Cinque Terre
With a forecast of torrential rain, we bravely hopped on the bus, headed for the Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre means “5 lands” and it refers to the five little fishing villages that cling to the hillsides of the Italian Riviera. These five towns are connected only by railway tracks and foot paths. It has become a very popular tourist area in the summertime.
We went by bus to the nearby town of Sestri Levante. When we arrived at the train station, Laura got our tickets and we had 45 minutes to kill before our train departed. Since it is the “off season”, the trains only run once per hour. We split up to visit several cafes to grab a coffee before we got on the train. It started to drizzle arounfnthat t8ne so we thought “here goes...”. We hopped on the train and rode to Vernazza, the second town in. When we arrived, it wasn’t raining. We had an hour before the next train came and that was just the right amount of time to explore this little village. It was so beautiful and quaint! We walked down to the waterfront and climbed up a staircase to get a view back at the little town. Then we slowly made our way back up to the train station, checking out the nooks and crannies and shops along the way.
Next we rode the train to Monterrosa, the first town in the chain of 5 towns and the largest. We had three hours to explore this town. We split off into small groups and found quaint little restaurants for lunch. Then we wondered through the town, poking into the shops. A few of us went into one shop where an elderly lady was working. We are pretty sure that she thought we were Americans, and, for whatever reason, she was really nasty to us and literally started yelling at us (in Italian) and then slammed the door behind us as we left. Hmmm....maybe she had something against Donald Trump??? Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything from her.
After having lunch and checking out every shop, we still had time to hike way up to a church and graveyard. Their graveyards are very interesting as they are above ground “boxes”. We had beautiful views from up there of the ocean and little towns along the coast.
The rain managed to stay away until we disembarked the train at 5:00 back in Rapallo, somwe had to walk to the hotel in the rain. We didn’t mind, as we all felt fortunate that the rain had held off for the best part of the day.
We had the rest of the day at leisure. Once again we split up into small groups for dinner and the evening. Tomorrow the prediction is for “buckets of rain” but here’s hoping that we have the same luck as today.
Ciao, time for bed. Will try to get more pictures on tomorrow.
We went by bus to the nearby town of Sestri Levante. When we arrived at the train station, Laura got our tickets and we had 45 minutes to kill before our train departed. Since it is the “off season”, the trains only run once per hour. We split up to visit several cafes to grab a coffee before we got on the train. It started to drizzle arounfnthat t8ne so we thought “here goes...”. We hopped on the train and rode to Vernazza, the second town in. When we arrived, it wasn’t raining. We had an hour before the next train came and that was just the right amount of time to explore this little village. It was so beautiful and quaint! We walked down to the waterfront and climbed up a staircase to get a view back at the little town. Then we slowly made our way back up to the train station, checking out the nooks and crannies and shops along the way.
Next we rode the train to Monterrosa, the first town in the chain of 5 towns and the largest. We had three hours to explore this town. We split off into small groups and found quaint little restaurants for lunch. Then we wondered through the town, poking into the shops. A few of us went into one shop where an elderly lady was working. We are pretty sure that she thought we were Americans, and, for whatever reason, she was really nasty to us and literally started yelling at us (in Italian) and then slammed the door behind us as we left. Hmmm....maybe she had something against Donald Trump??? Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything from her.
After having lunch and checking out every shop, we still had time to hike way up to a church and graveyard. Their graveyards are very interesting as they are above ground “boxes”. We had beautiful views from up there of the ocean and little towns along the coast.
The rain managed to stay away until we disembarked the train at 5:00 back in Rapallo, somwe had to walk to the hotel in the rain. We didn’t mind, as we all felt fortunate that the rain had held off for the best part of the day.
We had the rest of the day at leisure. Once again we split up into small groups for dinner and the evening. Tomorrow the prediction is for “buckets of rain” but here’s hoping that we have the same luck as today.
Ciao, time for bed. Will try to get more pictures on tomorrow.
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