March 28, 2011 - Monday

Today we had a quick breakfast of granola bars, then headed out to explore.  We went on one side of the harbor for a close look at a small waterfall, then did a little climbing up around a church.  We entered quietly, noticing the old stones and commenting how wonderful to be in this church for a service and look out large arched windows to the harbor below.  We then walked around the seawall on the other side, and went back to the beach in the middle, in front of our hotel, where we touched the Ligurian Sea.  We walked down main street and stopped at a few shops before proceeding under the train station where we found the beginning of the hiking path to Corniglia.  Up, up, up we went, seeing great views of Vernazza from above, going until we could see the village no longer, and still with a full view of the water below. 

Corniglia

Eventually we could see the next village of Corniglia, high on a hill.  The greatest distance between villages seems to be between Vernazza and Corniglia, and that is less than 2 miles.  Corniglia is the only village that is not at the water's edge.  Up, up, and up some more on a sometimes narrow, rocky path.  As we neared Corniglia, the path descended somewhat, and we traveled through more than one mud puddle.  Still some distance from the village, we came across two cats who were very friendly and seemed hungry.  There were 3-4 bowls around, none with food, most with rain water.  Someone has been taking care of them, and I hope they come back.   On the way, Tenar gave me a lesson in huckleberries, salmon berries and prickly pears, none of which we found.  We did find shamrocks, which he taught me were edible, tasting much like a green, sour apple.

Anchovy Pizza for 2!

We stopped at the edge of Corniglia for pizza to eat while  overlooking the ocean:  mine with anchovies soaked in lemon and olive oil, Tenar with salty anchovies.  Both were quite tasty.  I tried an Italian beer and Tenar had a lemon soda. 














Then we explored the quaint streets, following steps that seemed to be private entrances and which actually turned out to be legitimate public passageways.  In not too long a time, we went down the 400 steps to the train station, where we caught a train heading to the next village, Manorola.  The ticket master said we'd buy our ticket on the train, and there was no way to do that, so we rode for free.

400 steps down to the Train Station

Manorola is the village where the most common "postcard photo" view can be found.  We bought some gelato and explored the village, finding again some stairways up and down that appeared to be private and were really the way out.  At the harbor there was a natural 'swimming hole', nearly surrounded by large boulders so the the water there was calm.  The water was crystal clear and looked so inviting.

Satisfied that we'd seen all we wanted, we went to the train station, where we again boarded for free.  We got back to Vernazza about 6:00 p.m. and explored our 'own' village.  Once off the main street, there were agan the stairways.  I noticed they had their own 'Via' names, proving they were indeed public passageways, even though not wide enough for two people to walk side by side.  What a lovely substitute for the car-centric cities in Italy (and of course, the U.S.). 

Vernazza (our hotel is in the middle of the harbor-red building)

We climbed up, up, up and saw the village from the southeast.  We climbed down, then up the path which would have gone to the 5th village, Montarosso, and saw Vernazza from the northeast.  Had the castle been open, we would have had a tower view from the west.  I was kind of relieved that we were too late for the castle.  I wonder how hard it's going to be to replace the cartilage in my knees?  This kind of day was a nice break for Tenar from the museums.  Well, okay, a nice break for me too.  We stopped at Trattoria de Gianni for dinner:  macaroni with prawns for Tenar and stuffed mussels for me.

Back in our room, we agreed to get up in time to catch the 7:14 a.m. train to La Spezia, and then on to Venice.  It's now after 11:00 p.m.  Tomorrow will come too quickly, I fear.

March 27, 2011 - Sunday

We said goodbye go Florence today, catching a train first to Pisa.  At Pisa, a short bus ride took us to the Leaning Tower.  What a beautiful structure.  I had thought it would be in an open space at a large intersection.  I don't know why.  It was behind a wall, so I couldn't find it at first, and started following signs that were directing people toward parking for the tower, not the tower itself.  A descendent of Lewis or Clark, I am not.  A kindly sunglasses vendor led us to the proper place.  We, of course, climbed to the top.  There were only 294 steps, and the tilt gave an odd feeling when climbing.  I was surprised that the tilt began when only 3 tiers of the tower had been completed after 10 years of construction.  They did stop work then, but began again 79 years later, with corrections to straighten.  Still, the tilt continued to progress, though they believe they have stopped it now, thinking it will be stable for the next 300 years.



















After that excursion we hopped the bus and went back to the train station to continue to Vernazza, our village in Cinque Terre.  It was a little confusing finding the proper train, and one station attendant tried to send us to Rome on Track 3, when we thought we wanted Track 6.  She corrected herself and we boarded the train on Track 6.  I was relieved when I saw the station for the 1st village of the Cinque Terre (we are in the 4th), glad to know we had made the right choice.

View from our hotel window

Vernazza is utterly charming, with a length of what might be two city blocks.  We'll see tomorrow how high up the cliffs it goes.  We had a lovely dinner at Trattoria da Sandro.  Our hotel is basic and meager.  It's the top floor (5th?) of a building which houses apartments and perhaps another hotel and has no amenities like our apartments in Rome and Florence.  No elevator either.  The next morning found me making coffee with my camping filter, using hot tap water, drinking from the one plastic drinking glass supplied with the room.  Surprisingly not bad.

March 26, 2011 - Saturday

Last full day in Florence.  First we went to Musee Bargello.  This museum had lots of statues, including some of the young David, plus statues of John the Baptist as a toddler, child, youth and young adult.  That was fascinating.  There was also a plethora of Madonna and Child images, wither as friezes or paintings, and though all were different, all had the Madonna holding the Child with her right arm.  Why is that?  Then Tenar told me that all of Michaelangelo's statues had a tree stump in them.  We checkout a a couple of the Bacchus statues and the young David, and sure enough, there was a stump in each.  Smart kid.  We then went to the Vestri, the last gelotto place on our list.  They were making the chocolate so we settled for non-chocolate flavors and headed for the Duomo. 



















The line was a bit long to climb the dome, so I passed the time listening to the two young American women in front of us, talking about their experiences in Italy and difficulties with language.  I could relate.

The Camponile as seen from the top of the Duomo

I was concerned about my ability to make the climb after Tuesday's 'near death experience' at the Camponile, but it wasn't bad.  Perhaps I'm getting better.  My eyes are clear of gunk although my ears are still plugged.  The views from the top were spectacular, and it was fun being up there after a few days in Florence so we could spot places we'd been. After descending, touring the sanctuary and the crypts below, we wanted lunch.  We covered a lot of the city looking for a place in the guidebook, the Oil Shoppe.  When we finally found it, it was closed, so we ended up with some mediocre tourist Italian fast food.  After lunch we headed to the bank for more cash, to the open air market to see if there was anything interesting we just had to have (nope), then took the northern route to a street that would take us to the Ponte Grazie, then home.  We stopped on the way at Vestri, in case the chocolate with chile was now available.  It was!  We each got a cone and continued home.  Later was dinner at Terrazzo, our neighborhood restaurant again.  Tenar had lasagna and I had mussels in pepper and olive oil.  Lots of pepper!  Then home, a little packing, and to bed.