Let's start from Day 1: arriving in Milan and doing some "essential" shopping!
On the morning of Day 2, we headed to Lake Como. The photo below is from our room in a small town called, Maltrassio. It was an excellent location and we had fantastic weather. The ferries, which link all the villages around the lake, stopped at a small wharf just to the left of our hotel.
On Day 3 we took a ferry to Belagio and passed the Villa below, which was used as a location shot in the lastest James Bond film and Star Wars.
We stopped at one of the other villas along the way - it was very elaborate, with vast gardens.
We had lunch in Belagio. It is a very cute and quirky town.
We didn't see George Clooney in Como, but drove past his house on our way to dinner one night.
After two days in Como, it was on to the Cinque Terre, which is Italy's Southern Riviera. The weather stayed with us, so we had perfect blue sky for walking and swimming and eating al fresco in the small towns (...yes a lot of eating!).
The photo above doesn't quite capture it but the roads were amazingly bendy and very narrow - luckily we didn't come across any tourist buses coming the other way!
We stayed for two nights in Vernazza - definitely the most beautiful of the five towns. This is a shot of the main piaza and harbour at sunset. Dinner on the first night was very simple - we grabbed a take-away pizza and a bottle of local red wine; then we headed out to the end of the breakwater to eat, drink and watch the sun go down.
...and more shots of Vernazza - some of the boats in the harbour, the umbrellas in the piazza and below is a shot of Vernazza by day, in the afternoon on our return after walking the five towns - looks just like a postcard!
When we got to Riomaggiore, we went for a swim before lunch. The water was really warm (or maybe that was just compared to the Norwegian Fjords - where we last went swimming!).
Yes - the Cinque Terre was very beautiful... but next it was Tuscany...
On Day 6 we drove to Lucca, which is a small walled town north-east of Pisa. We borrowed some bikes from the hotel, rode into town and did a lap around the top of the wall.
After working up an appetite on the bikes, we stopped for lunch - best pizza ever!!! (we had to go back for seconds!).
On the Friday we drove out to a "Terme" (hot springs) about 30mins north of Lucca - it was quite relaxing but very hot.
That night, we went to a cooking class for the evening with 16 Americans in a group travelling through Italy, cooking along the way. It was good fun - we made four courses and then ate them all... yum!
Here's a shot of Pete teaching the chef how to make a tart!
Our last day was totally unplanned but very successful - we went for a drive through the vineyards and then stopped for a long lunch on the terrace at a small restaurant in the country. It was one of those warm sunny days with a light breeze blowing - we were very content.
And to round out the trip, we went for a drive-by visit in Pisa. We arrived at 4pm and our flight was at 11pm, so we did a quick circuit of the main sights and had some dinner.
...Pete couldn't resist going head to head with the leaning tower!
