April 2012

Cinque Terre is comprised of five quaint fishing villages connected by ancient rustic paths that hug this rugged part of the Italian Riviera coastline.  A century ago, the trails and boats were the only means of transport to and from the villages.  Today trains link the five villages offering visitors and locals more convenient access.  This area is now protected within the boundaries of a National Park ensuring the region retains its historic integrity. The lack of modern development gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy the charm and beauty of these villages that date back to the Middle Ages. Grapes are grown on terraced gardens perched high on the cliffs overlooking the Ligurian Sea.  Lemon trees dot the hillsides in abundance.

We booked our tour through Viator which is a third party agency that offers access to tours worldwide.  The local tour company was called WalkaboutFlorence.  We would recommend both Viator in general and this tour in particular.

As we travelled 2.5 hours by bus to the starting point of the tour which would begin at the second village, Manarola, our tour guides Alex and Chris introduced themselves and offered excellent information en route such as clarifying the white mountains we saw in the distance were not covered in snow but were actually glistening with Carrera marble.  It then made sense why we saw so many yards along the highway full of huge slabs of marble ready to be cut.

We began in the second village, Manarola, where we had the opportunity to walk along some of the ancient paths along the edge of the terraced hills, overlooking the village.  We took the train to the next village, Corniglia which was perched about 100 metres above sea level.

After climbing 382 steps, or the equivalent of 33 flights of stairs, we were rewarded with spectacular views.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch on a terrace overlooking the town and the sea we returned to the train station, yes, back down those 382 steps, and on to the next town, Vernazza.

View of Corniglia from the restaurant terrace where we had lunch.
Notice the lemon tree in the foreground. 

Vernazza was the town which was greatly affected by the floods and mudslides last November.  They have made tremendous progress cleaning up the mud and the damage – mud went as high as the first story of many buildings.

It was from here that we hiked to the last town, Monterosso.  The hike was challenging as we traversed the hills following rather narrow and sometimes treacherous and slippery paths.  It was no surprise that Sonja lead the pack setting a rather quick pace.  As she pointed out, the sooner we got there the more time we would have to do some shopping and sample the local food and wine. The two hour hike only took us one hour!

In Monterosso, we discovered a lovely little shop where the shopkeeper encouraged us to sample everything in the store, including several of the wines from the region.  Sonja found many items to purchase as souvenirs.  With a half an hour to spare, we parked ourselves on a patio overlooking the sea and enjoyed a couple of glasses of the local white wine.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.

Dipping our toes in the Mediterranean Sea.

Back on the train, we returned to the first village, Riomaggiore where we explored for a little while before we stopped for another glass of wine on yet another beautiful patio overlooking the sea.  This time, our guides treated the group to compensate for not being able to take the boat from Monterosso due to high winds which was hardly their fault but we appreciated the gesture of goodwill nonetheless.  We did one final walk along the coast back to the train station which took us to La Spezia where we boarded our bus for the journey to Florence.

It was a long day – almost 12 hours – but well worth it.  The weather cooperated with a mixture of sun and cloud, comfortable temperatures and most importantly, no rain.  Our tour guides, Alex and Chris were knowledgeable, energetic, and very attentive to the needs of each member in the group.  They were some of the best tour guides we have encountered in our travels.  The entire tour was well organized; we would highly recommend it to anyone who is tight on time and wants to see Cinque Terre in a day.

Our trip with my sister Sonja began in Florence where we met at the train station; we came from Venice and Sonja came from Rome.  We stayed in an apartment in the historic centre, across the street from Santa Croce Basilica.  In fact, our living room windows looked out to the Basilica.  It was a perfect location and a wonderfully charming apartment, with more space than we needed or even used.  We walked everywhere from the apartment, including to the bus and train stations.  The apartment was on the third floor of an old building that did not have an elevator.  While the apartment boasted all modern conveniences it was filled with antiques, wonderful artwork, and lots of interesting knick knacks giving it a very authentic feel.

Sonja had a “must see” list that included excursions to Sienna and Pisa.  We also had a full day tour already booked to Cinque Terre.  We were cramming a lot into our four days but first we had to get ourselves oriented.  I am always surprised at how we drop ourselves into a new place that is completely foreign to us and within 24 hours I know my way around sufficiently to feel like I have been there for a month.  In short order, we found a grocery store to stock up on provisions, ate an over-priced and not very good lunch on a patio, and we were unpacked and had the first load of laundry on the go.  And then the rain began.  It rained on and off for the next four days.

Sonja snapped this photo after we ducked into a cafe to seek shelter from the relentless rain.

