In October we had a wonderful trip to Italy and The Holy Land. I will share my experiences with you over time and hope you enjoy reading about each place. We began in Italy. We flew to Milan and dropped our friend off in his family’s hometown Lonate Pozzola. He has family there and we spent our first night in Italy in Giovanni’s home. He was a wonderful host and we felt so at home.
The next day we left for Cinque Terra. Driving in Italy was a challenge, fast drivers and hard to read signs all made driving an adventure. We had a hotel reserved in La Spezia , but drove around town and never found our hotel even with a GPS system to help us! John got quite frustrated and decided to head back to a sweet little town called Borghetto we had passed and the Hotel Belvedere on the main street. We checked in there with no problem and ample parking. Our room was clean and we had a nice view of the mountains behind us. The restaurant was reasonable with good food so we decided to eat here , also. We enjoyed our time there.
Hotel Belvedere
View of town from our room
The next morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel then headed to Monterosso Al Mare and our hotel Palme. This town is divided in half by a mountain with incredible views. We started by driving to the old town side. We could walk to our hotel from here- but had to drive back up the scenic windy mountain and back down to the other side to reach our hotel by car. We loved our hotel. It was one block from the beach and an easy walk to the train station. We spent 4 nights in this area and loved every minute. Each day we took a train ride to one town or another then hiked the rest of the day. Every hike was special. I took hundreds of pictures and will share a few.
“The Cinque Terre, the five villages… Linked together by fantastic walking paths, these breathtaking villages are full of history and magic. With amazing hills to produce the rare Cinque Terre wine, wonderful local olive oil, beautiful forests where wild mushrooms are picked during the autumn, you will, without a doubt, enjoy the local gastronomy. The bustling little ports offer a wonderful location in which to relax, as do the old centres and narrow streets of the five villages.“
The beautiful view of Monterosso La Mare from the top of the mountain.
The Cinque Terra region is famous for it's pesto. It is delicious. We ate at a restaurant called "Al Carugo" 3 times. We loved this restaurant above all that we tried in Monterosso. Delicious pesto pasta and Mussels to die for!
View of Riomaggiore in background. We bought a 2 day pass for the train and rode it to Riomaggiore then hiked from there to Manarola after exploring the town.
I loved the houses built on these step hills- So hard to imagine how people decided to build here. The colors are incredible!
The pretty town of Manarola. Where do you go and see boats parked on the street and the laundry hanging is part of the scenery.
Hiking above Corniglia- breathtaking scenery
Today we hiked to Corniglia from our hotel in Monterossa al Mare. We followed the direction in our Rick Steve's book and it was a wonderful hike. The up hills are a killer- lots of stairs and straight up, but the reward of gorgeous views made it totally worth the climb. It took us exactly 90 minutes, which is what the book said it would take. There were quite a few people on the trails. We arrived in Corniglia took lots of pictures and checked out the town.
Approaching Corniglia
Cinque Terra was definitely one of my favorite places to be for 5 days. I have lots more pictures, stories, places of interest and history. For now I am leaving you with just a taste of our experience in hopes that someday you will be able to visit this beautiful area and experience it for yourself.