Ah Roma. What can said about the wonder and splendor of Rome that hasn’t been written before. Rome was the centre of the western world and continues to be a keystone in the areas of art, fashion, religion, culture, cuisine and just about any other facet of life one can think of. We arrived in Rome around lunch time, with just enough time to dump our bags, grab a quick sandwich and hop on the subway system to meet our local guide Francesca Caruso, for our ancient Rome tour.

We passed another fine morning in the town of Orvieto which is just a few minutes down the road from our agritourismo. It’s a very pleasant town, perhaps my favorite of the hill towns we’ve visited. Each town has it’s own feel and character. I can’t really put my finger on it but there was something about the town which felt quite livable. It was busy, however it was very easy to find a quiet street to wander down.

Today we headed out from Siena on our way to an agriturismo in Umbria. Enroute, we stopped at Assisi to see the Basilica of St. Francis and spend time in the town. I much preferred the town of Assisi over San Gimignano, the medieval town we visited yesterday. Assisi is much more picturesque, with interesting cobblestone streets that head off into all sorts of directions and the town just feels more like a real town whereas San Gimignano just felt inundated with tourists.

With a bit of a heavy heart we say so long to the Cinque Terre and head into Tuscany. Our first stop is San Gimignano, a town that’s kept a lot of it’s charm and history. It was a very important stop on the trade route in the 13th century. Today, it’s a very important stop for tourists. Lots of them. It reminded me a bit of Carcasonne in the south of France.

After a hearty breakfast we headed out for a great day of hiking along the paths between the towns of the Cinque Terre. It was a beautiful day, in the high 20s and maybe low 30s in the sun by mid afternoon. We started from our town of Monterosso Al Mare at about 8:45 for the 90 minute hike to the next town, Vernazza. This is the hardest part of the hike with lots of up and downs.

Back on the bus and a fairly short drive to Florence. We stopped for lunch at an Autogrill and was surprised by the quality and quantity of food available. We arrived mid afternoon and after checking in, headed out for a 2 hour walking tour with Robin. We walked around the main square where the gothic Duomo (Cathedral) is. We also walked down to the Uffizi gallery to see a number of statues by various Renaissance artists.

Venice is a beautiful city that is (and the irony isn’t lost on me here) over-run by tourists. Particularly when the cruise ships come in at night. However, when the cruise trips leave and the day trippers move on, it’s really quite pleasant. We spent the morning with Elizabeth, a local guide who showed us a bit of back street Venice. The city is built on a lagoon on top of millions of pillions that have been driven into the sea bed and have since petrified.

Today we’re heading out of Florence for a couple of days in the Cinque Terre. Can’t. Wait. Before we get to Montoroso though, we need to do the obligatory stop at Pisa to see the tower that leans. I say obligatory as it’s something that needs to be done however in the grand scheme of things, is not really something high on the list of things to do.

We headed out from our all too brief visit to the Dolomite mountains for our final destination of Venice. En route, we stopped for a visit to a museum in Bolzano Italty that houses tzi the Iceman. Visit that link for the full story, but the short version is that tzi is a mummy that was found by two German hikers 20 years ago. He’s about 5300 years old and was found with a number of artifacts including clothing, weapons and some tools.

Today was spent going for a hike in the Dolomite mountains. We headed out at 9:15 and walked a few minutes from the hotel to the hamlet of Compatch. Compatch has a few stores, and is a good spot to start hiking from. There are literally hundreds of possible hikes available to be done from here. It’s in a beautiful mountain meadow with peaks all around it. We spent the morning with a local guide who talked all about the area, the history and the legends of the area.