Ciao

Mel and I just finished up 2 weeks in Italy with visits to Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan and Lake Como, however there is one place in the north of Italy I cant speak highly enough of; the Cinque Terre region.

Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It´s in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of La Spezia city where our bus dropped us off. The region is composed of five villages; Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Mel and I had accomidation in Riomaggiore with an amazing view of the town and port. We stayed with another couple from Australia; Ali and Alex, who became good friends of ours.

Riomaggiore 

We spent the next few days swimming and jumping off rocks by the port, drinking beers on our balcony while watching the sunset and and hiking our way through the 5 towns along the coast with Ali and Alex.















Above is a  map of the region which shows the 5 towns we hiked through (Riomaggiore to Monterosso)

This hike ended up taking about 10 hours and covered some very rough terrain but the beach at the last town; Monterosso made it all worthwhile.

After spending time in Italy I've come up with some pros and cons for the country shaped like a boot.

PROS

• The Coffee! In most places you can get coffee for only €1 when you drink at the bar (if you sit down they charge about €4!), and this coffee is amazing. There is no water, just coffee and milk. There is certainly a 'coffee culture' in Italy and its evident when you walk into a cafe and its packed with Italian men lining up to get their fix.
• Free pouring of alcohol; they don't measure they just pour until they feel there is enough alcohol in the glass, and often its more than enough.
• Street drinking is legal, or at least I think so.
• Of course the pizza and pasta. There is an abundance of side markets selling slices of pizza big enough to feed a family; all for only €2.
• Late dinners; often Mel and I would go for a meal after 11pm.
• Beautiful piazzas (squares) in every city.

CONS

• Bad driving; Italian drivers are terrible! They certainly don't know how to park either.. many times I witnessed people double parking, parking people in or parking on a curb, this just wouldn't fly in Australia!
• Stairs. Italy is the land of stairs, you cant go anywhere without having to walk up about ten flights of stairs; the train station, hostels, and having a huge backpack on doesn't make it any easier!
• The main cities are packed with tourists, but I suppose you cant escape them in any major city in Europe. 
• Italy is expensive 

The view from Michelangelo's Piazza

A cafe in Orvieto

Gondola's on Grand Canal