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| This was perhaps our most picturesque day. The 5 towns (called the "Cinque Terre") are, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful places on earth. Not only are the towns charming, unusual, and gorgeous, but they're located on hillsides on the Mediterranean, just a few hours drive from the French Riviera. In fact, the Cinque Terre are often referred to as part of the "Italian Riviera." Since they are in northern Italy, the heat never gets deadly like it does in southern Italy and -- since they are on the Mediterranean, they never get extremely cold. Our favorite town is Riomaggiore, which is the southernmost of the five. |
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| To get the best shot of Riomaggiore (this shot), you have to climb way out on the rocks in the harbor -- but it's worth it. (The first shot was taken from about the location of the person in the red shirt in the lower right of this picture.) |
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| If you climb to the castle (which is just below the Italian Pine trees in the upper left of the top 2 pictures), you can look north toward the other 4 towns (which are all in the bay between the ridge in the foreground and the one in the background). |
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| From the fifth town, Monteroso al Mare, the other four are visible. Corniglia (the only town without access from the sea) is directly above the boat on the far right. Vernazza is just above the bow of the boat to its left. Manarola is visible (to the right of the boat on the far right) and a tiny bit of Riomaggiore can be seen over the ridge from Manarola. |
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| "Il Gigante" ("The Giant") is a 46-foot concrete sculpture (sculpted in 1910) of Neptune at Monterosso al Mare. Although he lost his arms during allied bombings in World War II, he's still an imposing figure if you compare his size to Alice (standing below). |
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| 13 years ago, they were shoring up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so I couldn't climb it. |
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| This time I climbed it and got a spectacular view. |
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| By the time we got to Florence, the sun was going down. We drove to Piazzale Michelangelo and got a great nighttime view of the old part of the city. It was a little too dark for the still camera, but |
not too dark for the iPad.
