Manarola and Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Lenora

The Via Dell’ Amore Path between Riomaggiore and Manarola on Cinque Terre Trail.

I love taking photos and Italy is a photographer’s dream come true! Here are a few shots of Riomaggiore and Manarola.

Manarola as seen from the rocks below the village

Ceramics in Manarola

In each town in the Cinque Terre, we find beautiful and quaint shops where we enjoy shopping, ‘oohing and aahing’ over the ceramics, packaged or bottled local food items, clothing, olive oil, limoncello and wine.

Riomaggiore Harbor

If you would like to savor more photos of Riomaggiore and Manarola, you can see them on flick’r page and through Janey’s blogposts and photos. Janey, one of the lovely women who traveled with me in 2012 writes about the Italy Retreat as seen through her lens.

She’s a great example of what it means to follow her dream and make a commitment to manifest it. Last winter she had the desire to travel to Italy and when she found my women’s tour online, she was excited to join us. In her enthusiasm, she invited her best friend, Lisa, to join us too, and so the fun began.

Janey invited her friend, Lisa, to join the Retreat.

Did I mention shopping?! We stimulated the Italian economy a little, right Katy and Hilary?

Join us in September and invite your friends! We only have room for 7 women.

La Dolce Vita in Cinque Terre, Italy

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Lenora

Loving the Italy Retreat for Women to Live La Dolce Vita

Via Dell’ Amore, path of love between Riomaggiore and Manarola, Cinque Terre Hiking Trails

From a simple thought 5 years ago to combine my passion for Italy and my passion for helping women to live greater possibilities in their own lives, I am blessed enough to have taught and led 4 Italy Retreats for Women to Live La Dolce Vita!

My simple thought, desire, turned into a manifestation of that desire. If I can do it, you can do it too. Find your desire, put one foot in front of the other. It wasn’t easy to create this, and I went through my fears and doubts, but kept following my passion. We must remember that we are not going to know HOW to do each new thing even remotely brilliantly, but we take a baby step.

This is all part of cultivating the sweet life.

Day # 2 of 9 on my Italy Retreat for Women to live La Dolce Vita! So busy living la dolce vita, hard to find the time to write.

We have immersed ourselves in the life of the Cinque Terre, staying in Monterosso and traveling for day trips from there. We hiked from Riomaggiore to Manarola yesterday. See photo above. This small bit of the Italian Riviera (the five villages of on the Italian Riviera) is where your heart fills up with love and your stomach fills with delicious Italian black squid ink pasta with pesto, and sea bass, anchovies, pizza, and so many delights. Another fullness is taken in through your eyes–the blue of the Mediterranean sea, the mountains, sunsets, and people! Oh the possibilities!

Stay tuned for more photos…and more of la dolce vita, the sweet life.

Dancing in the Streets in Monterosso, Italy, Cinque Terre

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Lenora

Dancing in the piazza

Wine tasting

One day during my Italy Retreat For Women in the Cinque Terre, I noticed a poster outside a storefront announcing ”Musica and Teatro” that evening in front of the church in Monterosso, so we planned on checking this out after our evening stroll, this time, up to Agriturismo Buranco. We didn’t know that there was also a vineyard and winery there. Soon followed a wine tasting, excellent, and interesting conversation with the lovely woman owner plus a guest who was a linguist from California. It’s always so fascinating to meet people from around the world who for the time, share your passion for travel to Italy. As we share travel tips and adventure stories, we become kindred spirits, who probably will never see each other again.

Local chefs cooking outside for the festa

Over a glass of her wine harvested from the hillside beside us, we ate warm vegetable fritatta that she had just prepared, while listening to the linguist tell us how he has studied the mechanics of learning languages. The weather was perfect, and the views of lemon and olive groves along the hillside vineyards were even more extraordinary.

We wanted to stay longer but the next adventure awaited us. We walked to the piazza down the long winding road to the city center of historical Monterosso, to find not only a piazza filled with tourists and locals alike, but the local chefs were cooking lasagna, fried bread, squash risotto, and of course serving wine. This event is a fund raiser for the church. Even fund raising is done in the spirit of la dolce vita, the sweet life, in Italy.

After eating our dinner sitting on the church steps, we joined in a parade through the town, followed by the theatrical performance of the locals throwing open the shutters of the windows of the building, dressed in costumes and speaking in a local dialect. We didn’t need to know what they were saying, as we got the jest of the storyline, and laughed. After the show, the music started and we danced in the street until late into the night–tourists and townspeople alike. Occasionally, the locals would burst into song.

Theatre performance in the streets

Here’s a very short video of singing and dancing. It’s a beautiful celebration of fun and happiness. I wish we danced in the streets more in the US! What surprises have you happened upon while traveling?