2014-03-27 Cinque Terre

We had another tour scheduled for today, and the weather was cooperating.  It was generally int he upper 50's to upper 70's while we were here, with just a little light drizzle on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The rest of the time it was partly to mostly sunny.

Today, we were heading about 2 hours northeast to the Cinque Terre (Five Lands) National Park.  This is a series of 5 coastal towns that have become a major tourist destination.  The towns are now all connected by train that travels mostly through the mountains.  Sometimes, the only views are at the train stations, the rest of the time the trains are in tunnels.  The villages were all originally fishing villages, but now the national park extends about 5 miles out into the Mediterranean Sea, and prohibits fishing in the park area.

There are hiking trails that connect the towns, but they have been closed since a series of landslides in 2012.  Hopefully they can all be repaired and reopened sometime in the near future.  The total distance between towns is about 18km, and would make for a great hike.  The most famous portion of the trail is the Via Dell' Amore, connecting the towns of Riomaggiore and Manarola.  The trail allowed people from these 2 villages to more easily meet each other, and subsequently fall in love as the towns were previously much more isolated.  The gate at the beginning of the trail is filled with "lovers locks".

As we were traveling between Pisa and Cinque Terre, we passed the mountains that provide all the white marble used in building and statues.  The mountains look like they are covered in snow, but that is the areas where the white marble is mined.

We were going to be visiting 4 of the 5 towns on our trip, as the town of Corniglia is actually up on top of the cliffs and not as easily accessible.  Our first stop was the town of Manarola.  As we walked down from the bus drop-off, we passed many terraced fields growing grapes.  Much of the mountain has been terraced to provide farmland.  This region is also known for its lemons.  The buildings of the town totally engulfs the hillside

 Our next stop was the town of Vernazza.  A long winding road sweeps down from the train station to the waterfront with shops lining both sides providing food and beverage.  Many of these towns suffered greatly int he 2012 landslides and went through months of rebuilding.  We were surprised on the amount of cactus that grows in the area along the hillsides.  Boats on trailers also line the streets, looking ready to be launched for a fishing expedition at any time.  We stopped for some gelato since we 'needed' a mid-morning snack

 We then got back on the train for Monterosso al Mare.  We ate lunch Ristorante Mistral that was out of the typical tourist zone.  The food and wine were excellent, and it seemed to be a place that was a gathering point for the locals, more than for the tourists.

Monterosso al Mare is the largest of the towns in Cinque Terre.  It has a very large beach area and a good sized port.  After lunch we wondered through town and tried some limonchino at a local shop and bought a small bottle along with some limonchino filled chocolate candies.

We then boarded the train and headed to our last stop of the day, Riomaggiore.   The church was made with green and white marble, giving it a lot contrasting patterns in strips and squares and diamonds.  The color pattern was carried on throughout the building.  Just like so many places, the photos don't do it justice, especially snapshots taken while you are trying to see and take in as much of it as possible.