An Unplanned Year

We left Florence and headed slightly north to the coast, stopping at Pisa on the way.

A short walk to the tower which does indeed lean.

Forced Kevin to pose for this incredibly unique and original photo.

We also high fived a couple of people (who looked like they had a sense of humour) that were standing with one hand in the air. They did laugh.

Got to La Spezia and took a walk to scope out where our tour tomorrow meets. Then proceeded to our hotel on the coast and after checking in then went for dinner where we had a view of the Cinque Terre.

An otherwise uneventful day that ended with a nice view.

---

Awake in plenty of time to get to our tour meeting place, but unfortunately we received a message that the boat tour was cancelled because of forecast bad weather.

At the time of receiving the message the sky looked like this.

Since the tour was cancelled, the day has looked like this. Murphy’s Law.

So instead of our boat trip up the coast with stops at coves you can only reach by boat for a swim and a delicious lunch onboard the historic boat, we hopped on the local bus to Riomaggiore

and walked as far along Via d’Amore as we were able to before the path was closed off.

We stopped for a Cinque Terre wine tasting – 4 wines from the local area.

And walked back to Riomaggiore and ate some pizza before sprinting up the hill to get the last bus before a 3 hour wait for the next one in our direction. (If we had read the timetable correctly in the first place we would have had plenty of time to amble up the hill!!)

We are now ensconced on a small patio outside our room, once again looking at the bright sunshine, blue skies and calm seas and no sign of the forecast storms. Over a beer, we are discussing how people get to their houses on the side of the hill and would you prefer to live above the road or below it. We had one vote each way.

The rain and wind finally arrived late at night.

---

This morning we’re driving back to Civitavecchia to take an overnight ferry to Barcelona.

As we have 3 hrs of freeway driving, we’re reflecting on our month in Italy.

Do we wish we had more time here?

Absolutely yes! We haven’t even touched the southern half of Italy. This travesty can only be rectified by planning a future holiday covering southern Italy and Sicily! (Consider it added to “the list”.) If it weren’t for Schengen zone visa restrictions we’d definitely have taken more time in Italy.

If we had an extra week and had to spend it in places we’ve already been, where would we want more time?

Rome, Torre del Tartufo (the cooking holiday) and Florence.

How have we found the driving here?

Crazy and aggressive. But when even the police speed, tailgate and don’t use indicators, how can you expect anyone else to drive legally?!!

Google maps is not great here, it has no idea of speed limits on roads they are incorrect probably 50% of the time, so if driving, always look for what the road signs actually say!

Is there anything we wish we had done that we didn’t?

We wish we had seen the inside of the Colloseum and had bought a Tuscan Villa!!! (Sarah blames her kids for the latter… she likes them too  much to move to the other side of the world!)

We arrived in Civitavecchia, had a meal and then joined the fray to check in for the ferry. It was crazy. Cars double and triple parked outside the terminal office whilst inside looked like this.

Over 90 minutes later we were checked in and returned to the town to park up and go for a walk to kill some time. Put our feet in the Mediterranean before leaving.

Will head to the ferry shortly to queue for boarding and about this time tomorrow, we will arrive in Barcelona on our way to Bilbao on Sunday for a ferry to…

☘️Ireland ☘️!!!