Travel Story «"When the moon hits your eye..."»

Italy | 0 Comments 04 October 2006 - Last Update 04 October 2006

Well after a hectic week in London (actually it was only hectic for Trines, Jac had a very relaxing week!), we recommenced our journey with a marathon travel leg from London to Manarola in Italy. This involved catching the Eurostar from London to Paris, getting the overnight train from Paris to Milan (there are definately a lot of characters on those trains!), a local train from Milan to Genova, and then finally the train from Genova to Manarola (in the Cinque Terre region, the far north-west coast of Italy). But as soon as we stepped off the train and had a look around us, we knew it was all going to be worthwhile.

But before we could get caught up too much with our surroundings, we had to find somewhere to sleep. Because of the wedding, and the fact that it is Trines' job to work out the accommodation side of things, we found ourselves in Cinque Terre, in the middle of Italy's busiest tourist month, without a bed. So desperation set in. While waiting for the only youth hostel in the region to open their doors, we met a South African couple who were in the same predicament as us, and an old, seedy looking Italian guy who had a room to let. In the end, we were so tired, the flat was big, and we had our own bathroom for less than we would have paid at the hostel, so we took the flat, sharing with the South Africans. Some of you may not believe this, but the South Africans slept more than Trines did!

Cinque Terre in itself is not a place that you can really describe in words too well. It is that beautiful, and all the towns look as if at any moment that they are about to fall into the water. I'll let our pictures do the rest of the talking. There is a beautiful walk that winds around the coast and connects the five towns of the Cinque Terre. We managed to walk to 3 of the other 4 towns, but the furthest one, Monterossa (I think???) was beyond our capabilities that day. Other than that we just relaxed, Jac enjoying a lot of gelato, and Trines loving the pizza!

So after a few days in Manarola, we jumped on the train once again (our Eurail passes definately got a workout) and made a pitstop in Pisa (its really just a tower and a church.... not much else to write home about) before heading to Florence. Just by coincidence, Trines' cousin Dom just happened to be in Florence for the night the same day we arrived. So after resting, and being told by the Nazis at the hostel that only guests were allowed in, we headed off to see the sights of Florence with our tour guide Dom.... expert only because he had been there a couple of hours before us! We had many a beer and wine, and some lovely pizza before saying goodbye once again, Dom heading off the next morning to start working in a vineyard in France.

Florence was absolutely beautiful, but ridiculously hot, and the queues for all the sights stupid (thats Italy in August). We did manage to go and see the Statue of David (which Jac took a sneaky photo of .... without getting in trouble!), and take in the exterior of all the other major sights. The leather markets and shops were all so beautiful, but a little beyond the budget at this point in our travels. So once again we made the decision to move on, and on the advice of Dom, we made our way to Perugia.