I *heart* Cinque Terre, Italy

It really was amazing, and we only got to see two of the five villages that cling to the cliffs along this rugged portion of the coast in northern Italy. The villages are isolated and undeveloped, which is their charm, and are also tourist magnets.

I was really glad we visited in spring (when it was still fairly crowded), I can only imagine how crazy it'd be in summer.

You can travel between the five villages by train, hiking tracks (very popular) or boat (would love to do this some day without the kids).

We had disembarked the ferry at about 8 am and within a few hours made it to Riomaggiore, the north-most village of Cinque Terre. I had chosen this village to visit because the hiking trail between it and the next closest village, Manarola, was the least difficult (and suitable for the little ones).

The first order of the day was to have an early lunch, before places got too crowded. We walked down to this little cove:

Then up around the corner to a terrace cafe to order some pasta (of course).

Very humourous to see the waitress, after taking our order, walk to a large freezer stored on the terrace and pull out four frozen pasta meals.

But as the mister said, you don't come to places like this for the food. (It actually wasn't that bad, truth be told).

Once refuelled, we walked back past the cove to start our hike to the next village. They really have no right calling it a hiking trail, the whole thing is paved and has plenty of benches to sit on along the way while pondering the spectacular coastline.

There are also plenty of rocks to climb along while pretending to be a seahorse and a shark, if that's your thing.

There's even a bar along the way, which is my idea of a good hiking trail (sadly it wasn't open when we passed through).

The trail is called the Via Dell'Amore, or the Walk of Love. I'm not sure which came first - the name or the declarations and symbols of love that adorn the walkway.

Even the cacti weren't safe.

But not all love stories have a happy ending. I think Arnold Schwarzenegger had paid a visit with his bolt cutters.

The walk was only about 900m and toward the end we could see Manarola. (You can also see the train that operates between the villages on the right there.)

We strolled through Manarola's streets, ice creams in hand.

Down at the cove the kids found some more rocks to climb over under the mister's supervision. I headed up and around the bend a bit to take some pictures of Manarola from afar.

I would've loved to stay a week and explore all of the villages and complete all the hikes, but unfortunately we only had a day to spend in Cinque Terre. We headed back along the Walk of Love and then started our drive to our accommodation in the heart of Tuscany.

I'm glad I didn't know then that our 2 hr drive to Tuscany would take almost 4 hrs thanks to crazy traffic around Florence. That might have taken the glow off what was a fabulous day. Cinque Terre gets a hearty recommendation from me - kids and grown-ups alike will love it.

Some quick tips:

- Info on Cinque Terre can be found here.
- Don't forget your hats, sunscreen, water and money for tickets (depends on which towns you hike between, but for us it was 5 euros an adult, young kids free).
- Sometimes it's just easier and quicker to use the paid parking garages. They are close to the action, safe and beat trawling the streets for 20 mins to find a free park. Not to mention how long it'll take you to walk to and from your 'cheaper' spot.
- While having lunch, try not to think about how you're paying 10 euros for a 2 euro frozen pasta meal. Just enjoy the view!

Oops, sorry Meyrargues

A quick admin post: I've just updated my Meyrargues post to correct an error that the mister pointed out.

We actually visited two towns that day, Meyrargues and Peyrolles-en-Provence which is next-door, but I have mistakenly credited all photos to the former. Apologies to the good folk of Peyrolles-en-Provence, and to anyone who might have been inconvenienced by my error.

I'm blaming a pregnancy induced brain fog.

More on Barcelona.

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments on the last post, I really enjoy sharing photographs and travel tips and hope that someone, somewhere will find something here helpful.

So, today we finish with Barcelona. Our second morning saw us once again attempt to see the Sagrada Familia Church. This time we arrived after 10am - it opens at 9am - to find the line around almost three sides of the church block (about 600m). It was incredible, and not a fun prospect with three kids. So it was mission abort for the second time and back to the apartment for lunch and to regroup.

