From: Florence
To: Florence
Miles: 0
Total: 844
Today turned out to be a total day of rest. Our plan was to hop on a train and spend the day doing a tour of Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is comprised of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it was raining and overcast in that area. We decided three hours on a train there and back in the rain wasn’t a good idea.
Florence was overcast but with no rain. John and I had been to Florence before and although I haven’t done all the museums like John had, my feet were telling me to stay put and just rest today.
The good news is we picked the right hotel to just spend the day relaxing. While we have had overall good experiences with our hotels and B&B’s with just a few misses like our “historic” 30 year old mattresses we slept on just the other night, none gave us the feeling of being in a good US hotel until last night. We are staying in a Hilton Garden Inn. The staff all speak English, they had a full American breakfast buffet as well made to order items and most importantly the beds are super soft and they have a full bathtub so I can soak my feet. It felt nice to be pampered.
So no excitement or wonderful Italian culture to pass on today, just a nice relaxing day, a quick meal this evening, finished off by a stop for some Gelato. We are back on the road and have a big climb ahead in the next few days so the day off came at just the right time. I hope everyone has a great Monday!