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Headed to Italy & Poland at the end of August for 2 weeks. Any info you would like to share would be greatly appreciated. Only info we do not need is Rome, as we have been there & don't plan on spending more than 1 or 2 days in Rome - looking at Tuscany (we will base ourselves in Florence) side trip to Venice & then a week in Poland to explore our heritage. Thanks for any info you care to share.

I would definitely encourage you to visit Liguria. The towns of Lerici, and Portovenere are amazing and the Cinque Terre is one of those places that should be on everyone's bucket list. They are not far by train from Florence and worth visiting.

All I can say is WOW!!! That is beautiful!

All I can say is Tom has a knack for capturing the most beautiful places on earth where ever he travels. I will say Beerman has the same "knack". I think they're related. LOL

The first shot was one of the 5 villages of the Cinque Terre.
Here is one of Lerici.
We were riding the ferry from Portovenere to Lerici when I took this shot.

This area is known as the Bay of Poets.
It is where Lord Byron and Shelley swam... in fact Shelley drowned not far from Lerici.



Beerman, as his name indicates, likes beer most of the time.
Me - I am a 99% wine guy who occasionally will have a beer... Pilsner thank you.
I am short... he is tall
We both have beautiful wives and love to travel
Related by spirit - not blood
And yes we both love to take photos.

Thank you for the kind words.

And the last place I mentioned was Portovenere. This seaside village is where you will find one of the most popular churches in Italy for the exchange of wedding vows.
Perched on hill at the end of a peninsula, St Peters was built in 1198. A simple chapel with probably the best views from a church I have ever seen.



The one caveat I will give is that August is when most Europeans go on Holiday.
The coast of Italy can be very crowded.

Look forward to hearing your final itinerary.

Brothers from another mother aye Tom!! BerneandGary there are a few trip reports out there, with pics! however I'm not sure if my photobucket pics are still active in my Swiss-Italia reports uggh. I had a bunch from CinqueTerra (outstanding destination!), if you want to see those let me know. Tuscany was awesome, we spent a little time in Florence, Chianti region, Lake Garda and up north on Lake Maggiore. We traveled by train a lot, but did rent a car in Florence to travel around Tuscany. Any specific questions about the areas we've been in please don't hesitate!

Thank you both for responding - CinqueTerra is on the list for sure, we actually watched a travel video by Rick Steves (a great travel book author) last night about Italy & CinqueTerra was one of the highlights. We are considering renting a car to drive around Tuscany. Thanks, again, TomB & Beerman.

By the way, is this Berne, Gary or some other combination? Your post has me wanting to go back to Italy already! Are you hikers? My wife and I hiked from Monterosso (That's where our Hotel Baia was) to Manarola one day, passing through Vernazza and Corniglia along the way. The portion of the trail from Manarola to Riomaggiore was closed for the season (October) so we took the train to complete our 5 village tour. You might see it written that this is an easy/moderate hike, I think it is a strong moderate!

This photo is from the Bar Gabbiano which sits between Vernazza and Corniglia. They have great fresh lemonade slushes and you will be thankful they are there! The coastal views along this hike are probably the best we've ever seen, we had great weather. The trail heads are well marked in each village and the "up and down" hillside trails are narrow dirt and rock. If hiking is not your thing the trains run village to village, we returned to Monterosso via the train at night. The hike, which included stops in each village took us probably 6 hours.

I am Berne (Bernadette) the wife & Gary is my husband!! That picture is gorgeous!

...and Berne after a long and beautiful hike it will be time to grab a bite.
When you visit Liguria you must remember you have entered the land of basil and fresh seafood!



There is a dish which you may have had in the US called Frutti di Mare, but in Liguria it is truly is the Fruit of the Sea. Sitting at table in the harbor at Portovenere, I asked what was when the Frutti di Mare today. Known for always being fresh, I was surprised to see my waiter run down to a boat that just pulled in. Following him I snapped this picture. Minutes later I was enjoying fresh fruit from the sea.



Of course, I should add one more caveat. Be prepared for some amazing lunches and be prepared to walk steps and steep hills. As Beerman looked from the trail above, I used my time exploring the cuisine and wine of the Cinque.

One lunch worth remembering was in a small restaurant in Manarola with a glass of Pigato (freckled Vermentino) and a wonderful seafood dish.



Of course… the view is pretty good also.



Hmm, I think it may be time to return to Italy.

PS - Carol - here are some food pics for you.

I saw! Bravo!!

Is it August yet?????

Beautiful mornings in Cinque Terre! We will return!!

You know this may be a good spot to take a moment and thank Eric for all his hard work behind the scenes to allow us to post these pictures.
Carol and Eric thanks for the upgrade and the new picture capabilities.

It certainly makes threads like this one much better! I really can't take any responsibility for the upgrade. Eric is totally responsible for the upgrade (plus the guy we paid boo-coos of bucks to do the hard computer work!! )

Yes! the ability to create the galleries and attach the pics directly from here is greatly appreciated! now let me find some Cingue trail pics....

Love that posting pictures is now so much easier - Thanks Eric! Also I am loving all these pictures Beerman & TomB are posting - can't wait for our trip.

TomB and Beerman - Your pictures are simply gorgeous!

So glad you enjoy them jazzgal - they were a lot of fun to take them!

What!!! no one has been Poland?? My wife booked a self guided bike trip starting and ending in Krakow. Wonderful medivial city good to use as a base. If you visit, don't miss the underground museum beneath the city square. Salt mines and former concentration camps are nearby. I didn't think that I wanted to visit the camps but I am glad that I went. Food is hearty and wonderful. Very inexpensive in the countryside. Traveled to Warsaw by train for a 2 nite visit. Do not miss visiting the 'Old Town' and the Polish resistance museum.

Marc

Thank you, Marc - I was hoping someone would have some info on Poland - both my husband & I are of Polish ancestry, so Poland was on our bucket list. We do have plans to visit the concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Right now we plan on spending a few days in Krakow & a few in Warsaw - we may try to get in a side trip to Gdansk - planning that all travel within Poland will be by train. Thank you for the info.

Poland and Italy both are most famous travel destinations. But I would suggest you visit Morskie Oko because it is the largest and fourth-deepest lake in the Tatra Mountains. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park, Poland.

Me and my husband are travelling to italy this summer. We are making a tour from Rome to bl Venice and would like to try the typical italian food. We found the Rome food tour and it would be great if anyone already have been to this tour and could tell something about it?

Poland is a lovely country to travel. I visited there last year for a week with my family and must say that we all enjoyed that trip with full luxury. All the things we saw were awesome. We hire a US based Travel Agency named "Your Luxury Travel Agent" to organized our trip. They handled everything very smartly and efficiently from setting up personal drivers for us to/from airports, city-to-city and visits to sites out-of-town and hotel accommodation. We enjoyed there a lot especially Nicolaus Copernicus Museum and Vistula River etc. Really, it was an unforgettable experience for all of us.

Thank you, Lynn Foy - we are really looking forward to visiting Poland.