Cinque Terre Trek Good evening! Although Mum and I are in Siena now, I'm going to write to you about a looong trek. Up and down hilly bits... beside the seaside... with Mum groaning now and then ;-)

Haha I'll be in trouble... but since she's staying at mine not sure if she can complain too much! Nahh the walk between Riomaggiore and Monterosso is really scenic. Sea views, fresh air, and quite a few tourists to dodge (esp compared to the last time I walked the trail in Oct 2002). Today we've been managing the Siena steps *very* slowly.

We flew into Milan on Thursday afternoon. After walking through the streets for a bit we accosted some random tourists for their map.. which turned out to be Japanese! We were a little underconfident though, as it turned out our hotel was only 2mins further on. And twas a bit of a dump for €80 a night. Luckily we stumbled upon Umberto at Riomaggiore who offered us his apartment with a sea view... for €60 a night! We had two lounge rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, balcony and big bedroom. Since I'm normally travelling alone I avoid the renting private room thing, but it turns out to be quite good when you're lucky: for reference (mine, prolly more than yours) http://www.riorooms.com/.

Been eating well too - what I thought was "mussels" in Italian turned out to be octopus, and what I thought was "artichoke" turned out to be anchovies! Lucky that I'm not a picky eater. Am enjoying speaking to randoms too... and even getting Mum to join in on the act (easier than I expected!).

So tomorrow - San Gimignano and then a night train to Venice! Relaxing... then squashed! Such is life when you try and do a country in a week!

Take care & catch you all soon,

Sam (expert tour guide this time round ;-p )

Posted by Sam at May 22, 2005 05:58 PM