Author Archives: journeywithmadonna

Time to leave Florence behind……….certainly a place to come back to!

What a beautiful city!   These pictures taken on the ipad cannot even touch upon its beauty and give you a reason to come here……but it’s all I got because I refuse to become more technologically savy when I am … Continue reading →

Absolutely loved Sienna(population around 53,000)………one of my favourites!    Once again not an easy place to park the car in, which  begs the question of what happens when it’s tourist season – a nightmare I shall avoid!   Wonderful city … Continue reading →

In under an hour we arrived in Volterra and once again dealt with parking outside the walls and hiking into the walled city. Walk,walk,walk makes the gelato more enjoyable and I can convince myself that I will walk this one … Continue reading →

Rick Steeves describes San G as the epitome of a Tuscan hill town “with 14 medieval towers still standing (out of an original 72) …and….. is a perfectly preserved tourist trap.”  He goes on to say that it is so worth … Continue reading →

I always wanted to see the leaning tower of Pisa.   For years I didn’t know where it was but once I found out it was in Italy I knew I would see it…….once I got to Italy, that was! … Continue reading →

Spent a low key evening after our cinque terra hike enjoying a home cooked meal at our air bnb and planning our next day.   We decided to take it a little easier on our aging bodies by enjoying a … Continue reading →

We decided to start our hiking experience of the Cinque Terra with Monterrosa al Mare and head towards Vernassa. Monterossa has a population of approximately 1600 and is the only Cinque Terra town built on flat land. We took the … Continue reading →

Levanto, our gateway to the Cinque Terra, is a very small and quiet town and it is here that we decided to park ourselves for three nights while we hiked around Cinque Terra.  I know some of you know about, and … Continue reading →