That afternoon we caught a cable car up to the top of Montjuic Mountain, where you can find Montjuic Castle. I would call it more of a fortress, although you can visit a military museum inside (which we didn't).

The fortress dates from 1640, but was destroyed and rebuilt in 1751. It has played host to Napoleon and been used by Madrid to bombard Barcelona to quell an uprising in 1841. General Franco kept his political prisoners here and it's also the site of many an execution including Lluis Companys, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

This was a great one for the kids, who really enjoyed watching the port's comings and goings.

And they loved climbing over all the fortifications and cannons and whatnot.

The views from the fortress over Barcelona were spectacular, and worth the trip alone.

Now this is going to sound weird (because it is) but everywhere we went on this fortress we could smell bacon. It was as if there was a hidden ventilation system in the walls pumping out bacon air all over the castle. I have googled a bit since getting home but can't find an explanation (I was worried I would read the Barcelona crematorium was located next door). I guess it will remain one of life's mysteries.

The last cable car down the mountain was at 7pm, so we caught that and headed back into town for tapas, a must-have meal when in Barcelona. Again, avoid the crowded and over-priced Las Ramblas if you can. We googled 'best tapas' and the name of our preferred Metro station to find recommendations that were easy to walk to.

Nice balconies seen on the way to dinner.

That was our last day in Barcelona, the next day we had a ferry to catch from Barcelona to Genoa, Italy at 2pm. We decided to spend the morning on one more try at getting into that darned Sagrada Familia.

This time we turned up just before 9am, and realised we probably should have arrived at 8.30 to get a better place in line. We only waited about 40 mins as the line moved quite quickly once the church opened.

Some of the lovely windows overlooking the block:

A quick bit of history - Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family) was designed by renown Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, who also designed a great many other infrastructural delights around Barcelona.

I had incorrectly called it a cathedral (seat of a bishop) in the last post, but despite 'only' being a church, this building is enormous and dominates the Barcelona skyline:

It's the one on the left with all the spires. Duh.

Construction started in 1882 and is still going.  Gaudi died in 1926 and they are hoping to have it finished in 2026 for the centenary of his death. Apparently when quizzed on the project taking so long, Gaudi replied, 'My client is not in a hurry'. Nice come back.



Waiting in line for 40 mins gave me plenty of time to check out the exterior, which I have to say is a bit of a train smash. There is the traditional Gothic type of architecture:



Then there is the Nativity Facade, the first constructed, whose style I can only describe as...crunchy.

Then there is the Passion Facade at the entrance, whose foundations were constructed in 1954 but wasn't finally finished until 2002 (from info I can find). Built to Gaudi's designs, the facade is meant to strike fear into the viewer's heart as it depicts the suffering and death of Christ with austere, bone-like sculptures.

The overlap of the new and old is probably what I have trouble with:

And I'm not sure about these coloured mosaic balls on top of some of the spires, which are supposed to represent the grapes of the Eucharist:

What's with the snail sculptures on the building? I hold grave fears for those grapes.

It's all a bit crazy but you have to admire the man - he had a vision, and here it is still being put into action more than one hundred years after he designed it.

The interior was altogether another thing - I loved it. Very recently completed, it is stunning - 45m tall at it's highest point and like nothing I've seen before. It's hard to take a photo that does it justice.

Looking towards the altar

The highest point above the altar

Jesus suspended above the altar (sorry my photo makes Him look like He's parasailing)

The organ (installed 2010) bathed in green stained glass window light

It really takes your breath away, I can't say strongly enough do not miss seeing this. It's superb. Even the mister, who generally finds churches a bit of a snooze-fest, was suitably impressed.

