Italian Getaway
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
49
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Cinque Terra, Italian Lakes, and Verona,
Italy
Monday, August 30, 2004
We just got back from a morning of canyoning
(http://www.wetway.it/). For those of you know have
never heard of that, it is a combo of hiking,
repelling, and jumping from cliffs...in water. It was
awesome. But now we are exhausted so we're relaxing
at the hotel...which luckily has a pool and lots of
sun!
We are in a town of 15,000 on Lake Garda, one of the 4
lakes that make up the Lake District (you've probably
heard of Lake Como). The town we're in is called Riva
del Garda. It's really pretty...beutiful blue water
which matches the sky perfectly, with only lush green
mountains seperating the two. Very beautiful and very
relaxing!
Prior to Lake Garda, we spent a few days in Cinque
Terre with our friends Mitch and Robin from Chicago.
Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 fishing villages
north of Pisa that do not have roads...thus no cars!
The only way to travel between them is by hiking the
paths along the mountains (about 5 hours from end-to-
end), taking the very slow and infrequent trains, or
by scenic boat. We stayed in the town of Vernazza,
the 4th town. I had been there before as a backpacker
and it is just as amazing as I remember. We spent all
morning hiking, all day relaxing at the beach, and all
evening pigging out on fresh pasta. Not a bad couple
of days!
We stopped in Milan on our way from Vernazza to Riva
del Garda to break up the 6 hours of train travel.
Milan was surprisingly great. Although 2 hours was
about all I needed there. Unfortunately we didn't
plan well enough to have reserved a viewing of da
Vinci's Last Supper. Maybe next time. But the Duomo
was amazing and you get to walk on the roof among the
statues and columns. It was pretty cool.
We leave for Verona tomorrow morning. Verona's first
claim to fame is being the fictious setting of Romeo
and Juliette but it seems to be quiet a beautiful town
in its ownright. We are going to see an opera in the
1st-century Roman ampitheater. Take a look at the
pics on their www and tell me this won't be an awesome
experience (http://www.arena.it/).
From Verona we head back to A'dam. But we get just a
few days of rest before our friends Jeff and Andrea
from Chicago come and visit =)
Well, that's it from here. We hope you are enjoying
the tail end of your summers. We sure are...although
I think we're moments away from dropping due to
exhaustion! We can rest in 18 months when we're back
in Chicago though =)
Talk with ya soon!
-Stephen
Check us out at:
http://www.travelpod.com/members/kantors_abroad
