Today we are starting a new tour: A Garden Sojourn Across Italy: From Liguria to Veneto

We traveled from Lucca to La Spezia and had the rest of the day to ourselves. The garden tour will start tomorrow.

TRAVELING IN ITALY

We traveled on a 4 lane highway with periodic rest stops. The rest stops had clean restrooms, play areas for kids, places to eat.

You can buy anything you need here from medicine to toys to olive oil.

The police and ambulance services seem to be keeping on top of things. I have seen no homeless in Italy for the 2 weeks that I have been here.

Driving through La Spezia.

Three of us decided to walk down to the docks to catch a boat to Cinque Terre. We discovered a young lady doing sand art, a beautiful park, a street lined with palm trees and some elementary school kids learning about fishing along the way.

My friends, John and Jim, and views of the La Spezia waterfront. We couldn’t catch a boat that would get us back to the group dinner in time so we decided to take the train.

It was only a 30 minute train ride to the last stop in Cinque Terre which is Monterosso.

Cinque Terre is a group of 5 towns along the Mediterranean Sea west of La Spezia. The houses are built precariously on the steep cliffs. To me, the beauty of this place is the soft pastel colors of the houses which contrast with the blue Mediterranean.

Scenes from Monterosso and the Sweet Pea Shrub (Polygala x dalmaisiana) which is a hybrid of plants native to the Mediterranean area.

It is time to take the train back to La Spezia for dinner. No time to visit the other 4 towns in Cinque Terre – Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia and Vernazza.

5 course dinner at Ristorante Roma, La Spezia

Next: Liguria