So that was Barcelona for us. Some more travel info for those planning a trip:

- Arrive early at Sagrada Familia to secure a place in line. Even better, pre-book your tickets on their website. You can pick them up at the church and then go to a special, much shorter line for entry. We really wished we'd done this.
-More info on the cable car (or teleferic as it's called) up to Montjuic Mountain is here
-The Barcelona public transport website is here (in English).
-Admission times for the Montjuic Castle here.
-The ferry system in Europe is very handy. You can take your car and travel overnight, which saves a heap of driving. This site will give you an idea of the lines available, but make sure you search your particular sea route on Google to find the best deal.

Travelling Barcelona

First up I should say I knew absolutely nothing about Barcelona before this trip except the Olympic Games connection. We stayed for three days, and I'll show you all we got up to in two posts.

We stayed in the Montjuic neighbourhood of the city, and we really liked it. Not flashy or touristy, but close to the Metro and plenty of holiday apartments perfect for those with families (we like to have a kitchenette).

We arrived, got settled and immediately hit the streets - the Montjuic Fountain was only operating this one night of our visit and we didn't want to miss it. Boy am I glad we didn't, it was fantastic.

This was the view as we approached:

The fountain is located on Queen Maria Cristina Avenue and that gorgeous building behind it is the National Art Museum of Catalonia.

Looking back along Maria Cristina you can see the fountain theme extended.

I had no idea the fountain was so big - you can see some folks standing around the edges to get an idea of size.

It was designed and built for the 1929 International Exposition and was a very ambitious project for the time.

The water jets and coloured lights are coordinated to music and it's all very well done (the music was added in the 1980s). We particularly enjoyed Freddie Mercury's rousing 'Barcelona' (which he recorded with opera singer Montserrat Caballé for the '92 Barcelona Games) at the end of the session. Can't go wrong with Freddie.

Twilight was well on the way by the time the final session finished, and we spent a bit more time wandering the grounds before getting the kids home to bed.

Full moon on the left there. 

The next morning we had our first failed attempt to get into the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Silly me, who's Catholic and should've known better, forgot it was Palm Sunday thus the main part of the church (the impressive part) was closed for mass.

That afternoon we headed out to the recently opened Museum Blau, the new digs for Barcelona's Museum of Natural Science.

Cool mirror tiles on Museum's exterior

The Museum was only partially open but there was plenty to look at including a pretty cool rock collection (lots of pretty crystals) and hundreds of animals (all stuffed and mounted and staring at you with their beady little glass eyes).  And bonus: because it was only partially open, entry was free (and will be 'til 30 Jun 2011).

Although our kids enjoyed it I think it's better suited to children aged 8 and above.

Dinner that night was in a square we found off the famous tourist stretch of Las Ramblas (also famous for its pick-pockets).

As it grew darker hawkers, musicians and various performers came out and tried to impress those dining around the square's perimeter. The police came twice and they would slink away, only to reappear 10 minutes after the coppers' departure. Some were good fun, some were annoying, but by the end of the meal we had hawker fatigue and stopped giving out coins after the third pass-around of the hat.

Some travelling tips:

You can find the session timings for the Magic Fountain here.
The Museum Blau's website is here.
The Barcelona Metro was great. Very clear and easy to follow.
A word on safety in Barcelona: it is rife with pick-pockets and other 'scammers' - make sure you take appropriate precautions. I found this link useful.

Back soon with more on Barcelona (and that amazing Cathedral ceiling some of you asked about in the last post).

Have a great weekend!

We're back; Nobody's murdered; Marriage intact.

And what more can you ask for after 2 weeks' driving 3000 kms through 6 countries with 3 children aged 6 and under?

Not much more, I tell you.

But if I could, I would ask for the laundry fairy to come visit. I keep washing but the mound doesn't get any smaller.

We seem to have created some sort of perpetual, self-sustaining laundry pile. If only I could harness that energy and use it for good.

I took 700 photos while we were gone - I promise I won't subject you to them all.

But I hope to get around to sorting them out shortly and showing you the best.

Hope you've all been well and having fun. I'm really looking forward to getting around the interwebs and seeing what you've all been up to.

Have a great week!