in case I decide to run! But no no, I took it upon myself to stay and enjoy it (I mean, I was the only girl in ...

... towers here. If you want to visit them just a fact - they close at 7 pm.

Monterosso Al Mare
Well this is the most "modern" village. There are no old and tiny houses here, it's looks like nowadays lol. No feeling of that "I'm in a fairy tale". But there is a sandy beach here, when you can have a swim and get good tan. In other villages you can have a swim too, but there is no sand there, only rocks (except for Vernazza, there is a tiny part of ...

... took about 2.5 hours.

Next we caught a train from Milan to Monterroso which was a 4 hour trip but the time flew. We were in a cabin with 2 people from Sweden and two people for Ukraine so we spent the whole time talking (using bits of Italian and English), swapped travel stories etc. The two people from
Ukraine were so interesting – they were a young guy who had just finished his graduate diploma in architecture specializing in ...

... crowded streets for a bit and get to see more of Venice quicker and easier.

I was supposed to meet a friend that I met in Rome at Saint Macros square that evening but we had some miscommunication and missed each other. However, while I was waiting, I realized that if birds decided to form an alliance to revolt against humans, it would surely start here. While walking around in the square a pigeon attacked my head and I saw a seagull kill ...