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Sunday
3rd. June 2012 - (Lucca - La Spezia)
We moved out of the apartment at about 10:30am and made our way to the
railway station. Being a Sunday morning none of the shops were
open and so breakfast had to wait until we reached the station, where we
found a cafe. The train arrived just after 11:30am and took us to
Viareggio again where we changed trains for La Spezia. This part of the
journey took just over an hour. On the way we passed, in the distance,
the huge marble quarry above Carrara. It looked like snow on the
mountain top. We arrived at the Crismar hotel in La Spezia at about 1:30pm and found
out that the ferry to Porto Venere was due to leave at 2:15pm. So we
made a quick dash to catch the ferry and spent about 2 hours wandering
around the tiny village. The colourful buildings made it very
picturesque.
Tonight is a "theme night" (Sagra del Raviolo di Mare)
somewhere and David was as vague as ever but
thought the best way to get there was by taxi. Eventually he contacted
another tour leader who was in town and found out we could get there by
bus. Which we did. There was a meal provided at about
€6.00 per serve.
Then there was Latin disco dancing. No one really joined in as the
previous night was starting to take it's toll. At 11:00pm we caught the
bus back to the hotel.
Monday
4th. June 2012 - La Spezia
After breakfast, at about 9:30am, we headed off to the train station,
validated our national park passes and caught the train to Riomaggiore
which is the nearest town in Cinque Terre to La Spezia. The weather was
overcast and threatening to rain again like it did overnight. The
temperature was about 20˚C,
so it was ideal for walking.
After after a few photos we
walked the path to Manarola. The path from here to Corniglia and from
Corniglia to Vernazza had been cut by mud slides a year or two earlier. It will take a massive
effort to stabilise the slides and rebuild the paths.
We caught a local bus which
took us up the hill to the village of Volastra. From here we walked
trail 6d along the ridge of the hills and then descended into Corniglia
where we had lunch. The path was at times quite narrow (approx. 600mm)
with a 3 metre drop down into the vineyards.
We had lunch at Corniglia;
gnocchi pesto & minestrone soup. After lunch we took the train to
Vernazza, where we spent about an hour taking photos.
We then took the train to
Montorosso where we spent another hour taking photos and looking around
Just before 5:00pm we caught
the train again for the 20 minute trip back to La Spezzia.
In the evening we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant (€50.00)
in the main street of La Spezzia.
Tuesday
5th. June 2012 - (La Spezia - Portofino - Asti)
We checked out of the hotel at 9:30am on a clear sunny morning and
caught the train to Santa Margherita. Took a photo of a search & Rescue
dog waiting in the crowd at La Spezia. We left our luggage in safe
storage at the railway station. From here we went to the super
market and bought what we needed for a picnic lunch. We then caught the
ferry to the beautiful port of Portofino, where we had lunch beside the
harbour and the expensive boats. After a look around the town we walked
back as far a Portofino Ligure (about a one hour walk). We then caught
the bus back into Santa Margherita Ligure. After a cup of coffee at a
local coffee place we once again boarded the train (5:37pm) for the 2
1/2 hour journey to Asti, where we spend the next two nights. We arrived
in Asti just before 8:00pm and walked across the street from the railway
station to the Hotel Cavour. Our room is spacious and air conditioned.
The bathroom is large with a shower over the bath.
We all went out to dinner and arrived back at the hotel at about
11:30pm.
Wednesday
6th. June 2012 - Asti
It was a fine, sunny and warm day, about 22˚C. After breakfast we caught a local bus to the
township of Castagnole Monferrato. This was about a 30 minute journey.
We were expected at one of the local wineries. We did our wine tasting
in the old winery. This has now been replaced by a much larger and more
modern one. We were shown the old cellars, which formed part of an
old castle in the past and seemed to have been carved out of vermiculite
and parts were brick lined. The walls of the cellars were cool, soft,
spongy and damp, which was apparently these conditions are ideal for
aging the wine in oak. The new winery, which we didn't see,
produces about 150,000 bottles of red and white wine a year. the wines
we tasted were on sale for about €10.00.
Most of it is sold in Europe and some in America
but none in Australia due to the high taxation regime. The Government
strictly controls the production of wine in Italy to ensure the quality
is maintained. For example, a winery may have a vineyard of a certain
area planted with a particular variety of grape. The Government has
determined how many bottles of wine can be produced from that acreage
and issues only that number of the little white or pink collars that
appear around the neck of each bottle of quality wine. Any excess cannot
be sold as a premium wine. All the wine in
the region is "corked" and screw top bottles are regarded as containing
inferior wine! After trying four different wines (one white and three
reds) and tasting the local cheese we walked down to what appeared to be
a private house for a meal. The cost was €15.00 each. We sat in the open
air beneath shades in the courtyard and were served a three course meal
with unlimited wine and coffee.
At about 3:00pm we reluctantly left the La Miraja agriturismo and
wandered around the town taking photos of the surrounding district until
just before 4:00pm when we once again caught the local bus which dropped
us off just outside our hotel at 5:00pm.
This part of Italy is how I
expected Tuscany to look, with rolling hills and hilltop villages. The
part of Tuscany that we saw was almost mountainous. The soft rolling
hills with the occasional candlestick pine trees is south of Florence.
We all went out and had a light dinner at about 8:00pm.
Thursday 7th. June 2012 - (Asti - Milan - Como)
We had a 7;30am start. We caught the train from Asti to Milan. We
arrived in Milan at 10:00am. Davide left us at the Duomo. Tickets to the
top of the Duomo were included in our tickets, so we took the lift to
the top and wandered amongst the ornate carvings and flying butresses.
then we had a look inside. The Duomo is huge inside. We found a little
shop just off the piazza and had pizza margurita for lunch. We then had
to rush to find the Cenacola Vinciano where we waited for the 1:45pm
intake of 25 people to view Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. It has been
beautifully restored. We had to enter via two airtight doors and leave
via one so that the temperature and humidity are kept constant. We then
had a quick look inside the Castello Sforzesco before meeting up with
the rest of the group at 3:30pm outside the Duomo. We then caught a
Metro train back to the central station and then a fast train to Como
(30mins). Once in Como we had a bit of a wait before catching a local
bus. The bus was crowded and it took nearly an hour to reach the Hotel
Riviera in Cadenabbia.
Our room is very similar to the room we had the last time we were in the
Lake Como area, Tremezzo which is just up the road. The room is small,
but adequate. It overlooks the lake but there is no airconditioning. We
have to open the window for fresh air but the room also overlooks the
road, which is the main drag around the lake. After dinner I took a few
photos of the lights of Bellagio and Varenna across the Lake
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Friday 8th. June 2012 - Como
Our room was not air conditioned so we made do with an electric fan
resting on the window sill blowing cool air in from the outside. When we
woke the sun was peaking through the clouds but everyone was expecting
rain. Part of the tour deal was a daily ticket on the ferry between
Cadenabbia, Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio. So much of our day was taken
up in exploring Bellagio and Varenna. It began to rain on and off at
around lunchtime, and we decided to walk back to the hotel rather than
catching the ferry back from Menaggio. We were amazed at some of the
mansions with their manicured gardens along the way.
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Bellagio |
Bellagio |
Varenna |
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Varenna |
Varenna |
Varenna |
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