Stretching summer on the Italian coast

Left lovely Nice after one more walk and took a tram to the train station.  Half way to the station, the tram had to stop because of an accident on the line.  We did not have much time before our train was to leave so had to hop on a taxi to get to the station. 

The ride to Ventimiglia, the first town in Italy, was lovely,  The train hugged the coast and each town was prettier than the first. In Ventimiglia we bought tickets to Vernazza, one of the towns in the Cinque Terre National Park, our next destination.  It was a long train ride, but we were entertained by the conversation between an American from Georgia and the young woman sitting across the isle from him, a chef who identified herself as Italian/Dutch, and who spoke English well.  She had lived and worked in NYC as a chef for a few months and traveled around the East Coast some, so she considered herself knowledgeable about American life and food. She, a vegan, tried to impress him with the danger of his barbecue ribs eating way of life.  She was trying to quit smoking and he smokes a pack a day, etc...Missed them when they got off in Genoa.

Cinque Terre is an area that encompasses 5 villages and they are linked by walking paths and a railroad line.  Some of the trains do not stop in all the villages and we found out the hard way that our train did not actually stop in Vernazza despite the fact that our ticket was to Vernazza, so we found ourselves at the end village. I had arranged for our host in Vernazza to meet us at the train station at 7 PM the arrival time, so was upset when I approached the  information window.  Unflappable the clerk explained there was "no problem", we could just take the 7:19 train to Vernazza and explained where to catch it. 

After the long trip and earlier difficulties and now contemplating arriving to a new village in the dark and with no particular address other than Vernazza Rooms in Via dos Santos, we must have looked pathetic.  An American couple, a marathon runner and his wife, both retired, and spending the month traveling around Italy helped carry our luggage up and down to the train platform.  They were from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  We did not get their names but they bypassed getting off at their village in order to help us get to ours.  They assured us that was not a problem since the trains between the villages ran often and late into the night, a fact we were later to verify. Our host was waiting for us at the train station and in a few minutes we were installed in our room and out to find some dinner.

Lovely Vernazza

 

a beautiful morning in Vernazza

 

 

             Vernazza from anotherWe took 137 photos of the 5 towns in 4 days.  Those of you who know us will be as shocked as we were, but we have never seen such brilliant sun and such picturesque views.  I'll include one photo from each of the other towns which were really a few minutes away from each other by a train that carried hoards of tourists back and forth all day and late into the night.  What you need to know is that to get anywhere in these towns you must climb stairs.  In some cases as many as 200.  Our room was in a house that was fairly low.  Some 9 steps to our door, but then, 3 steep flight of stairs to our room.

 

 

 

This is Coniglia

 Coniglia was the only of the towns without a harbor.  It was a classy place.

Okay, so I can't stop at one picture!

 To reach Coniglia we had to climb over 300 steps which they organized in the zig zag manner seen in the photo.

 

Monterrosa has a wonderful beach front, the only one of the towns with a beautiful beach.  As nice as Nice and with warmish clear water.  Lots of folks wee swimming.

 

 

Riomaggiore is the largest town. 



 

Manarola was as lovely as the rest.

 



 

 
Our street, so to speak in Vernazza.


This is Vernazza's bay.

 

We arrived on a Monday evening and experienced 2 beautiful days with lovely sunsets.  Then while watching the sun set on Wednesday (and taking lots of photos), we noticed the town's folks had pulled all the boats off the bay and had positioned them all over the piazza on solid ground.  That evening howling winds woke us up and the next day the surf was quite impressive.  We visited two towns that day and all the boats were placed on the streets leading to he bay. The winds were with us all day but totally died down during the evening and Friday morning was a beautiful clear morning again.

 

Fishing, tourism and wine seem to be the mainstays of the Cinque Terre.  An unforgettable place.