We had been near the Cinque Terre a couple times, but we had never done it. Well, this time we did it, although, due to poor planning, poor weather, poor judgment, etc., it was not among our most elegant and efficient visits. But we did it, partly on Saturday and Saturday night, and partly on Monday, after the torrential rains (which closed all the footpaths) had finished. We took the Sestre Levante train from La Spezia to Vernazza, which Vicki had read was the best of the five little towns, with the best hiking path leading from it to the fifth of the towns, Monterosso. Other parts of the trail system have been closed for some time now, after the floods of October, 2011. Anyhow, we got to Vernazza, looked around a bit, and then headed for the trail.
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Up on the trail, looking at great sea caves just out of the town |
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Church and castle verticals |
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Some of the flood damage from 2011 remains; the trail led
right by this sad and distressing instance |
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Up higher, the little monorail train that services the vineyards |
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Looking back to Vernazza; what you can't see is the throng
of American college students; thousands; the only Italian
we heard this day was in the parish church at Vernazza (and
it may have been pre-Italian) |
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We got to a high point and an overlook; in the distance you
can see Monterosso, our goal; at this point, however, we
decided not to go the distance...heat, humidity, mosquitoes,
another mountain to climb, and descend; so we descended
back to Vernazza |
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No complaints about the trail, however |
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Vernazza street scene |
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Actual fishing boat in the marina |
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Interesting sea caves across the harbor |
2 comments:
Cara and a college friend came here about 10 years ago and were disappointed. It's still on my list of places to see since the Rickster loves it so.
Gorgeous! And "pre-Italian"--that made me laugh. :)
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