Travels with Bill and Nancy--Italy Page 5

Italy Page 5

Tuesday, 9/28/10 (Continued)—Off to Cinque Terra

We rolled our bags to the train station, only a couple of blocks, and caught the 12:57 train, with a 7-minute connection in Pisa, to the Cinque Terra.

Bill and Bernardi

Our train to Cinque Terra

On the train ride, I worked on the journal – while being annoyed by a couple of beggars – one played his accordion right by our seats. He wasn’t very good. We also witnessed a cocky passenger who was kicked off the train by one very tough Conductor Gal. She meant business. I’m not causing any trouble while she’s around.

We made our 7-minute train change in Pisa and settled into our seats to our final destination – Vernazza. On our way, we passed through the town of Carrara and saw the sides of a mountain cut away to harvest the Carrara marble. We have Carrara marble in our bathroom, and it seems everyone has Carrara mable in these here parts. Aside from bathrooms, I saw it in window sills, door jams, table tops – you name it.

We arrived in Vernazza, a lovely town perched on the hillside, flanked by the Mediterranean on one side and lush vineyards on the other. Cats were artistically scattered about the town in just the right spots to accentuate the doorways, the windows and even in the boats parked on the cobblestones.

We headed up the main street rolling our luggage and looking for the Pharmacy, as per instructed. Poor Bill didn’t realize he had another two blocks of steep sidewalks to carry our bags. He was sweating when we finally arrived.

We found Rooms La Torre and the proprietor, Andrea. The owner, a very frazzled gal took us even further up the hillside. In her limited English, she explained that the room is very small – boy did she get that right. It took some resourcefulness figuring out where to put the bags. Bill’s luggage was on the mini-fridge and mine was balanced precariously on the heater – not to be used! Our terrace is big (about twice the size of the room) and has a fabulous view of the town and the Mediterranean beyond. You get the best view sitting on the potty. It’s very quiet and very private, high above the rest of the world – but is it tough to move around in the tiny room.

View of Vernazza from our hotel	Vernazza
Bill relaxing on our terrace	Our view of Vernazza
Vernazza	Vernazza

The room seems to attract the gnats. They congregate in the ceiling above the shower and in the upper corners of the bedroom and work their way down to “bug” us as the sun lowers in the sky. I used the hairdryer on the high setting to take care of them in no time – a true weapon of mass destruction.

We took a shower and headed to town. We had a beer at the Ananasso Bar overlooking the harbor and then checked out the old church next door. The town was packed with tourists (us included) and the storm clouds were moving in so we went back to our room to assess our dining options. Rain drops fell, but the storm blew through quickly.

Vernazza	Vernazza
Vernazza	Vernazza

Vernazza Harbor

Vernazza

We walked back to the harbor and ate at Tratttoria Gianni. Dinner was excellent. We both tried the pesto (Cinque Terra is the birthplace of pesto, according to Rick Steves) on trofie (pasta made with flour and potato). The local white wine was also excellent.

We came back to our room (I mean our closet) and tried to figure out how to get ready for bed. It was a very long day – but the weather looks good for tomorrow.

Wednesday, 9/29/10—Hiking in the Cinque Terra
We slept in. Bill didn’t sleep very well and I had nightmares most of the night – rare for me – and it didn’t help that the room was chilly and we got cold.

We got ourselves organized and went to the Ananasso Bar for breakfast (recommended by Rick Steves). I got the ham and cheese on Focaccia – also invented in this region. It was way too salty for me. Our salt intake here has sky-rocketed. Got to get back to the states for some healthy living.

We caught a train to Riomaggiore to do some hiking in the Cinque Terre. The train was over 40 minutes late and packed. We walked past the murals and into town. We saw some little guys playing soccer in a park clearly marked “No Football.” They were having a great time.

Vernazza train station	Murals in Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore	Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore	Riomaggiore

We walked from Riomaggiore to the next town, Manarola, on the pathway called “Via del ‘Amore” – Pathway of Love. It only takes 20 minutes for the lovely stroll. It’s covered with graffiti of names of young lovers, written or carved everywhere – even on the Agave plants. Locks are also fastened to rails – a new fade to proclaim your love by installing a lock together as a couple. Great idea for the hardware companies. The path wasn’t built until the 1920’s – before that the towns were totally isolated and kids could only marry other kids within the same town. When the path was installed (thanks to the new railway line), it opened up the world for the two towns (Riomaggiore and Manarola) and for all the young lovers who would could met half way. It was a lovely pathway, carved into the mountain side, but so packed with people, especially Japanese tour groups, who really seemed to get off on this love theme.

