Saturday, May 14, 2011

Cinque Terre

The last excusion we took outside of Florence was to Cinque Terre. We had heard about this place and many of you have probably seen Rick Steves overview on PBS (we hadn't until after our return). We decided to sign up for an all day (literally 12 hour) tour with Walkabout. For 90 euros per person, we had English-speaking guides, a motor coach to the area and back, hiking along thousand year old donkey paths, lunch, train fare from one village to another, and a  boat trip hugging the Mediterranean coast. The group had 40 people and 3 tour guides. Two guides split the group in half and the last guide took care of the logistics such as train tickets, timetables, and getting participants from one village to another if they were not able to hike the steep terrain.

This tour was well worth it. We saw all 5 major villages in the area. The views were spectacular. The guides were knowledgeable, but not intrusive. We did some hiking and it was tough for both of us since we are not in shape. The only small complaint was that I did not have enough time to take more photographs. Overall this was the best group tour I have ever been on (I usually run in the opposite direction).

Lunch consisted of a variety of marinated octopus and squid salad and pasta with traditional pesto sauce. No wine since the most strenuous hike was yet to come. I really liked the octopus. The pesto was rich and flavorful.

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I will leave you with various snaps of the area.

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4 comments:

Kristal Dawn Evens said...

Oh my goodness! My husband and I recently booked tickets to go to Italy! We're definitely going to cinque terre. Is it too forward of me to ask if we could meet up with you to talk about your trip? We live in Richmond and I love your blog. We're trying to figure out where else to go in Italy. My contacts should be attached.

Sheila said...

HI!

I studied abroad in Italy and Cinque Terre was my favorite place, so I just had to comment. Did you do the walk through the Tunnel of Love? That was my favorite part, a nice break after the 5 hours hike!

Sheila

pjpink said...

We did walk through the Tunnel of Love and saw all of the numerous padlocks. Incredible!

pjpink said...

KDE - Just sent you email about meeting. Cheers!