Venice

Thursday, 28th May.

After more heavy rain on Tuesday night, yesterday dawned bright and clear for our drive to Punto Sabbioni, to the Camperstop recommended by our Hampshire friends as an ideal place from which to visit Venice.  The camp is all they said it was so we're happy that we took their advice.
As we arrived here at midday, we caught the next available ferry to Venice, a half hour journey.  The ferry was packed and so was Venice...we expected it to be crowded, all major cities are but were surprised by the size of the crowds and were glad we didn't come in the northern summer, when things really get busy!  After a few hours of strolling along canals and over bridges, checking out the shopping and dodging other tourists, we called it a day and caught the next ferry 'home'.
It was a good day out, we enjoyed our second visit in 46 years to the City of Canals but all agreed that a cancellation of today's proposed return visit was in order in favour of a day of R & R.
A lazy morning was followed by a bike ride around the area, checking out the beaches, canals and supermarket...a most relaxing day and we've no idea as yet, where we will go tomorrow!

"Little" Venice

Tuesday, 26th May.

The clouds had lifted on Sunday morning and we woke early to clear blue sky and sunshine.  Things changed quite quickly and by the time we got going it was overcast and bitterly cold.  On leaving Berceto, we found that the town's main street was blocked by market stalls so stopped, had a look around and chatted with a couple of friendly locals  before moving on down the mountain, enjoying the spectacular scenery, and the sunshine which had reappeared, along the way.
For the past couple of days we have travelled through mostly flat, mostly green, mostly farming country, stopping at the charming town of San Benedetto Po where we spent Sunday night, continuing on yesterday (Monday 25th) to Chioggia, on the east coast of Italy....I'm guessing we're about 20 kms south of Venice as the crow flies but as we don't have wings we will have to drive 100 or so kms tomorrow to reach our stopover place from where we will take a ferry ride into Venice.
Meanwhile, we are having a mini break in Chioggia, dubbed "Little Venice" and after a bike ride to the long, concrete pier yesterday, watching people fishing off the rocks and boats coming in to port surrounded by seagulls, we then rode into the town and the reasons for that nickname became immediately obvious, with its canals and bridges, it's many cafes and its people.  We are very happy to be here, liking it very much and will shortly head off for more exploring.

It' s still Tuesday and we're back from today's adventures and about to cook dinner.
After thunder and rain last night, the sky was overcast this morning and threatening us with more of the same but we're on holidays and didn't relish the idea of being cooped up in a motorhome all day so grabbed rainjackets and bikes and rode off into the town.  A €5 ride on Capitano Marco's former fishing boat was irresistable....up the canals and out into open water to see the luxury boats across the harbour....well worth the €5 paid!  A stroll down the main street looking for somewhere for Shirley to have her 'real Italian' spaghetti brought us to an alley boasting a good looking ristorante where we all ate and thoroughly enjoyed lunch and the friendly, cheerful service at a reasonable price.  And....the sun had decided to shine for us for a couple of hours! 

Heading Inland

Saturday, 23rd May.

More mountain climbing today as we left La Spezia to head inland.  On the road north, we stopped at a cafe in the small town of Filattiera and when Mike ordered two coffees, in his best Italian, the lady behind the bar said in a London accent, "You can speak to me in English".  She and her husband own and run the bar/cafe...she met her husband on a visit with her parents, who are from the area, and has lived in Italy for 20 years.  She said she has relatives who live in Perth...it's a small world!
On then up the winding mountain road to Passo di Cisa at 1041 metres and into the mist, visibility at 50 metres, to Berceto, a small town about 3 kms down from the pass.  It has been raining on and off since we arrived, mostly mizzly drizzly but we managed to have a brief walk around the town without getting wet.  It's early to bed tonight as we're all rather worn out after our wonderful Cinque Terre experience....it's going to be a cold night but we're hoping for a clear morning so we can have a proper look at the valley below as it appears to be quite lovely.

Cinque Terre 2

Friday, 22nd May.

