We are only in Viareggio to sleep, essentially. We check out of the hotel first thing in the morning. There isn't much to see in Viareggio, a beach resort town on the west coast of Italy, especially when it isn't summer. So why are we here? Because it's a jumping-off point for our jaunt to the Cinque Terre.
The Cinque Terre are five little hamlets nestled in the Ligurian Sea (it's still the Mediterranean, don''t worry.) For hundreds of years they were completely isolated – the only access was by sea, and this access was fiercely defended by the inhabitants. They were so isolated that they developed their own dialects from each other, let alone the rest of the Italian peninsula.
Nowadays they are five little niches of terraced coastline that are accessed by various boats and ferry lines, as well as a tiny little train system and by hiking in and out. It's lovely. Thirty years ago nobody outside of Italy had ever heard of the area, but thanks to every travel show known to man, everyone has access. The Comunes of the CT need to erect a statue to Rick Steves, the godfather of their burgeoned economies. Don't get me wrong, they are worth seeing, but never at the height of summer. You'd need to walk on stilts to get above the fray for any breathing room.
It takes about 4-1/2 hours to walk between the five towns without doing any sightseeing in them. We spend a little more time than that, but we split it between walking and riding the train and leaving time to look around a little and have lunch. The weather was gorgeous and clear, not too crisp and perfect for a nice walk above the water.
After our lovely day outdoors we get back on the bus for the last time. After Ettore drops us in Florence he heads back to Rome to go about his business of driving another tour. We don't need the bus in Florence since everything we do is within the walkable city center, and we train it up to Venice as our last stop, in a few days.
The city center of Florence is closed to traffic these days. There are public buses that traverse, and they are cute little electrical guys with seats for 8 and standing room for 12. Taxis can only enter at certain times, mornings and late afternoons, but they have many taxi stands at strategic points on the outskirts of the “yellowzone.” Our giant coach bus is able to leave us next to the Arno River about 20 meters from the hotel. The luggage is carried off by porters to be deposited in their rooms. We bade Ettore goodbye and after sorting the rooms out at check-in I whisk them away for a short walk to catch their first glimpse of the Duomo.
Insert the appropriate oohs and aahs. After seeing it a couple dozen times I still am awed by the massive size of the dome. And the mathematical genius it took for Brunelleschi to design it and actually build it. The facade of the church and the belltower are like fancy colored icing on a confection or a cake. Love it. This is the original reason I wanted to first come to Italy. I needed to see that dome, that belltower, and the mosaics & frescoes inside of the baptistery. While I was appropriately stunned in Stendahl Syndrome, I completely expected Florence to be the place that reached in and grabbed at my heart. It's the city where all my humanities and art history studies culminated. Hello, the Renaissance is my thing. The meat of it for me. I had no idea that another city would completely capture my attention.
Florence is where my soul comes alive, but Venice has my heart. I suppose that explains it?
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