Recently saw Rick Steves do a video on one of his favorite places. CINQUETERRE. A rugged coastal area on the Italian Riviera in the northwest Italy 🇮🇹
Pictures of this place look like a postcard
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3517 posts
Favorite large city: Turin
Favorite wine area: Piedmont
Favorite for natural beauty: Abruzzo
Favorite island: Sardinia
And they all have not yet been overrun by tourists…
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
7574 posts
That TV show/video was shot back in 2014. Im not sure it showed the hordes of day trippers that decend on the CT for at least half of every year. But yes, it's very picturesque.
Our favorite places are scattered around Tuscany and Umbria. Arezzo was a a place we visited several times when we lived in Europe. I couldn't pass up a visit to the antiques markets. Florence is our favorite large (ish) city.
Posted by
980 posts
Hi Kathy, what follows is lengthy.
Rick has long since apologized for his singular role in having made the Cinque Terre sooooo popular via that iconic cover photo on his guidebooks. The image was so compelling, yeah? Here's a telling story.
Just prior to covid, Rick apparently sent one of his employees across the ocean to visit that area with the intended goal of gathering updates for his next guidebook. But immediately, that poor young staffer was so overwhelmed by the ongoing tsunami of aggressive approaches by local businessmen (i.e. hotel and restaurant owners) wanting to be listed in that guidebook, that they soon fled the area! LOL!
One can access the same Ligurian coast beauty by basing in say nearby Levanto or La Spezia (or as we will do next month in Lerici), and thereby avoiding much of the crowds.
Btw, my wife and I still chuckle at the memory of a certain young teller at our bank. It was decades ago and we were arranging a transfer for yet-another European rental with him when he baffled us with the comment, "Yeah...one day I'm gonna make it to the sinky-teer." We had no clue what he meant til much later--he'd mispronounced the Cinque Terre.
Fwiw, Italy is a great place to bypass the big attractions and instead travel to smaller, more remote places less-trodden. There are many.
I am done. The end
Posted by
Daytona Beach, FL
225 posts
Favorite region in Italy ? That’s like picking a favorite child. They are all wonderful!
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
18372 posts
Uh oh, Gregg/Zebec. I was thinking same as you but look what Fearless Leader posted just a day ago!
The CT is a pretty place (been there, done that) but reports of the recent hordes haven't exactly put it on my repeat list.
Posted by
London
1623 posts
Why is this posted under "Best Walking Shoes"? Could this be an attempt to mine some info from contributors?
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
7574 posts
Nice catch!
Posted by
Irving
3611 posts
As of now Tuscany, but that might change after visiting Sicily again next summer.
Posted by
149 posts
Tuscany! So many towns! We were so fortunate to stay in Cortona for three months and had a buy/buy-back car - explored so many of those hill towns! Love CT as well, but Tuscany - oh yes!
Posted by
980 posts
Hi Kate,
So I did as you asked and contacted our pal in that small town you plan to visit. Yes, apparently both of the Carrefours are def still open. But no, the Bondage Club you enquired about has been closed for some time. Something about covid. Sorry.
I am done. The Minnesotan.