Stella Rapallo

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?

... randonne de 4.5 heures avec des vues incoryables sur la mer et les falaises.

avec le retard du train, nous somme revenue a Pise en debut de soiree. Apres un autre excellent repas accompagne d'un chianti local, je me lance a la recherche d'une auberge pour notre destination de demain : florence

As the traffic had been horrendous yesterday we decided to hit the autostrada and pay the tolls to save our sanity and hightail it to our next destination. 130kms and 10 Euro later we arrived in Santa Margherita Ligure, which is just up the road from Portofino.

This place is a bit larger than we are used to and Italian towns all have small car parks and narrow ...

Sadie and I left beatiful peaceful Florence to mean unhelpful Genoa. We have been so spoiled in our travels up till this point. We usually have a bit of train trouble but nothing that can't be fixed or solved within an hour. Well landing in Genoa was not the case. The train ride up the coast was breath taking, I wanted so badly to jump off the train and stay a few days in one of the coastal towns. I think for my next trip to Europe its a must. The houses are so ...

... of the city and had the BEST focaccia bread ever! After we left the group we had lunch at a little place with outside cafe seats and it was terrific. Rachel had a spicy pizza, Il Diablo and I had a zucchini tart. Then we wandered back to the ship and now Rachel is at the gym and I am updating my blog! We are a lucky group here! Tonight is casual night thank goodness. More to come!

... 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.

We made it back to Manarola in time to watch the sun set over the Mediterranean ...

Met at the train station by my cousins jumping out from behind a wall with video camera in hand. We were thankful to have finally ended our 13 hr train trip from Austria. Wouldn't have been so bad if it was just one train but the fact we had to change 4 times made it all the more exhausting. At least for the first time in ages we weren't hungover!! So.... Manarola. Wow its amazing. Brightly coloured houses nestled in cliffs with ...

... misleading. Today we took a ferry over to Portofino, a "small quaint fishing village". They all failed to mention the thousands of german tourists. Dior, D&G, and LV shops also managed to ruin the authentic flavor. We caught a water taxi to go to this other small town only accessible by boat where we snorkeled in front of. Seeing nothing but jellyfish and a sunken statue of Jesus. Now we are off to dinner and tomorrow we drive to Maranello to the Ferrari museum. Buona Serra!

... But it's simple," she kept saying. Well, it was perfect- full kitchen, bathroom, bedroom- exactly what we needed. We loved it so much that there the whole time and just village-hopped by the day. We really felt like locals. What's the PERFECT day in Cinque Terre? Start in Monterosso- buy a picnic of fruits, cheese, and croissants from a local market (you MUST get kiwi's and blackberries, I've never tasted anything like them before). Spend the morning on the beaches of Monterosso ...

... warmly upon you. Rather what was ridiculous were the people we met in Riomaggiore. Our first encounter was with the bartender at Bar Centrale, and the three college guys from Boston. As we entered the only establishment that was really open in this small village it was clear that this was not like the well-to-do bars in Paris that we had been frequenting, but rather the small town we-know-you-and-your-business kind of place. And then Grace ...