Five steps to Cinque Terre - La Spezia, Italy
La Spezia, Italy
What a day! We left Lake Como early making our way south to Cinque Terre via Milan where we were scheduled to stop for a guided walking tour of the city followed by lunch. Our local guide was again fantastic and she took us to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo - the world's oldest shopping mall. This was a real experience as we were surrounded by Prada, Gucci, Versace, Louis Vuitton and more! En route she showed us the oldest castle in Milano and gave a thorough history lesson. We also visited La Scala, the opera venue finishing at Duomo de Milano - Cathedral of Milan.
It was just incredible being surrounded by all the majestic buildings yet the Milanese were going about their business as usual! One thing we were advised to be aware of is the hawkers in the duomo - mostly young African men who try the hard sell with their cheap wares...if you make eye contact they surround you trying to sell things...but it can be quite unnerving when one is soon followed by two or three of them especially if you look like an easy target. Another attraction to be aware of are the human statues...if you take a photo they expect payment and if you walk away they'll run after you!!
The Duomo was truly majestic! It took 500 years to complete and is constantly undergoing maintenance. There are 3400 individual marble statues with only one non-marble statue on the spire. The columns inside are huge and the stained glass windows something else!!
After lunch it was decided - by the majority - to stay a little longer to suss out the shops! Prada was definitely out of my league with handbags starting at €13,000 so we moved on to the peasant side of the duomo and bought a couple of little things...way too expensive here :)
The Milanese men are beautiful and the women exquisite! They dress beautifully and have style oozing out of them! It's fascinating just watching them walk by...the men are narcissistic though and prance around looking at themselves in the windows as they walk by! European fashion is streets ahead of Australia and a whole highway ahead of Rock Vegas!!
We arrived late at La Spezia, Cinque Terre and after checking in a few of us went for a walk along the pier as we're only a hundred meters from the harbour. As luck would have it there's a maritime festival on and there's about a dozen tall ships anchored in the harbour! Looks wonderful at night with the lights on the ships!! Will do more exploring tomorrow...
Tomorrow we're off to explore Cinque Terre and the townships of Riomaggiore and Manarola. So lots of walking ahead!! Its been a tiring but enjoyable day and I'm sure more jewels will be discovered tomorrow!!
We've also entered the world of unisex toilets and foot pedal flushing! A couple of us nearly died today when using the toilet after lunch and exiting the cubicle there was this 6' plus African man standing right outside the door! Not something you see every day that's for sure! Working out the plumbing is still somewhat problematic but we get there in the end.
Coffee etiquette is slowly being absorbed...if we want more than an expresso we need to order an Americano au lait...and only peasants drink cappuccino after midday!! It's certainly a different world but one we're having fun exploring and experiencing :)
Photos will follow tomorrow hopefully when the Wi-Fi connection is a bit stronger...stay tuned!
Ciao
K&P