Venice

We had perfect weather for our day in Venice, as is clearly shown in the following pictures. We spent about equal time walking around (and up and down the stairs that go over the canals) and on the water. Here are some of the sites seen from the large and small waterways of Venice.

Burano is one of the most colorful and charming islands surrounding Venice. Given my love for bright colors, I so enjoyed walking around this cute island. And it was less crowded than Venice!

Igor Stravinsky's grave... For those who care, Serge Diagelev is buried nearby. Venice's cemetary is an island of its own...

Basilica di San Marco/St. Mark's - a spectacular sight

Leaving Venice at the end of a wonderful day....

Cinque Terra

At the end of our trip, we all took turns trying to identify our favorite place/experience of the trip. As you can imagine, that was pretty difficult, but for me our day in the Cinque Terra stood out for its breath-taking, unusual beauty. The name, Cinque Terra refers to the five, self-contained villages, all of which hover (some seemingly precariously) on the rocky cliffs overlooking the Ligurian Sea. The order of the villages from southeast to northwest (from La Spezia) is Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. These villages can be approached either by train or foot...we took the train, but Michael and Julianne hiked between several of the villages and as a result had some spectacular views.

We decided to stop at Corniglia first because the walk up the hill, via road or steps was supposedly the most challenging (the train is below; if you want to see the city you walk - or take a bumpy bus ride; because we were at the beginning of our day we challenged ourselves with the walk up the road). After looking around the city, we took the bus back down and proceeded to Vernazza, where we spent quite a bit of time enjoying this very quaint village, then took the train to Monterosso. We then took the train back to Riomaggiore in time to catch the train to Manarola, which was a wonderful ending to an incredible day. After dinner and another walk to the coast, we took the train back to La Spezia and returned to our farmhouse in Vinci. As you can tell from the pictures, we had incredible weather which added to the enjoyment of the day. Enjoy the photos below - in the order of our visit.

Corniglia

Instead of walking up the steep steps to get to Corniglia, we walked on the road, which twisted back and forth. it was hot, tiring, but definitely worth it. We took the little bus back down to catch the train when we left the village...

A view from the top looking at the beautiful sea.

Another spectacular view from the top - note the gardens on the right side.

Looking back to the previous village...

Another view of Corniglia

Vernazza

This was my second most favorite village of the five - I loved the narrow, colorful streets, beautiful rocks, gorgeous mountainside and so much more. And we sat down, relaxed and had some amazing gelato and people-watched, all while enjoying a gorgeous afternoon!

The main street...

How cool is this! A unique glimpse of the Ligurian Sea!

I love the laundry hanging out on this beautiful day!

The varied colors of these rocks really captivated me.

We were eating gelato when these two cute kids and their moms came into our view. I couldn't resist!

I love how the train disappears into the mountain!

Vernazza from the hiking path high above the city (thank you Michael & Julianne for taking that hike!)