We awoke the next morning to steady drizzle.  Chris suggested it might be a good museum day, but Sonja made the astute observation (of which we reminded her frequently afterwards):  We’re going to get a little wet no matter what we do.  And so we stuck to our original plan and took the bus to Sienna which was only an hour away – on the express bus – and an hour and a half on the local bus which we inadvertently took.  By the time we arrived, it was pouring buckets.  We wandered around for a while browsing through the infamous “Tuesday Market” and stocking up on some local cheese, salami and vegetables.  But when the thunder and lightning began and the rain turned to hail, and we were soaked to the skin, we all agreed it was time to go home.  Sienna was a bust as far as I was concerned, but Sonja was satisfied that she had at least caught a glimpse of it and saw the beautiful countryside as well.  I comforted myself with the knowledge that Chris and I would go back later in May while we were on the farm which was only 50 km south of Sienna.

Soaked to the skin and ready to go back to Florence.

Travel Tip:  If travelling with three or more people, consider staying in an apartment of which there are many to choose from.  It can be very cost effective and offers a lot more space than a traditional hotel room not to mention full kitchen and often laundry facilities too.  Airbnb.com is a great site for accommodations – we found all our South American apartments through this site as well as those in Italy.  Click here to see the airbnb listing for the Florence apartment.

We have been in Italy with my sister Sonja for just over two weeks and have visited the major tourist destinations: Florence, Venice and Rome.  We even managed to squeeze in a weekend in Milan so that Sonja could run the Milan Marathon.  We did as much as humanly possible so that Sonja could see and experience everything on her bucket list. What a time we have had!  The history and architecture, the plethora of art, sculptures, churches, mosaics, tapestries – it has left us in awe. We have discovered Italian coffee – cappucino is my absolute favourite and I may never go back to drinking American coffee again.  And the gelato – divine! We have tasted what “al dente” really means and now understand why Italians think we massacre pasta in America.  The cheese and salamis and abundance of cheap but good red wine – we love it all.  Was I Italian in a former life??

This was the first time I have travelled for more than a weekend with my sister and while the pace was much more intense than what we’ve been used to these past few months, I was pleasantly surprised at how well we all travelled together.  We all seemed to be in agreement most of the time as to what to see, where to go and what to eat.  And when we didn’t agree, we were quite happy to go our separate ways for a few hours to pursue our own interests before regrouping later in the day. Amazingly, our itinerary was executed perfectly: we never missed a train, we always found our apartments, all our accommodations were better than expected, we never got lost unless it was intentional (more about that later), we never lost each other.

Everything was perfect, except, of course, the weather.  We arrived in Venice to cold temperatures (below 10C which felt freezing cold to us after spending the last two months in the tropics) and cloudy skies but at least it didn’t rain on that first day in Italy.  The rain began the next day and it rained on and off for a week! Some days were downright miserable like the day we visited Sienna and got soaked to the skin as the relentless rain turned to hail accompanied by thunder and lightening.  But then the sun came out in Venice and continued to shine right through to the end of Sonja’s visit.   I’ve been told temperatures are going to hit 30C by the weekend!

Sonja left yesterday and we have now resumed our slow travel pace.  Today is a national holiday in Italy and most things are closed so we are taking a welcome break from sightseeing.  Besides, my brain is so full right now, I don’t think I can absorb anything new, and my feet are still aching from wearing the wrong shoes for hours on end on those ancient cobblestone streets in Rome. The price of vanity I suppose.

I will now take some time to write about what we did during these past two weeks and share some of the amazing photos that have been taken.  There is so much to tell but I will try to stick to the highlights.

In the meantime, check out the latest addition to our website: the photo gallery.  After much discussion and many debates, this part of the website is finally coming together in a way that I have always envisioned it.   It can be accessed from the header image at the top of the website – it is the first item listed on the sign post – or you can access it from the left hand column, about half way down in the “Other Info” section.  We have created a Flickr account to host all our photos and we have linked our website to Flickr via a slick plugin very appropriately called “slickr flickr”.

The main purpose of the photo gallery is to showcase more of the amazing photos taken by Chris.  While the photos in the blog support the narrative text, they are a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of photos that Chris has taken. But the photo gallery offers so much more.  Chris manipulates many of his photos using a variety of techniques that transforms them into veritable works of art.  He is continuously finessing his technique and striving for the perfect shot. As his biggest fan, I am thrilled to have a forum in which to display his wonderful work.

The photo gallery is a work in progress and we’re still trying to figure out the best way to organize the photos to make them easy to access and enjoyable to view.  You’ll notice that Chris has added a watermark to his photos, also something that we’re experimenting with in terms of size and location on the photo.  The purpose of the watermark is to prevent his photos from being reproduced without his permission.  You’re free to enjoy them on-line but if you wish to print them or use them in any way, we’d appreciate hearing from you beforehand.  We’re also exploring commercial opportunities and it’s important to retain ownership of the photos in order to leverage such possibilities.

You can expect a lot more photos to be added to the gallery in the coming days and weeks. We’d love to hear your feedback on the photo gallery both in terms of how we have organized the photos as well as the content itself.