3 Wonderful Days Sightseeing~

Renting a car was a great idea!  We headed out of Florence at 11 am and decided to go to Chique Terre these little towns on the coast.  We are close to the town where the Pisa is located...and so we headed there first!

Driving in Italy is very nice...lots of good direction...and good signs.  People drive well and not pushy.  The little Panda Fiat drove very cute...and easy to maneuver - the little manual gear box even came with 5 gears -!

We headed out and had a great drive to Pisa...and saw some beautiful scenery - turned off the highway and found the old downtown area quickly! (good signage out there!) We drove around for a while looking for a parking spot .......



 Cute huh?  What kind of a building is this?


and found one on this big open plaza.
 The car we rented was a stick shift!  Fiat Panda!  Cute & zipped around so well!  Nick & I both enjoyed the thick steering wheel...a nice hold to it...and how it hugged the road...and yes how it handled too...just a cute little thing to drive in Europe...perfect for all those smaller roads!

  It was Saturday so it was OK to park there!


 OK we better remember this Plaza so we can find the car back!  All these corridors through the old cities!

 


 Pisa Italy

We headed to the street where everyone seemed to be heading to & found a cute street lined with coffee shops and sitting areas - well how about starting the morning with a good cup of cappuccino Nick?


 

 That might be the way to go Nick....lots of activity there!

 Look how cute Nick...oh these little streets and sitting areas always draws me! 

As we walked through to look for a coffee shop ...we came across "Michael" who was from Albania and was traveling by foot (3000km) he said to see Europe!  "Oh my Michael...my feet hurt just thinking of that!!!" He said his feet did hurt!  We chatted a little while more (he has been on the road  since March he said!)

We gave him a little token to be able to get himself a drink & a snack,
 and asked if we could take a picture of him..of course he said!

We walked down a alley way and there it was...the PISA!
Look it is leaning all right!  Wow Nick look at that!!!!

 Pisa Italy

Way cool huh?  How many years have we seen this on pictures and in movies?  And now to actually stand right there - right here...in Italy looking at it! WOW!

 QUESTION?      Is the "Leaning Tower"...LEANING?                              ....YES!

 Is Ellen leaning???  YES!

We enjoyed looking around and taking lots of pictures & yes everyone else was too!  It was HOT & Nick went to sit in the shade while I walked around some more!
Piazza dei Miracoli Open Link

Wow such a beautiful day ...and so interesting to see all this....something we have heard about for so long!

It was a very HOT day..pretty close to 100F -

We headed back to the car...and YES! We found it!  And with air conditioning on FAST we went off to the coast!  Yes the plan was to go to this area called Chique Terre!  Nick had heard the name before...but I had not!  But I knew of these darling little towns clustered along the coastline of Italy - and it so happened it was close by Pisa!  Oh Nick lets head out!

As we drove down the highway...the countryside was so pretty!  Lots of mountains in the background.....






 And a familiar sight...we see a lot of campers out and many of them were French, Belgium and Swiss!  Hey pretty neat to see!!! 









 Dolomites Mountains ~ Wow so BIG!

 In the distance I recognized the Dolomite Mountains - heard about the great skiing there! 

 We also saw large blocks of Marble, Granite & Dolomite ready to be process along the highway!

Made us think of Athens!

How they started from a block to make all those huge historic buildings & monuments...


 It was a 85 km - about 2 hrs to get there and it was a really nice ride..of course a stop in Pisa was included in that time!  The we came to La Spezia and that was the turn off for this special area we were wanting to see..we drove through La Spezia and always nice to see the coast line again!

 This town had a big port and it was a larger town...

 Cute homes all along the hills ~

 The colors are a light yellow, soft orange, or soft pinkish read...so pretty with their canopies and flowers on the balcony!

 There were many tunnels drilled into the mountain side...long long tunnels...and each time we came out...we came along the most darling little towns!

Cinque Terre Read Up on This Area!

 The first town we came to was Riomaggiore..and it was way way down below...winding on very very small roads - sometimes just one lane...and pretty sharp straight down...Nick & I were glad we had a very small car that makes nice sharp turns!!!

 

By this time is about 4:30 and we are thinking - it is time to find something to stay at tonight...it is Saturday...

Well we drove on to Vernazza the next town and it was really really cute...

 When we came down to this area...we could not go further...and found out you could not get to the beach area by car only by foot.  So this little shuttle bus gave us a lift for 2 Euro each.  it was a rough and bumpy road and when we got there we saw this canal and a bridge across it going to a hotel.

Nick decided he better ask if there was room?  The lady nodded no - "completa"

 We continued to walk to the beach area...and it got busier and busier and more and more people were there!  Oh it was a really cool place to be!  NO WONDER THERE WAS NO ROOMS AVAILABLE!!!  Look at this!!!

 Saw this cave like opening,,,where does that lead to?

 Very cute place...gosh so cute!!!!  Vernazza was very popular!
The more we walked...the cuter it got!!!  Oh it was adorable...!!!

 As we walked towards the water..people everywhere enjoying the water, shopping, eating and strolling around!  So cute!

 Way Cute huh?  The little cove made it so nice for people to swim...and boats came in from other areas~

The Italian fisherman has pretty spent his whole life in the Sun! 

 A picture from the Fruit basket by the restaurant out to Sea!  Darling place huh?

People sunbathing all on the big granite rocks lined up along the beach!

 Can you believe this...how darling everything is huh?  Love those houses stacked up along the cliffs & then the old church so big right there Center view!

The water was pretty clear but not as clear as in Greece - and not as aqua blue as in Greece...and not as warm as in Greece - ha!  BUT still very pretty indeed!

 This guy jumped off the rock just above his head....not that high but still I got him just as he jumped!

 Everywhere you looked - cute restaurants here and there...way up on the ledge! 

 We knew it was time to leave...all we could do was walk around a bit and see this town - but it was getting late and we still did not have a room for the night ~ 5:30pm...

I wanted to see this cave & where it went to.... and it opened to another beach area!  Pretty cool!