Fri 26 Sep 25: Montecatini Terme (Cinque Terre)
We were on the bus heading for Cinque Terre at 08:00am this morning, with heavy rain on the way looking like spoiling our day. On the way, we drove past the Ferarri marble quarry visible in the distant mountains from the motorway. This quarry looked like snow covered mountains from the distance, but it was in fact a marble quarry that has been mined for centuries. We were told that Rome was built from the marble that was quarried here, and Michelangelo even spent time there selecting the marble for his projects. We arrived in La Spezia at 1000, then boarded a boat to Porto Venere, and thankfully, as we boarded the boat, the rain stopped, but it was still very cloudy. On the way to Porto Venere just out of La Spezia, was passed a large Italian Navy surface fleet base and a submarine base. At Porto Venere we wandered through the narrow cobblestone streets for about 45 minutes for a look around before boarding another boat along the coast to view the Cinque Terre from the sea. As we passed through the heads though, it became apparent that they probably shouldn't have continued with the day's tour, as it was very lumpy with choppy seas and more rain threatening. In the end, of the five towns of Cinque Terre (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore), we did get to see Riomaggiore and Monterosa). We arrived at Montorosa at 1:00pm then had a about 90 minutes for lunch and a wander around before catching a train to Levanto, where our bus was waiting to collect us and return us to Montecatini. On the way, we stopped at a service centre for a comfort break, where Monica (our guide) rolled out two bottles of grappa to sample - both nice but the Plum Grappa with undertones of almond was especially nice.
We eventually arrived back at the hotel at 5:00 pm, then we went for a walk exploring the streets of Montecatini Terme for another hour before returning for pre-dinner drinks and another fantastic (4 course) meal at the hotel. It was another late night returning to our room, but thankfully, tomorrow is a free / rest day to relax, do some washing and maybe get a hair cut.
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| Marble Quary in the distance |
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| La Spezia |
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| La Spezia |
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| La Spezia |
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| La Spezia- Armani's Black Super Yacht (About $96M) |
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| La Spezia- Armani's Black Super Yacht (About $96M) |
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| La Spezia- Italian Navy |
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| La Spezia- Italian Navy |
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| La Spezia- Italian Navy |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa - Check out the cat at the restaurant kitchen window. The cook was giving it the juice from oyster shells (hopefully after diners had eaten the oysters and not before) |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Monterosa |
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| Grappa Sampling |
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| Grappa Sampling |
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| A late afternoon walk in Montecatini Terme |
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| A late afternoon walk in Montecatini Terme |
Love those coloured buildings in Europe. Looks like there were some wonky ones like in Amsterdam.(WW)
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