Today we bussed into La Spezia station and bought one way train tickets to Riomaggiore, the southern-most of the five towns and different again from the three towns we visited yesterday but every bit as enjoyable!  After visiting Riomaggiore, we thought we'd walk along the path to the next town but unfortunately the path had been closed for some time due to the odd landslide...so the train timetable was once again consulted and 4 minute ride took us to lovely Manarola.  It was here that we ended our Cinque Terre visit and in deciding whether to return to La Spezia by train, then bus to the camp near the port or to take a ferry ride to Portovenere on the peninsula south of La Spezia and find our way home from there, the unanimous vote was for the ferry ride.  While waiting for the ferry, it started to rain, not heavily but enough for rain jackets to be donned though by the time the boat arrived it had stopped.  We stayed on deck for the 40 minute ride, which stopped first at Riomaggiore, glad we had rainjackets to stop the wind from going right through us as the scenery was amazing.  Stopping at Portovenere for an hour, we just had time for a brief wander, coffee at one of the cafes there and a quick trip to a small supermarket before boarding another ferry to Lerici, another attractive town on the waterfont and from there, a short taxi ride 'home'.
Four of the five towns slope down to sea level, the exception being Corniglia which is perched on top of a tall cliff and all have narrow, crooked streets lined with colourful old houses stacked haphazardly on top of each other.  Monterosso is a little different in that it is a little beachy/resorty but still charming.
The trains were sometimes crowded, standing room only which didn't bother us as the distance between towns is very short...a number of tour groups from cruise ships and coach trips were out and about but we managed to avoid them most of the time.
All in all it was a wonderful experience...a no pressure, relaxing visit to the Cinque Terre and we are so happy to have been there. 

Cinque Terre 1.

Thursday, 21st May.

We decided to start our visit to the five towns at Corniglia, the middle town, and work our way back to Levanto so bought all day train tickets, boarded the train and shortly after arrived at Corniglia station.  Rather than climb up the 365 steps to the town, we opted to take a bus ride up the narrow road and a few minutes later we were there...a lovely old town which we enjoyed exploring, ending our visit with coffee and croissants in the sunshine before catching the bus back to the station for the brief journey to Vernazza.  Vernazza has a maze of tiny streets that lead down to the main street, has a lovely little harbour, wonderful views from Castello Doria...we loved it!   Our next stop today was Monterosso which boasts a large beach and plenty of cafes and restaurants, is easy to walk around and was our last visit today before returning to Levanto to pack up and leave for the drive over the mountains to La Spezia.
It was an easy and relaxing day...it takes just a few minutes for the train to travel between the towns which are not large, so a couple of hours or so in each is sufficient to have a good look around, the cafe prices are reasonable, each town is different from the others and each has its own charm.

The Gulf of Genoa

Wednesday, 20th May.

Yesterday evening we were visited by a fawn, a very friendly fawn and not the least bit timid...he'd have come into the van if he'd been able to climb the step!
We didn't make it back to our cafe last night but went there instead this morning, before leaving Torriglia.  On our way to the cafe, we called in to the
Information Office to ask about wifi as we hadn't been able to connect to their advertised wifi point...we were told that the connection was broken and the staff very kindly allowed us to use their office computer.  While we were 'computing', the lovely young office assistant took Shirley and Les upstairs to see an exhibition of superb photos of local wildlife...we joined them as soon as we had finished 'computing' and were impressed with both the photos and the young lady.  Four coffees at the busy cafe cost €6 and the atmosphere was so cheerful that we were sorry to leave.
The drive down to the coast was very scenic though tiring for the drivers as the road was steep and winding and our first view of the Mediterranean was at Lavagna, where we stopped a while for lunch and a walk across the road to have a look at the beach.  It was not good beach weather and we weren't tempted to even dip our toes in the water, so continued on to Levanto, for our overnight stop, exploring the town on foot and liking what we saw.

Torriglia, Liguria.

Tuesday, 19th May.

It was our bedtime by the time the soccer match finished last night and we crashed, waking this morning to brilliant sunshine and feeling a little better than we did yesterday.
Our initial plan for today was to drive to Levanto from where we intend to begin our assault on the Cinque Terre.   It was a lovely drive, winding through the mountains and we took a little detour to Torriglia, arriving just after 1.00pm and decided to stay overnight.  This is not a tourist town as we discovered on a walk around but is an old town boasting some attractive buildings with loads of character.  Three double scoop icecreams and a mint granola cost €1,50 each at a small bar and the owner was such a helpful, friendly young man that we're going back this evening for coffee.

(All's well that ends well...we took a wrong turn on the way here, necessitating a u-turn near a bend on a narrow uphill road which we negotiated easily but Les, whose van is longer than ours and has a low bike rack, became stuck when backing on to a steep driveway and had first to remove the bikes, then the rack, before he could move out of the way of the traffic...fortunately, there was little of that and we were on our way again).