Pathway of Love	Graffiti on the agave
Pathway of Love	Pathway of Love
Pathway of Love	Graffiti everywhere
Locks fastened to rails	Bill on the Pathway of Love

We spent some time exploring Manarola because we had over an hour before the train left for our next stop Corniglia. (We weren’t able to hike between Manarola and Corniglia because a landslide closed the trail.)

Train station at Manarola

Cinque Terra Park medallion

In Manarola we shared a sandwich (with artichoke spread) and a beer and did Rick Steves’ walking tour. (We also bought some famous pesto and spices to take back home to Lolly.) We visited the tiny wine museum (the place is famous for its wines, even in days of yore). We walked to the square to stop in at the church built in 1338 (with the works of the only talented artist from these parts who remains anonymous). We couldn’t find his paintings in the church. We took a path through the grape vineyards mixed with scattered olive trees. We also made it to the cemetery (I adore cemeteries, but Bill didn’t think the path would take us back in time to catch our train.) We dashed back down through town and back into the multitude of hikers and tour groups to catch the train to Corniglia.

Manarola

Church in Manarola

Manarola

Corniglia was the toughest town to navigate. We found some gelato in the town square and then found another town square with a WWI war memorial and a church (actually an oratory—a social meeting hall for Catholics doing social work). After enough views, we found the path back to our own Vernazza.

Church in Corniglia

Bill and his video camera

It was a 90-minute walk, up and down through olive groves and vineyards and through some streams with fantastic views of the Mediterranean with old towns clinging to the hillside. The rain from yesterday caused mud and puddles. The trail would have been one of my favorites anywhere if it weren’t for all the crowds. There was a steady stream of hikers from all ages and all countries fighting to get through. Thanks Rick Steves, you ruined the Cinque Terre for all of us.

Cinque Terra trail marker	View from the trail
Cinque Terra	Cinque Terra
Thanks, Rick, for attracting the tourists	Vernazza from the trail

We were glad to get back to our room, just had to take a side gate right off the path. Bill went down into town to get us a beer to enjoy on the terrace.

We showered, did the wash, hung the stuff out on the terrace and then went to town. We covered the Castle Doria, climbed the tower. Sorry I left my camera back at the room – the views and the sunset were perfect.

We had dinner at the Tratttoria del Capitano. It was ruined by a bratty little kid, screaming, but the mother removed the kids before our main course arrived.

We stopped to check our email and then home to bed.

Thursday, 9/30/10—Another Day in the Cinque Terra
Very disappointing day! We woke up to showers and dreary skies. Last night’s weather forecast was way off.

We cuddled in our little bed that completely filled our tiny room strategizing our movements. Who would occupy the bathroom while the other one made the best use of the remaining space? After a few maneuvers we were dressed and ready to face the rain.

We had breakfast at the Blue Marlin – pretty good European faire – coffee (or tea) and a croissant. We went back to our hotel to negotiate the very complicated move to a larger room. This involved moving our wet laundry as well and taking the luggage down a narrow, spiral staircase – but we managed and got settled in to a large room. Bill is much happier with the place. I wondered who the decorator was – who would place a picture of a jet fighter with a plaster cast head of Jesus? Strange place.

Jesus in our room

Picture of jet fighter in our room

We took the train to Monterosso where we had planned to hike back along the Cinque Terre train to our town, Venazza, but the steady rains foiled that plan.

From the train station, we walked to the Old Town. Monterosso is the only town in the Cinque Terre built on flat ground – with some beachfront property. The places they call beaches here are eroding and more than likely, never had the nice sandy beaches we have at home – so we do not go Ga-Ga over most beaches in the world.

