Como Di Lago (Lake Como)

We arrived by train to the small town of Varenna. The terrain changed darastically along the route. Before too long we emerged from some tunnels and we were surrounded by mountain. Varrena clings to the apron of a mountain itself on the shores of lake Como. The deepest lake in Europe we're told @ 400m.

The place has spectacular natural beauty as it is a Y shaped lake right in the foot hills of the alps and you can see the snow covered Swiss Alps to the northern leg of the lake.

Added to the natural beauty of the place are the lavish villas of the rich and (some) famous. Rick Steeves says it is a great place if you don't mind feeling like a 'tramp in a palace, surrounded by the more affluent traveller' and he describes it well.

Just the same it is a great place to finish our final days in Italy. Even though it is another place of countless steps (to go anywhere) it is still relaxing and we have had wonderful picnics in the park and yes, wine for every meal (well, it really is cheaper than the water!)

Ciao from Bellagio, Italy

Venice - islands in the stream...

The travel from Siena to Venice was uneventful except for it being a great opportunity to view the many different types of country along the route - from hills to mountains to plains and then to the sea. The train goes out this long causeway and there you are, right in the heart of Venice.

Rick Steevs recommends getting lost in Venice, he says just keep telling yourself 'I'm on an island and can't get lost' - well Darlene and I managed to do it.

The first day was hot but the evening was rather cool with a good breeze. The competing 'orchastras' in S. Marco Square were still fabulous. What beautiful sites everywhere - not the natural beauty of Cinque Terre but a great thing to see just the same.

Like everything, the more you have the more you have to maintain and Venice has been sitting on the sea for a long time. While much of it is being restored it has its share of 'shabbyness' as well but you just look past that and you see a neat sight around every corner.

The last evening was fabulous - great tempatures and a very nice evening. We decided to hop from place to place - cocktails at one place, dinner at another and dessert at still another. We danced in S. Marco Square (no we were not the only ones) and finished in a very nice hotel garden with cappachino and coffee liquer.

In the morning we caught the water bus (vaparetto) for the train station and headed for Lake Como - goodbye Venice.

Lucca, Pisa and Siena

We did a stop in the medieval city of Lucca - neat place to see. Next off to the leaning tower of Pisa - the tower and the outside of the church are the highlights of that town -(in the field of miracles) glad we did not stay long there.

We are now in Siena - they really did go uphill both ways to school! Hills everywhere in Tuscany and a castle or villa at the top of everyone. Siena id the best of them all - former rival of Florence and they have the neatest streets - though a but hard to figure out how to get from place to place.

We are staying just outside the walls and thankfully they have 6 escalators near the porta we enter through - saves a lot of climbing!

The Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre (CHINK-weh-TAY-reh) was even better than expected!

Fabulous for the everyday tourist - breathtaking vistas at every turn - the cameras were working overtime! The value and service was also very good - I was worried it was a tourist trap but it is just a great place. 8 euro wine in the resturant (I think they make it on site as there was no label)

The trails are like an international meeting place - say hello in almost any language and you will likely get a reply. The first part of the trail starting at town 1 Riomaggorie is called the love trail (dell' Amore) and is easy - could be done in a wheel chair - but don't be fooled as this is the only one.

We stayed in town two, Manarola at Du Paulin apartments - a great choice but lots of steep inclines and steps!! Every step is worth it though because of the views.

We hiked from Manarola to town 5 in one day - the hardest 13 miles I ever walked! It took us seven hours (we stopped for lunch and fun along the way) (I know this distance does not count the verticle!). From Manarola to Cornigula is also easy until yo get to the base of Cornigula - 400 steps to the town. From there the trail starts to get a bit rough and steeper, with some part of the path verry narrow ( and not always a rail of any kind). It is worth every step because it winds through vineyards and olive groves of the most industrious farmers on the planet - some even use special unirail vehicles to tend their crops on the very steep terraced hillsides!

Vernazza is a great town with a fairly good beach and lots of little shop - everywhere has great gellato! (ice cream just does not describe it) From here the trail really gets smaller and steeper but the wonderful resort town of Monterosso al Mare is a great place to end up - with a bar for beer right at the end of the trail - tasted great".

From here we took the boat back and that was a treat as well. You can actually take the train or boat from every town to every other one. It was a bit disappointing to leave the Cinque Terre!

