Well it’s been a couple of days since we have had time to send any photos because we have been so busy exploring! Yesterday on Wednesday we left by train from Florence via Pisa to Rapallo which was such a treat. We have a gorgeous room with a large balcony overlooking the Mediterranean with a fortress castle right in front of us. Our deck is so nice that each night instead of going out for dinner we buy heaps of lovely food to eat on our own deck and soak in the scenery. It is quite cool early mornings and in the evenings we sit on the deck until late and we get rugged up like a couple of snow skiers.  Today we got up early and had a large buffet breakfast where I had the pleasure of my first cup of tea since the plane as Italians don’t give you tea and coffee making facilities in the hotel rooms from what we have experienced.  We wanted to get an early start because we planned to go to Cinque Terre and see as many of the five towns as possible.

The plan was to go to Riomaggiore first then walk to Manarola which is a short walk and then onto Corniglia but because of the dreadful rain they had in October last year the track to Corniglia was closed but they had an eco-friendly bus that took you to the top of the mountain and you could walk an hour and a half down a windy track through the vineyards which was spectacular. On some parts of the track you had to be a mountain goat but it was well worth the effort. From here we caught the train to Vennazza which was a let down because this town from the pictures should have been spectacular but it was devastated by the floods too and it looked like a town that had been in a war. The photos speak for themselves.  All in all it was a fantastic day and we walked 4 of the 5 towns which only left Monterosso but we didn’t have the energy to walk this one too, as it was we had a 12 hour day.

We are home now sipping Italian red wine(I am anyway) and once again had a lovely meal on our own private deck and ready to flop into bed very soon. Gary is now walking on the  promenade whilst I write this so he doesn’t fall asleep before dark. Not that we didn’t do enough walking today. It is only 9pm and just getting dark.

Tomorrow we plan to stay this side of town and probably take the cable car above Rapallo to take in another beautiful view then and a boat ride to Portofino but the order of this will depend on the weather and our battered bones by the morning.

Hope you are all well and I can assure you all we are!   It is fantastico here!

Bye for now love Chel and Gary xx

Gary on the walkway in front of our hotel

Our hotel called Hotel Italio

Rapallo township

Our own private deck

Rapallo Castle by night, our view from the deck - what a sight!

A man was playing a paino and cat sleeping on chair

Riomaggiore- the first town we visited

The walk-way was so beautiful

A coffee on the way to Manarola.

Manarola - the second town we visited

Views of Cornigulia the town that we walked to next over the vinyards

Vernazza a town still being rebuilt after the floods October 2011 and the 4th town we visited