A Little bit of Italy July 4 - 7

Originally, we planned to spend a lot of time in Italy on this trip, and then we changed plans to visit friends and decided no time in Italy, now we have come full circle back to stopping in Italy. Italy was a good stopping point in our drive from Munich over to southern France.

The drive through the Alps in Austria, via Innsbruck, was beautiful, but no stops. As we came out of the Alps on the other side in Italy, the scenery was gorgeous. High mountains separated by a valley running through the middle. The valley is covered in vineyards. Various hilltops have castles situated on them overlooking the valley. Just amazing!

We decide to stay along the south western shore of Lago di Garda, a beautiful, large lake in northern Italy. Camping is nice in Italy but also expensive. A strange thing happened in the pool, we were required to wear a bathing cap! Odd as we have not encountered this at all in Europe but apparently in Italy this is normal.






We take our next day and venture in to Verona. Yes this is the home town of Juliet from Shakespeare’s; Romeo and Juliet. We visit Juliet’s home and see the famous balcony. Another highlight of Verona is the Roman Coliseum. We visit this amazing venue. They are setting up for a concert in the evening, it will be Stevie Wonder. I must say this must be a fantastic venue for a concert. They put on many performances here both dramatically and musically every year. Would be fun to see one, but that is for another trip.







We next head to Cinque Terre. Tim has recommended this to us as he really enjoyed his day here with his school class last summer. We set up camp in the town of Sestri Levante, which is in close proximity to the villages of Cinque Terre.
We begin at Sestri Levante station and take the train to the furthest most end of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. We begin our fabulous day. Amazing, beautiful, exhilarating, awe inspiring are just a few adjectives to describe our feelings. We hike 1km to Manarola, visit this village, which appears to be just waking up for the day. A1km hike on to Corniglia, enjoying a brief swim in the Mediterean Sea before we reach the town to visit and have a snack. We then hike on 4km to Vernazza. This is the village Tim visited last year and I must say it is the most spectacular. We swim in the small harbor, enjoy a cold drink, and explore the small shops before we take the train to Monteserosso.
The little villages of Cinque Terre perched on the cliffs above the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean are amazing. This is where Jeff and I spend our 7th anniversary. We couldn’t have planned for a better spot. Tim was so right it is truly wonderful.
This is definitely a place we will return to.

Now that we know who will be in the world cup finals, it is time to move on. It’s off to Spain and Barcelona.

~Karen~