1966 ALFA ROMEO GIULIA – PISA & MANAROLA (PART 4)
We are heading north, and making good progress. We will just visit Pisa briefly, and spend the night in Manarola.
Here is a map of where Pisa is, and also a pointer to tiny Manarola. If you have not seen our other articles on our trip from Athens to Amsterdam, please take a look here:
1966 Alfa Romeo – Road Trip
1966 Alfa Romeo – Vesuvius and Pomepii
1966 Alfa Romeo – Perugia
Pisa and Manarola map.
Pisa? Or ‘Pizza’ as Jake likes to say. Perhaps I am not being fair to Pisa, but to us, there is only one thing there and it is the famous leaning tower. I will let the pictures tell the story.
Everyone takes this photo. Love it.
It is smaller than one expects, but is still cool.
The family photo of Pisa. Obligatory.
Wide angle view of Pisa. Not too many taking this photo!
We visited Manarola, and this area would great spend an entire summer holiday. It is a small town with no cars, hugging the terraced grape vine covered hills, leading steeply into the Mediterranean. It is described as the most picturesque town in Italy. My friend went there on a previous trip, so we were inspired to follow his footsteps. Manarola is located in an area of the Italian Riviera coast that is called the Cinque Terre (Five Lands). Wikipedia does a great write-up. There are 5 of these very lovely towns, embedded on cliffs spread over a range of about 40km (35 miles), and it is also part of the Italian national park system. There are hiking trails everywhere, as it is very popular to hike between these towns.
This is the most famous place for taking a picture. Everyone seems to know it!
Manarola – standard photo #1.
Manarola – standard photo #2.
The town allows no cars, so you need to park in a public parking lot about 400 meters from the town, on a steep hill. You better pack lightly.
Public parking in Manarola, then you walk downhill a few hundred meters to your hotel.
We stayed in a very nice and tiny room, and the view was great. Here is the sunset, from the room.
Manarola sunset from our room.
When we left Manarola on our way to Varese, we stopped for a nice view of the harbour of Spezia. This is about 7km (5 miles) from Manarola.
The road to Manarola, overlooking Spezia #1.
The road to Manarola, overlooking Spezia #2.
The road to Manarola, overlooking Spezia #3.
Varese is the next stop. I have an old friend there, and we will do a car ‘check-up’ and make sure we are all OK.
Thanks for visiting and hope you can stay with us on this journey.
[irp posts=”583″ name=”Creaform Metra car scan at Riding Cafe”]
