Beautiful advice from all.
I appreciate the difficulty of getting off the beaten track of the 5th most visited country in the world but like most of us, I just want to avoid the spots inundated with droves of tourists being ushered from site to site. Any place where you can have interactions with people who aren't hardened or made cynical by your presence.
As for all of the in forum controversy about whether Cinque Terre is "off the beaten track" enough, I've heard that Portovenere is basically like the sixth village in terms of similarity of appearance and location but with more ambience and less crowds.
That said, I know its all about what you open yourself to in terms of interaction and experience, Barnes' anecdote being a great example of that.
Thanks to Aeneas for the suggestion of that show, I'll be sure to check it out for ideas.
This trip is depressingly far away so I really shouldn't dwell too much on it. My last trip off the continent was a 2 year cycle trip through Asia from which I returned 2.5 years ago. It's impossible to find the time for anything remotely similar to that so all I can do is dream...
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