A magical Meditteranean vacation - the Italy road trip COMPLETED - Page 30 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Friday 18 July – part two: is this pedestrianized?
We ended up in Piazza Antelminelli in Lucca by accident, and we weren’t sure if it was pedestrianized or not, but heck, we were here, so we made the best of it, and at least got some photos, including of Lucca’s cathedral.
We managed to make our way out, and Mark decided to give it one last go, looking for parking, this time following the signs for visitor parking. Well, us and the rest of the world! I guess had we arrived at 9:00am, we’d be fine, but we were getting there at 11:30am, and we weren’t fine. There was just nowhere to park, so eventually we gave up. It would’ve been nice to have walked around, but at least we’d seen some of the city from the car, which is something…
We headed back towards the motorway, meeting these guys on the way…
Once we were on the motorway, the scenery was pretty impressive again…
I requested a restroom stop at the next set of motorway services, as I had planned to go in Lucca, and well, we all know how that worked out… Let’s just say these weren’t particularly pleasant, but needs must etc…
Back on the road again, there was more stunning scenery…
… then we started to enter marble country, near La Spezia, where we’d docked with Disney all those years ago on the inaugural Med cruise that had started off this wonderful adventure together.
We all marvelled at how far away La Spezia is from Florence. Well, no wonder they were rushing us all around like mad things when we made it there!
We saw this amazing village, perched on a mountain top just outside La Spezia…
Then we were heading into La Spezia itself. None of us had particularly fond memories of it as a city. I certainly don’t remember it being particularly beautiful, but I have to say that today we saw a different side to it.
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It's crazy, isn't it, that Florence is included in Med cruises, since it's nowhere near a port! I guess it doesn't make sense to go to Italy without seeing Florence, but it does make for a very rushed day and only a cursory visit to Florence, which really isn't right. Much better now doing the region at your own pace.
It's crazy, isn't it, that Florence is included in Med cruises, since it's nowhere near a port! I guess it doesn't make sense to go to Italy without seeing Florence, but it does make for a very rushed day and only a cursory visit to Florence, which really isn't right. Much better now doing the region at your own pace.
Definitely! When I planned this trip, that was one of the first things I knew I wanted to do - I wanted to go back to Florence and spend more time there, as you're right, it was a very rushed day and we didn't really get to see the place, but I do understand them putting it on itineraries. It's one of those places you have to see when you go to Italy!
Tanya
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Soon we were heading out of La Spezia again, and climbing up above it. Mark managed to find somewhere to park, and we hopped out to get some photos:
We went a little higher still, and got even more impressive views…
Soon we were arriving in Cinque Terre…
At first, the views weren’t that amazing, but wow, did that change shortly afterwards!
The stupid thing was that there weren’t really many stopping points, and all too often, where they did have them, they’d be somewhere with no view. It was such a shame, as it was something they could’ve easily rectified a long time ago… We did find this wonderful place, with an amazing view down to the cove below – look at the colour of the water!
I was fascinated by the islands off shore and the amazing terracing we found at our next stop…
The views as we drove along were pretty impressive too…
We headed into the first village along the coastline, Riomaggiore, which my guidebook told me had lot of seafood restaurants, so it sounded good for lunch.
It looked beautiful, but sadly it wasn’t to be. We got down as far as we could, and then we sat in a long line of cars to get into the car park, which was full. We waited a few moments, but it became clear no-one was leaving, so we gave up. We figured we’d carry on along the coastal road, having already seen some restaurants on our drive. Surely there would be more?
I see that's a military area. That's a sight to see - those giant ships!
Cinque Terre is postcard perfect. Wow! How odd though that there weren't good views where the pullout areas were though. I could look at that blue water all day.
__________________
Tanya
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Love the gate you entered through. Very cool!
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Pixie Dust
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I guess had we arrived at 9:00am, we’d be fine, but we were getting there at 11:30am, and we weren’t fine. 
There was just nowhere to park, so eventually we gave up. It would’ve been nice to have walked around, but at least we’d seen some of the city from the car, which is something… 
It was such a shame, as it was something they could’ve easily rectified a long time ago… We did find this wonderful place, with an amazing view down to the cove below – look at the colour of the water! 
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