Italy - Monterosso, Venice and Milan

Monterosso

The village of Vernazza

We arrived in Monterosso, Cinque Terra on the afternoon of my Birthday. We celebrated at a wine bar and then at a seafood restaurant. Cinque Terra is made up of 5 beautiful little villages with Monterosso being the most western followed by Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Happy birthday to me

Birthday cake substitute

The view we had at breakfast every day

The walking trail between the villages has been shut down due to a landslide that injured a few Australians but our hotel staff informed us that the Monterosso/Vernazza section was still accessible and that you do not need to pay the 5€ ... another goal for Holland. The path was very narrow in sections and with steep drops. I may have called out for Mum more than once. Chon who doesn't have a healthy respect for heights was more afraid of the lizards that were sun baking on the cliff face at about head height. When they scattered, Chon would make funny noises and move even closer to the edge of the track with the significant drop on it. The walk was well worth it when we had a magical view of Vernazza from the cliff face.

Monterosso beach

Chon looking too comfortable on a very thin rock bridge

Me looking less comfortable on the narrow path

The view we had along the walk

Main street of Vernazza

Enjoying a beer after a nervous walk into Vernazza

Streets in Corniglia

Manarola

Riomaggiore

Chon making friends with the local pets

And then the local pests ... one pigeon

Two pigeons

Then three ... we didn't have any food either. Chon the pigeon whisperer.

Venice

The Grand Canal

Venice's smaller canals

Gondola rides in the canals

Piazza San Marco

Venice was everything we had imagined, seen in movies and heard about. Our first day there was an overcast day but we enjoyed getting lost in the maze that is Venice, crossing numerous bridges and navigating narrow alley ways dropping in to cafés and wine bars along the way. We woke up the next day to be confronted with Venice's fourth worst flood in history. Our hotel was on the higher ground of Venice but there was water right up to the front door but it did not get higher than the top step. The hotel had gumboots for the guests but nothing big enough for me so I improvised with garbage bags until we came across a street vendor that had big enough boots. We were happy splashing about in the smelly water that was a little milky until we came to the realisation that the smelly water was probably part sewerage so we stopped splashing around and walked a little more carefully to let our clothing dry out. The flood waters didn't stay around for long and the shops and restaurants were quick to clean up and reopen their doors.

Alley way near our hotel that temporarily turned into a canal

My garbage bag boots

Seems the bag boots were the latest rage in Venice ... a trend that I obviously started

Testing out the proper boots

Rialto Bridge ... the photo I got whilst testing out the boots above

One of the many smaller bridges all through the city

Chon's artistic side in full swing

And again ... but this time her foreground content was a lot better than the previous image

We visited two near by islands of Burano and Murano. Murano is famous for its glass production and we were shown one factory that specialised in chandeliers and mirrors but also made vases, drinking glasses and heaps of other glass trinkets and art pieces. Burano had canals like Venice but the houses were all painted in very bright colours. It is also famous for lace but unless you are an old woman or just love lace, the colorful buildings are the bigger attraction.

Glass blowers doing their thing

Glass sculpture on Murano

Burano island buildings

More of the colorful island

We were spotted by some friends whilst in the rabbit warren of Venice and thanks to the beauty of Facebook, we later met up and had dinner and drinks with Micala and Nick. We had a great last night in Venice thanks to friends from home.

Catching up with Micala and Nick by chance in Venice

Goodbye Venice

Milan

There isn't much to say about Milan as we only had the one afternoon here in Milano before flying back home.

A beautiful girl in Milan ... one of two pictures we have of Milano

And the other ... a nice church near the hotel

Thank you to everyone who showed interest in our travels. For those of you at home, see you all soon.

 

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Nice

Nice was nice but hard to appreciate after visiting Barcelona. Our stay in Nice was very brief with only one full day to see what it has to offer. We were very fortunate with the weather again as it was 20°C + and there was even sun bathers on the beach which is not normal when you consider it is November and would be the equivalent to our June weather. We explored the old city and climbed their castle hill, ate some food (which turned out to be leathal) and had a peak in their casino. We left Nice, on my birthday, on our way to Northern Italy to see the coastline of Cinque Terra.

Sun bathers in November in Nice

Nice from castle hill

Waterfall on Castle Hill

Old town streets

Le fountain

nice Nice at night

 

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Barcelona

Only two weeks left before returning and Chon thinks we left one of the best to last. For a full day and an half, she told Eva and me that she loves Barcelona several times an hour but she wasn't alone in falling in love with the place. We had heard reports that there is a lot of petty crimes and pick pocketers but we thankfully experienced none of that. Barcelona was clean, beautiful and full of friendly people. We had six nights there, three of which was with Eva. It was hard not to say "stuff it, let's spend the rest of the trip here".

Gaudi's Cathedral - Sagrada Familia (completion in 2030)

Art work on the outside of the Cathedral

The ceiling

Parachuting in ... we didn't have an audio guide so not sure what the symbolism is but it was still beautiful

We visited the stunning cathedral in the making (Sagrada Familia) as well as some of Gaudi's other buildings including Park Guell. We also ventured out to Figueres to see the Salvador Dali Muesuem and Picasso's Muesuem back in Barcelona for some more artwork that is a little out there. We did a walking tour of Barcelona followed by a cocktail making class where we met some cool people but it left me with a two day headache. I think my cocktails were a little too strong. Other than exploring the city on our own and eating tapas and paella, we managed to locate the Castellers in action (human tower builders), which was very cool to watch. I offered to climb to the top and help them out but they respectfully declined going with their trained four year old child instead.

Park Guell

A Gaudi lizard in the park

One of two Gaudi buildings on Passieg de Garcia in Barcelona

Three stunners making cocktails and pretending they tasted alright (Chon with Marla and Selina)

Castellers in action

The red team got a little higher

One of many Salvador Dali's creations in his Muesuem in Figueres (this one filled a whole room and was viewed through a magnifying glass on a platform)

And another ...

And another massive one

And one more on the ceiling that reminds me of Monte Python

Dutchery struck us again in Barcelona after I accidentally timed our stay with the first Sunday of the month where all muesuems where free to enter including Picasso's Muesuem and the Museu d'Historia. Chon is already planing our next visit to Barcelona again in 2031 to see the finished Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, in all its splendor. Our next stop is a short two day visit to the French Riviera, Nice, followed by the remainder of the trip in Northern Italy.

A fresh food market with lots of snacks that we visited a couple of times

I went into a shop to get water and Chon waited outside ... she then decided to take this photo because she told me that she can relate to the dog waiting outside ... I suppose I shouldn't have tied her to the pole as well

 

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