20 March 2008

Post #46:  Cinque Terre

Today, we awoke in Binasco, Italy.  We enjoyed a quiet, continental breakfast, just across the hall from our hotel room.  Bobby enjoys his dry cereal, while we have yogurts, cereals, juices, hard rolls with jam, and so far, every hotel café has provided us with a dessert croissant.  A croissant with a sugar glaze.  It’s fantastic!  The European coffee’s been excellent, too.  Of course, we take it with hot milk and sugar, as it’s strong, like tar, if you don’t!

We hopped in the car, and got on the toll road, autostrade, and drove south toward the sea.  The landscape was primarily farmland, and we wondered for a moment if we were in Iowa…but for the Alps peaking up far in the distance to the west and north of us, the agricultural landscape was rather familiar.  I especially enjoyed the very old farmhouses, built of gray stone.  They really are remarkable structures, that make me think of the World War II era movies...something about the nostalgia…

 We passed through the mountains to Genova (Genoa) and I just could not  adequately capture the scenery out the car window, with the camera, as we stormed down the highway, keeping up with the traffic.  The peaks and valleys through that part of the country are amazing.  Quaint stone houses, villas, farmettes, and castles are stacked along the hillsides.  It’s absolutely spectacular!

The coastal section of the highway, after Genoa is also outstanding.  We passed through one long tunnel after another, and were frustrated by the railings they place along the side of the road, which impeded our view down to the sea.  We had to be up to about 400 or 500 feet above sea level, with the sea just 100 feet off as the crow flies!  We are talking steep grades toward the water, and cute little villages spattered along on both sides.  Amazing!

Note:  The handy-dandy Italy map we paid a smart 7 euros for has NO highway markings on it!  Figure that?!  It’s insane!  So we have had to jump from the Italy travel guide book we bought in Malta, and local maps we get from the hotels, and then this relatively useless expensive map!  It’s been a bit challenging to say the least.  Definitely keeps us on our toes!

Our plan was to see as much of the coastline as we could along the area called Cinque Terre.  We’d been told that you’d want to take the train for some of it, hike other parts, and drive only as little as possible.  Well, in the end, that’s essentially what we did.  The views were remarkable!

The drive along the shore out of Sestri Levante and through Moneglia, was mostly one-way tunnel and the tunnels were amazingly narrow, and winding.  They have stoplights on either end, so that cars are not coming from either side at once.  Not sure exactly how the signal knows when all the cars have made it through? 

We stopped at Moneglia, checked out the beach, and had an ice cream cone there.  Then we climbed away from the sea, up into the mountains.  While winding above the coast, and looking down to the Mediterranean shores and villages, Dave passed a triangular-shaped caution sign that simply had an exclamation point on it.  I had wished I had the camera ready to capture that sign, because that was exactly how this drive was!  One big exclamation after another…as in:  WOW!!!

We found our way down the winding road to Levanto, and accidently drove right to the Office of Tourism near the beach.  Dave snagged up a train schedule, and we enjoyed a snack and beverage at the water, and then we drove up to the station. 

We realized, as we entered the parking lot, that we had only minutes before the next train, so we hurried up to buy tickets.  We made it to the platform just as the train pulled away!  Bummer!  We had a little 30 minute rest, there on the platform, and I got photos of the tunnels on both sides of us, and the hillside with little communities spattered about, marked by church steeples. 

The train ride would consist primarily of tunnels, with only a passing glance at the rocks and cliffs to our right, through a very hazy window.  It was about 20 minutes to Riomaggiore.  This was the site I was most excited to see, as I’d checked out some Google images, after my new friend, Johnna, in Malta had told me this was one of her favorite spots in Italy.  I knew we were in for something special.  As we left the train, we entered a long tunnel, which had tile art all along it.  The tunnel had to be about 100 yards long.  It was lit up with a blue glass covering, protecting us from the noise and dust of the adjacent train tracks. 

We came out of the tunnel in Riomaggiore, and walked uphill, looking for “the trail.”  After going straight up on the street for a good six city blocks, we asked a German couple where we’d find the trail.  They directed us back down from whence we’d come, and we found the trail access up a stairwell, that took you over the tunnel from the train.  The trail offered amazing glances back to Riomaggiore, and then it skirted the Cliffside to the north toward Manarola.  The walk took about 25 minutes between these two of the Five Cities (hence Cinque Terre).  See web album for the views!  They were amazing.

One section of the trail took us through a stone tunnel, with arched views to the water.  At the end, was a carving of two love birds, along the railing, and on the railing, there were many padlocks attached and marked with initials of “love birds.”  They called this the tunnel of love, and beyond it, was a snack bar called the Amore’ Bar. 

We continued on to Manarola, and walked as far as the next ridge, which offered a view all the way back to Levanto!  We returned then to the Love Bar, and sat down to watch the sunset.   Enjoy the photos of this incredible place!

We caught the next train back to Levanto, after waiting at the track and visiting with a group of folks from Kansas.  It’s always so easy to spot Americans here.  Man, are we just a bunch of ya-heys!  We wonder if we stand out as much as the other American folks do, because man!  We can spot one a mile off!

We drove to our hotel at Forte di Marmi, just down the coast a bit.  We found it with only a little difficulty, and the place could have been in southern Florida.  See photos.  Reminded us of neighborhoods in Fort Myers. 

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