Exploring a few towns of the Cinque Terre
I hope you all enjoy these beautiful pictures! It was tentative that you would actually be seeing them since there were various points during our hike when I wondered if I was going to make it!! Ok, ok, I guess I am exaggerating slightly (it must be my Italian blood)! The hike was fabulous - something many, many other tourists have done - so not exactly a unique feat. Nonetheless, there were a few extenuating circumstances - at least in my mind there were.
For starts, I guess I was not listening to Pete - god forbid - and I thought he said this was a twenty minute hike from Monterossa (the first lovely little town) to Vernazza. Furthermore, I thought this was the "Walk of Love" (Via dell'Amore). "Oh how lovely", I thought. But, no, correction - this turned out to be a two hour hike - a strenuous one I might add - up many, many steps, thru winding pathways, narrow walks and in the blazing sun. Remember that funicolare ride we took in Brunate a few days back? Well, I could have used that tram ride for certain parts of this 'journey'.
The other challenge was that it was close to 30 Celsius - and, I had been unable to locate a toilette before leaving on our walk of hell, oops I mean love!!! So if you see a certain intensity coming thru the pictures you will know why. You might also notice that there are no photos of Pete. This is for two reasons - first of all, I was concentrating solely on getting to the next town in one piece and photos were not a priority in my mind. And, secondly, I was, at various points much further ahead of him since he seemed able to afford himself the luxury of enjoying the scenery and the hike. Good thing since we wouldn't have any pics to share with you today otherwise.
Anyhow, we arrived in Vernazza feeling like we deserved a nice drink...and a toilette. Following these two very necessary rewards, we found the town swimming hole and boy, did that water feel wonderful!!! It really doesn't get any better than that - a dunk in the ocean on a sizzling hot day.
Oh and guess what? I found out that the Via dell'Amore is a flat, paved 20 minute walk - well deserving of its name - and just a few towns further down the coast, between Manarola and Riomaggiore. The towns sound the same, don't they? Easy enough for me to have gotten confused - right??? More to come on that...
For starts, I guess I was not listening to Pete - god forbid - and I thought he said this was a twenty minute hike from Monterossa (the first lovely little town) to Vernazza. Furthermore, I thought this was the "Walk of Love" (Via dell'Amore). "Oh how lovely", I thought. But, no, correction - this turned out to be a two hour hike - a strenuous one I might add - up many, many steps, thru winding pathways, narrow walks and in the blazing sun. Remember that funicolare ride we took in Brunate a few days back? Well, I could have used that tram ride for certain parts of this 'journey'.
The other challenge was that it was close to 30 Celsius - and, I had been unable to locate a toilette before leaving on our walk of hell, oops I mean love!!! So if you see a certain intensity coming thru the pictures you will know why. You might also notice that there are no photos of Pete. This is for two reasons - first of all, I was concentrating solely on getting to the next town in one piece and photos were not a priority in my mind. And, secondly, I was, at various points much further ahead of him since he seemed able to afford himself the luxury of enjoying the scenery and the hike. Good thing since we wouldn't have any pics to share with you today otherwise.
Anyhow, we arrived in Vernazza feeling like we deserved a nice drink...and a toilette. Following these two very necessary rewards, we found the town swimming hole and boy, did that water feel wonderful!!! It really doesn't get any better than that - a dunk in the ocean on a sizzling hot day.
Oh and guess what? I found out that the Via dell'Amore is a flat, paved 20 minute walk - well deserving of its name - and just a few towns further down the coast, between Manarola and Riomaggiore. The towns sound the same, don't they? Easy enough for me to have gotten confused - right??? More to come on that...
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