Cimqueterre Mama Mia Molto Bello

After a long train journey,we arrived in La Spezia, Italy, a small city on the Italian Meditarenean coast about 90 miles east of Genoa. La Spezia has a beautiful location tucked between coastal mountains and the sea. It lies close to a rugged coastal area called Cinque Terre, a UNESCO protected area in which there are five old villages perched along the cliffs overlooking the sea. We took the train to the beginning of the trail that connects the villages the first village Monterroso al Mare, Vernaza, Corniglia, Manarola and finally, Riomaggiore(there is no road)and we hiked the 6 miles along the coastal mountains. The minute I got off the train, I wanted to star walking and see the beautiful gardens on the hills. It is a wonderful area combining wilderness with some farms with gardens and fruit trees (oranges, lemons, grapes,figs etc.) The weather was hot and there were many people from different countries that we passed along the trail. We stopped at Cornilia and we bought the most delicious frozen yougurt and we try the strawberry ice cream. After hiking from Cornilia about 4 kilometers and looking down at the beautiful beach. I wanted to go swimming so bad. At one point, we followed a path down to the rocky shore, and I had a nice swim (Allan didn't go because he was sick). The water was cristal clear and warm, this was the best part of my hike. I won't forget this beautiful place that I enjoyed so much. In the evening we shared a dinner at a restaurant near our hotel that included different kinds of seafood, especially clams, a mixed salad and clams and tomato sauce linguine for 20 Euros (about $28). It was a terrific dinner and high quality food.

After two days in La Spezia, we took the train down to Salerno, in the south past Rome and Naples. Salerno has a stunning seaside location at the foot of a high mountain ridge (the Amalfi coast). From the stazione in the early evening, we walked along the beach promendade for a few kilometers to our hotel. Unfortunately, there is a lot of garbage along the beach. Unfortunately the graffiti is terrible, I didn't think I was going to see so much graffiti almost everywhere in this small village. We passed many bars and pizzerias, the main businesses in this part of town. We had a great view of the sea and the mountainous coastline from our hotel room. Here we rested a day while my husband gets better from his cold.