On the 17th of July, we took a train to Cinque Terre (five hill towns on the Italian Riviera). We didn't have any reservations but were able to find a nice room in Corniglia above a grocery. I asked the grocer, Ms. Mattheo, if she could help us find a room. All the other people who we asked had signs offering rooms but none were available for 3 people. The room the grocer showed us was a suite. It actually included a dining area, two bedrooms, a kitchen and bath. We could not see the Mediterranean directly from our room but the garden in back had a path to the cliff where you could sit and watch the sun set over the water. I really loved the town of Corniglia, the nice people, the trails and the rustic charm of Cinque Terre.

The next day (18th of July) we got on a train to Varenna, Italy on Lake Como. Our hotel was actually the Villa Cipressi which was built in the 16th century. From our room you could see the main building of our  villa to the left and lake Como straight ahead. This was the most expensive accommodation of our trip but it was worth it the villa was terrific, and we had easy access to the gardens and walking paths along the lakeshore. We stayed there almost two whole days before getting on an overnight train back to Paris and switching to one that took us back down south east to Sarlat in the Dordogne river valley. We got to Sarlat 24 hrs later.