Our short stay in Venice was lots of fun. We walked the streets (getting lost once or twice), caught a waterbus down the Grand Canal, got ripped off by a seemingly-harmless elderly lady, sampled Venice´s best (and cheapest) coffee and sipped Venetian Spritz at a small wine bar as the sun set...bliss!
After Riomaggiore we caught the train for a quick stay in Florence...what a beautiful city! We paid a bit more money to stay in a place in the city centre not far from the Duomo. It was called "Rooms with a View" and had 9 flights of stairs to walk up - no wonder it was called that! The pictures say it all...
While we were staying in Riomaggiore we had the chance to view a piece of Pisa! (heavy Italian accent) He he! We decided to just visit Pisa for the day and in the end we only stayed for three hours as the city didn´t have much else to offer, apart from bad engineering! Here are our photos.
Jo doing her bit to help Pisa
The tower isn´t the only structure leaning here!
From Genova we travelled by Trenitalia train (very cheap!) to Cinque Terre - a very beautiful northern coastal region of Italy. Cinque Terre is made up of five small towns nestled between hills and coast - Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. We stayed in Riomaggiore - the smallest and least touristy town and thoroughly enjoyed our 4 night stay here. We found a small apartment with kitchen and bathroom from €40 a night...what a bargin!
We found a really nice bar/cafe in Riomaggiore on a cliff edge looking over the sea. Beautiful! We often started our afternoon at the cafe drinking coffee and would then move onto red wine as we watched the sun slowly set over the Med!
The five towns are joined by a coastal walk which is approximately 18km long. The track between Riomaggiore and Manarola (the next town) was quite a pleasant stroll as it was a flat, stone path with a few rest spots along with way. This part of the walk was very enjoyable. From Manarola we decided to catch the local train to Monterosso at the other end of the coastal track to walk back towards Riomaggiore. The 3 or 4km walk between Monterosso and Vernazza was a killer! It was the complete opposite of the walk we´d done earlier - it was all huge hills, steep stone staircases and rocky uneven paths. However, we saw some amazing views and slept very well that night!
Having the use of our own kitchen for the first time in a while Jo was able to cook some delicious meals while we stayed in Riomaggiore. Every day we´d head to the local shops and buy fresh ingredients for our meals - it was wonderful! We had such meals as fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and capers; pasta primevera; chicken cacciatore with ciabatta and garlic sauteed fennel! Yum!
Jason also got the chance to practice his Italian coffee-ordering skills, by visiting a number of different cafes in Riomaggiore trying machiattos and cappucinos.
Jo at the beginning of the Cinque Terre walk at Riomaggiore 
Jo having coffee and cake at our favourite cafe in Riomaggiore
Coastal views along the walk between Riomaggiore and Manarola
Jason with a puddy-cat on the Cinque Terre walk - someone doesn´t want to be cuddled!
Jo on the coastal walk between Riomaggiore and Manarola - 
Views of Manarola - 
Main street of Manarola - 
Puddy-cat looking lovingly at Jo, who is a safe distance away from he/she - 
Manarola harbour - 
Views of Corniglia - 
Monterosso - 
Vernazza - 
Our first stop in Italy for two nights was Genova (Genoa to the rest of the world) - a beautiful old, yet busy modern harbour city. We visited the Genova Acquarium (the largest in Europe and aparently second largest in the world) and also walked around the streets of Genova, admiring the harbour views and ornate old buildings and churches. We also enjoyed the food on offer (but not the breakfast from the hotel - where even the toast was pre-toasted and packaged)! We tried Genovese pasta (trenette pasta with a basil pesto), focaccia, pizze, gelati and baci (hazelnut flavoured soft biscuits glued together with melted chocolate). We also ventured into a coffee bar and tried our first coffee standing up! It was much better than French coffee. As we gulped down our caffe machiattos, it was great to be a part of the Italian bar scene! And two coffees only cost €1.80!!
Views around Genova city - 
Jo telling Jason to stop taking a photo of her and take one of the hotel door - 
The door of Hotel Aquario - where we stayed - 
Views of the Genova harbour - 
The Galleon Neptune - what a big man!
