With only two trains to catch it was an easy travel day today to Parma - but we almost mucked it up. There had been an electrical fault and many of the trains were running late. We caught an earlier first train than we had planned (that was running late but still earlier than our scheduled one) and had over 40 minutes until our next one was scheduled to depart. We waited, listening to announcements about delays and platform transfers but ours remained unchanged o...

We had to take 3 trains to get to La Spezia, gateway to the Cinque Terre region - a Unesco world heritage area, consisting of 5 villages perched on the cliffs on the north western coast of Italy. We had no major issues with transport fortunately, despite the first train that we'd planned to take not arriving at all. That one was a precautionary earlier option, as the following one only allowed 5 minutes to change - which we were pleased turned out to be sufficie...

Pastries and ciabatta from the bakery down the road started the day, followed a bit later by a walk up the hill exploring the local area. The streets are narrow and cobbled, with stone walls and archways everywhere. The roads rise sharply up from the lake with stunning views at every turn. Water rushes down through worn stone channels from the mountain - cold and crystal clear. Flower boxes full of brightly coloured impatiens and petunias add splashes of colour. ...

Todays itinerary was a boat ride over to the tourist village of Bellagio, and then further down the lake to the Motoguzzi (motorbike) Museum at Mandello del Lario - and as luck had it the first day of the 97th International Motoguzzi Festival. The view from the boat as we left Varenna was incredibly picturesque - the image you see in most of the postcards, and the boat ride lovely and relaxing. Bellagio was very touristy - like Parnell on steroids.The word Bellag...

Our accommodation at Fiumelatte is fantastic - it has a privare rooftop balcony with stunning views of the lake. We arrived extremely tired and grateful to have found the place easily.The next morning we decided to go for a walk. We are on the 7th floor in a block of units with a shared entrance. We got to the foyer and attempted to exit using the shared entrance key - no luck. About this time the words of the agent - "is there anything else you need to know," ca...