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MEDITERRANEAN COAST, ITALY -
The 22nd we left Orvieto and drove to Pisa, stopping in Siena long enough to check our email, do our laundry and see the central
Campo, where the annual Palio is held.
Pisa was kind of a bust - got in late, searched for a hotel or even a downtown, and ended up leaving the next morning as soon as we glimpsed the tower gleaming in the morning smog. The highlight of Pisa was the polenta-colored moon that appeared after a spectacular orange sunset over the Arno - a side-effect of all the pollution in this industrial part of Italy.
The 23rd was much better, after we figured out how to use the toll roads and avoid the miles of backed-up truck traffic.
The Mediterranean coast looks a lot like the Pacific coast along Highway 1 in California. Actually, a lot of northern Italy
reminded us of California - Tuscany looked just like the Napa Valley with bigger hills.
This section of coast is known as Cinque Terre (literally, Five Coasts) for the five tiny towns that cling to its cliffs. We
didn't have time to do the hiking trail that runs between them, but we did stop in Riomaggiore (right). To reach the town, you
take an alternately hair-raising and breath-taking road through the piney hills and along the coast, park at the top of the town,
and climb down the various ramps and steps which serve as the town's thoroughfares.
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