Yesterday we had an entire day tour of Cinque Terra.  There were 7 of us and our driver, Claudio.  We drove to the first town and walked the length of it to the barca…the ferry boat to take us to the next town of the five hugging the coast.  From the first town we went to the next and had a delightful and delicious seafood lunch sitting outside under big colored umbrellas.  We had decided we only wanted to go to three of the towns instead of four to be able to spend more time in each.  One of the towns is inaccessible by boat due to landslides a few years ago after heavy rains.  One of the amazing things about these towns is the terraced farmland surrounding each town.  They grow the olives and grapes for wine and everything else they grow straight uphill.  It would be impossible without the terraces…but how they do it even then looks impossible.  After lunch, we drove to the third village and had yogurt with honey, gelato and lemon granita.  There is a hillside walk between the five towns and there is a small train between them all, as well as the barca.   I can’t imagine walking the path between, or how far uphill to even get to the path.  I flunked Mountain Goat 101!   The trip to Cinque Terra is one and a half hours from Florence and Claudio told us about all the small towns we passed and what they were famous for…either a person or a product.  We also passed the Carrera marble mountains where it is still mined today.  The David is carved from one piece of Carrara marble.  The hills are all in bloom and the small red poppies are everywhere along the roads.  

After we left, Andy and I both discussed the trip and we were both disappointed with what our expectations of The Cinque Terra had been.  From postcards, we both expected more colorful houses and more of them.  I think we were comparing it in our minds to Positano…on the Amalfi coast.   These are just tiny little villages, and altho charming, not quite what we expected.  Also, we felt if we go back, we would like a night in each of the three towns to be able to explore them better.  We felt rushed.  With three hours of driving, an hour for lunch, the boat ride and wait for it…we just didn’t have enough time.  And I think if we go back, Andy would enjoy a hike between at least two towns with me meeting by barca or train.  She has more Mountain Goat DNA than I do….

Claudio was a delight for me.  He spoke English and I corrected him and he corrected my Italian as I spoke to him.  When I have these long spurts of being able to speak Italian, I can tell that I improve each time.  Anyone coming to Florence please contact me and I’ll give you Claudio’s contact information.  Not only is he a great driver and guide, but he has his own cooking school in Florence.  He is a fun and charming fellow and I think his cooking class and dinner to follow would be fun!  When we got back to Florence, we said goodbye to our Aussie tour mates and Claudio drove us to our hotel.  We had dinner and went to bed.  Today we got up, had breakfast and took the fast train to Milan.  

As we were leaving the terminal, a man asked if we needed a taxi and we said yes and gave him our hotel address and he said it would be 40 euros.  On the way to his taxi, I got a thought that if he didn’t have a metered cab we weren’t going with him.  Sure enough, he didn’t.  We refused him and he got some “official” papers out of his car, but who knew what they were.  We went to the taxi stand and got a metered cab and a ride to the hotel….for less than 10 euros.   Now, when I made our hotel reservations thru Monastery Stays.com, I thought we were getting a monastery hotel near the city center…except it is a Hostel….but, it is clean and the beds are comfortable.  Andy and Suzanne have a bunk bed…Andy on top and I have a single.  We have our own private bath.  We were issued sheets and a pillow to make our own beds and we have to bring our linens down when we leave!  The room is as big as our hotel the last few nights (altho more room because of the stacked beds) and it has the added luxury of having screens on the window…so no mosquitoes to feast on us.  The Italians in general haven’t gotten the concept of window screens. It is a problem in our Rome apartment…and will be worse  as the summer progresses.  

Tonight we plan on having Japanese food at a nearby restaurant.  Tomorrow we have a tour of the Last Supper and a visit to the Duomo.  And whatever other mischief we can find to get into.  Will report!