We checked out a few places to eat – but it was raining and tourists were clogging the narrow streets looking for food and a warm dry place. We found a little, inviting spot for beer – Bill had a sandwich and I had bruschetta. Once we had some fuel, we did a walking tour of the little town – places of note were:

16th Century lookout tower, built after the last serious pirate raid in 1545
A Nazi “pillbox” – a concrete bunker where gunners hid and tried to defend the town from the Allies
Statue of G. Garibaldi – a revolutionary in 1870 who helped unite Italy as we know it today
Church of St. John the Baptist – black and white building (with Carrera marble) built in 1307 – a rather dreary place, but a nice rose window
Oratory of the Dead – place that looks like a church, but isn’t – more like a Catholic Rotary club – with membership passing from father to son. This place was the building for the “Black” group – whose mission was to arrange for funerals and take care of widows, orphans and shipwrecked folks. (We saw an oratory much like this yesterday and learned that the Catholic Church set up these social groups of do-gooders to counter the Lutherans during the Counter-Reformation.)
Switchbacks of the Friars – following the brick path uphill to a convent, then a cemetery. We saw the backside of St. Francis and a wolf on the way up and then explored the Church of the Capuchin Friars. The church was interesting because of the painting of the Crucifixion thought to be done by Van Dyke. We were also fascinated by the electric prayer candles (we tried them – they work). After we saw the church, and the confessionals lined along the wall (with doorbells to summon the attending priest), we headed to the cemetery. I adore cemeteries, especially ones in Italy because of the photos displayed of the deceased. Some of the folks were just plain ugly, some classy, some I’d like to get to know, but the saddest one was a beautiful little girl (about 4) and her father. Both died on the same date in 1945. Was it an accident? Was it a train? Was it from the Allied bombings? I’ll never know.

Cemetery at the convent	Cemetery at the convent
Cemetery at the convent	Cemetery at the convent
Riomaggiore	Riomaggiore

Bill on the Switchbacks of the Friars

Church of St. John the Baptist

Monterosso

Monterosso coastline

Pillbox

Monterosso

That concluded our tour of the town. The sun was breaking through and we headed for the Cinque Terre trail that unites these 5 little towns. I loved climbing higher and higher into the lush vineyards loaded with grapes. It was harvest season and the crop looked good. I was hoping we could make it all the way back on the trail to our town (Venazza) through the hills overlooking the Mediterranean, but Bill was concerned about slipping off the trail or getting too muddy. (Rick Steves describes this stretch as “very dangerous and narrow.”) We hiked only about ¼ mile when we hit at a huge puddle and then turned back to Monterosso to take the train home.

Monterosso from the trail	Beach at Monterosso
Vineyards loaded with grapes	Vineyards loaded with grapes

Monterosso

Monterosson cat

We dashed back through the town – now bright with sunlight. Swimmers were heading toward the water on rocky pebbles. We just missed a train and the next one doesn’t stop in our town – so we had our afternoon beer in the train station with a lovely view overlooking the ocean.

We trudged back up the windy staircase to our room – You have to be in shape to stay here.

Steep stairs to our room

Bill--almost home

Rooms La Torre

We had our showers. It was about 5:00 and I still hadn’t had enough hill climbing or cemetery exploring, so I took off for the hills across from our room. Bill stayed back to recover (and probably worry about me). I got a little lost on the adventure, but loved the other side of town where there was nobody on the walkways, except for a few cats. I climbed to the cemetery and studied the faces on the tombs, so peaceful and quiet. I took some wonderful sunset photos and watched the little train haul today’s grape harvest down from the hills. I got back to the room about 7:00 and we took off for dinner.

Vernazza	Vernazza
Train tunnel	Vernazza
Vernazza	Cemetery in Vernazza
Cemetery in Vernazza	Cemetery in Vernazza

Sunset . . .

. . . in the Cinque Terra

We went to the Il Baretto, just down the street. The place was packed tonight. Nobody was there last night. Go figure. Unfortunately our timing wasn’t too good and it was about 8:30 by the time we were seated. During our long waiting period, I watched the cooks preparing the dishes. I saw one cook cut his finger doing the mixed salad and carried on with one hand – the other hand tied with a rag emitting bloody spots. By the time we were seated, I was hungry and tired and said out loud, “I’m not having the mixed salad” and told the story to the couple seated next to us. Our Italian waitress (one of the owners of the restaurant) got very angry with me. She didn’t understand my English and thought I was admonishing the cooks for using their hands. She said, “This is my family’s business, I’ve been in it since I was 15 and it’s very safe to use your hands to cook the food.” I wondered what she was going to do to my dinner after that. Bill ordered the baked anchovies and I played it safe with the straight spaghetti, so to camouflage any blood. We explained the misunderstanding to the waitress later and she was fine. We were fine too after dinner.

We trudged back up the hill to our room to journal and get ready for Milan, our next (and last) stop along the journey.

P.S. Scandal in the Cinque Terre. Twelve officials arrested. Don’t know the details.

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