A Day Trip to Portofino

Hi chums!

Portofino has been on my list ever since I worked at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando last summer. The hotel has a recreation of the buildings below and it was so pretty. It made me really wanted to see the real-deal in Italy!

To get to Portofino, we drove to Santa Margherita and caught a boat. I think that's the best way to get there because you get to see the whole of Portofino as the boat pulls in and it really is beautiful. We were lucky and had a sunny day with blue skies.

Although Portofino seems super small, you can go on a walk up the hill and visit a church and see the whole town from above. This was one of my favourite things to do in Portofino. The shops and cafes are so expensive but we were happy to just go and take photos of everything!

The water was so super blue and clear!

After our walk we headed back to the harbour and had a (ridiculously expensive) coffee. I think it was like 4.50 euros for one coffee.

We left Portofino by bus because the last boat had left earlier on. The bus drove round the windy roads on the cliff side. The roads were so thin - I literally cringed whenever the bus turned the corner.

Our day in Portofino was really fun and I'm so glad that I've seen it now. 

In terms of Portofino vs. Cinque Terre, I think I prefer Cinque Terre because it feels more authentic. Although Portofino is very pretty there is, for example, a restaurant with pictures of rich famous people who have visited. I'm not so crazy about this because it makes it feels more tacky and touristy. Having said that, it's worth a visit and we all really enjoyed visiting!

Love as always,

Emma

xxx

A Day Trip to Pisa and Lucca

Hi chums!

After a busy day visiting the Cinque Terre, we decided to spend the second day of our holiday in Pisa and Lucca. 

We drove to Pisa first and headed straight to the Tower of Pisa.

We walked past the beautiful buildings next to the tower, one which was the cathedral. They were doing some renovation of the terracotta tiles on the roof so some of the roof was a bit grim - I tried to take photos to avoid showing this aspect!

My favourite thing in the world was to stare at all the other tourists taking their 'I'm holding up the tower' photos. People really get inventive and it's hilarious.

I know it's called the Leaning Tower of Pisa but it really shocked me how much it was leaning - like seriously that things going to topple over one day! At some angles it looks more leaning than others so I tried to get the dramatic pics.

We had a little wonder round the town of Pisa but to be honest once you've seen the tower and the cathedral, the rest of the town isn't the most beautiful Italian town ever. It's very pretty but the main sight and tourist-pull is really the tower, so we ticked that off our list!

We obviously had a coffee here - a morning coffee became compulsory for the holiday/our lives.

We headed to Lucca in the early-afternoon. We all immediately loved the vibe of Lucca. The streets were beautiful, lined with trees and it felt a bit less touristy than Pisa.

We decided to climb up a tower which had a garden at the top - it was so weird to see a tree growing on top of a building!

The only downside was that there were approximate 2093902 stairs.

The views were well worth the climb though!

As the sun started to set we began to feel a bit peckish. We headed to the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro for some dins. The atmosphere here was really fun. There were plenty of people but it wasn't packed so it was perfect!

If you ever do go to Pisa, be sure to stop off in Lucca as well. We all preferred Lucca to Pisa, but obviously it's law to go and see that leaning tower!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Exploring the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore

Hi chums!

So Riomaggiore, or ‘Rigammore’ or ‘Rigamortis’ or whatever other name my family gave to this place, is another old colourful town on the side of a cliff. 

When reading up on Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore is described as the most picturesque town, but I personally think Manarola is a little prettier. 

When we arrived in Riomaggiore station we walked down a path which took us to the town. It wasn’t the most straightforward route to the harbour, but we still got there in time to see the most beautiful sunset.

We also had dinner here (I had carbonara mmmmmm) and then we caught a train back to La Spezia. 

Cinque Terre was ticked off the list but we all kind of wished we had longer to spend there! It is definitely a place we will go back to in the future, and September was a great time to go because, although it was reasonably busy, the main summer crowds of July and August weren’t there.

So that is the final Cinque Terre post, but it wasn't (thankfully) the end to our holiday. The next day we went to Pisa and Lucca so lucca out for that blog post coming very soon!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Exploring the Cinque Terre: Manarola

Hi chums!

So this is my fourth post about the Cinque Terre and this time I'm bringing you to Manarola!

In terms of how it looks when you get out at the train station, I would say that Manarola is most like Vernazza. There is a small street which leads you down from the station, but that’s where the similarities end. 

Whereas Vernazza is quite a flat town, Manarola sits dramatically on the cliffs, high up from the sea and that makes for some great photos. 

We were lucky to visit at sunset, so the whole town was glowing a kind of golden yellow. 

Manarola was by far my favourite of the Cinque Terre and I would really recommend timings this one for sunset if at all possible.

 So, there is only one final Cinque Terre left to explore now! See you in my next post in... Riomaggiore!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Exploring the Cinque Terre: Corniglia

Hi chums!

My advise if you do Cinque Terre in a day: start early. 

By the time we reached the third of the Cinque Terre, Corniglia, we were running out of daylight and had to make it a quick trip. 

For anyone who has been to Cinque Terre, you’ll know that a quick trip to Corniglia is pretty hard to do if you get the train because you have to walk up hundreds of stairs to get to the top where the town is. 

 After a grim climb we reached the town and had a speedy look at everything there was to see. 

 Although we would have liked a bit longer here and it was beautiful, we all agreed that it was our least favourite of the Cinque Terre and we were keen to get to Manarola which we had heard great things about!

 Love as always,

Emma
xxx