We had an extra day - no accommodations booked and everyone said go to Lucca. We breezed into the medieval town and found a great economy hotel right at the train station - Hotel Rex.

Lucca is a great place with so many piazzas (squares) and a wall around the entire old city. You can wak the ramparts on a great, wide trail. They also have great shops and resturants - we had dinner at Osteria da Rosolo at 55100 Luca - the owner speaks Engilsh, Spanish, French, Russian and Italian and is great at recommending what to have. the food, wine and service was excellent!!!.

Photos of Milan"s "Statione Centrale" are pretty intimidating for the first time train traveller but in fact it is a great place to start. The easiest way to get your tickets is to go to a machine. The first question it wants answered is "language" - once you choose that you let it know where and when and it gives you the various options.

We took the slow trains both for price and to see the countryside to Parma. Parma is a small city that is easy to walk around - though we walked for hours (yes with everything on our backs) before we found the hotel. Once we were settled we did a lot more walking around the narrow streets and interesting shps. There are lots of Plazzas and lots of cafes. Good thing we are buring lots of calories with our mode of transport.

The book "playing for pizza" describes well the way the men and women dress in the cities - you see women (young and very old alike) riding bicycles in dresses. Many men are in very stylish suits even during casual times. They are indeed a stylish bunch.

Next we took the train to Cinque Terre and we are blown away with the sheer beauty of this place. The blisters already started by the time I got there and that is the "hiking portion" of the adventure. Glad I took those blister packs as the Cinque Terre trails are up and down ( a bit like the Cabot Trail by path but with a lot of "natural steps".

Arrival in Milan

Wow - a long trip across the pond - 12 hours to fly from Halifax Canada to Heathrow and then on to Milan.

It is great to be here and we have already seen some wonderful sites, buildings and tasted good food and wine - its all good!

Tomorrow off to Parma - the adventure begins!

Northern Italy - planning

Planning our trip:
We started well in advance. This was even more important as there are a number of people involved. I've always been interested in Italy and its been on "my list", not just for the history but for the culture, the food and the environment.

The first ideas of which part of Italy to visit came from "Playing for Pizza"; a short novel by John Grisham. This was set in Parma and the descriptions of the city and surroundings are the best part of the read. Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it.

My interest was further sparked by a Rick Steevs (an American author and host of a public television series on European travel) TV show covering Verenna on Lake Como. Bellagio is a comune (municipality) in the region Lombardy, located on Lake Como.

It didn't take much reading and Internet search of Tuscany - a place known for food and scenery- to be really intrigued by Siena. Siena is a city in Tuscany. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.

Then an internet image search brings up some pics of Cinque Terre – WOW got to check out more –The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So we had a great outline – a meeting over some rum and cards brought it all together. “We don’t want to rush from site to site, we do want to sit in the plaza and watch the people, we want to see the country and we will take advantage of the good train system in Italy”. OK so no wheeled luggage – let’s get packs so we can get on and off those trains quickly – great advice from Phil and Fran who have been there.

We finalized the places we will go and how many nights we’ll stay at each (“slow travel” not hectic travel Slow Travel Italy ). We left only one night flexible (will find the location and a place to stay that day).

We started researching each location for accommodations – we wanted to be city centre when possible because we did not have a car. We did not always find city centre but not too far off in most cases. When we found a place that fit our needs and was not too expensive, we booked it.

Here is the plan:

From Halifax through Heathrow, land in Milan – one night in the city – train to Parma (the land of cheese, prosciutto and great food) 2 nights there, off to La Spezia enroute to the Cinque Terre, apartment in Manarola for 3 nights while visiting each village, drinking wine and the scene, what next – something en route to Siena. Probably try to do short visits to the castle in Sarzana , the tower in Pisa – not sure. The B&B apartments in Siena for 3 nights to see the city but to also wander into the Tuscan countryside. From here to an apartment in Venice (VE) for a boat ride and a couple of nights and off to Milan to catch the train to Verenna, Lake Como and ferry ride to Bellagio apartment for 3 nights. From her back to Milan and a hotel near the Malpensa airport for the last night.

It will be interesting to see how four contry bumpkins get along with Italian trains - our chosen mode of transportation. Will the language be a barrier? Stay tuned.