Cinque Terre ....... what can we say but a beautifu part of Italy. Strung along 18km of serated cliffs between Levanto and La Spezia. Five higgledy piggledy villages Monterossa (best beach award), Vernazza (where we stayed), Corniglia, Manorola and Riomaggiore (largst of the five). It is only at each train station that you see the ocean, as the train travels through tunnels virtually the whole distance. Once we left the train station at Vernazza, I became the pa...

Venice......WOW what an interesting place. Great because you are not competing with or choking on exhast fumes from cars and scooters as they are not allowed in venice for obvious reasons. After reading that 20 million visitors a year frequent Venice and being here in their holiday time, I can tell you that unless you go off the beaton, well trod path, this place is chockers with tourist. Three nights and two whole days gave us not a lot of time to explore but ...

Hello to all, Brusson is a small town situated in the Valle D'Aosta, up near the French/Swiss border which is evident by the french naming of streets. Here we were visiting Anna's other aunty and uncle who have been coming here for 45 years to escape the summer heat in Turin. During our stay of 3 nights the temperature only reached around 20°, which made it good for sleeping....... except for the micho's (cats) meowing in the night. I named this place Micho...

Hi everyone, Dogliani was a rest stop with the relatives and is situated in the north of Italy. Cousin Renzo was a geat guide and we got to experience the local area intimately. From walks in the mountains near the south eastern French boarder to a small local distillary called Levi, where we got to see first hand how the grappa is produced, stored and controlled by the Italian tax office. A tasting was in order, and boy this stuff is 50% proof and knocks you...

Buongiorno everyone, Well after finishing the bike riding in Samoens it was off to Urbino on the east coast of Italy for a bit of culture. Anna's cousin Lorenzo had booked a lovely bed and breakfast called Fox Hill where we all stayed for 2 nights. Urbino was hosting an exhibition of early Raffaello paintings. Being the uncultered oath that I am (not including Anna) I found his work amazing. I was gob smacked by the detail in his painting, even his early pencil ...