Cinque Terre

If I haven't put you to sleep yet, here's the next chapter in the book of My Italy trip 2009- Cinque Terre. The CT is on the northern Italian coast and is a cluster of 5 fishing villages. My understanding is that they were dying out but then were made into a national park. Money was sunk into an 11 mile trail along the mountain edge to connect the villages. It worked and the villages are again thriving. They've also been designated an UNESCO World Heritage Sight. Part of their charm is the slow development. The villages are not accessible by car; only by train, foot or boat.

I stayed in Manarola, the 2nd village (from south to north). My plan was to hike north, then take a boat to the most southern village and hike back to Manarola. Best laid plans.... while eating breakfast the morning of my hike, I looked out over the ocean just in time to see a beautiful lightening bolt flash over the water followed a few seconds later by an intense downpour. The result was a landslide that closed the trail just north of Manarola. Bummer.

Here's a picture of Manaroloa... picturesque isn't it!

While hiking the hills above Manarola, I met woman from New Jersey. We ran into each other again in town and ended up eating lunch together. We decided to take a dip in the ocean afterwards (no one hour waiting for us... what daredevils ;0) This is the "swimming hole" for Manarola. Lovely, isn't it? They have installed a ladder against the rocks so you can either slowly creep in vs. just jumping in. I opted for slow torture. Once in it was lovely!

Here's my Room With A View in Manarola.

Just because I liked the garden accent.

The church in Manarola from the outside...

... and the view from the inside.

A view from along the trail just before it was closed because of the landslide.

The walk from the most southern village to Manarola is called Via Del' Amore (the Lovers Walk). What you see on the fence railings around the sculpture are padlocks. The concept is that you are securing your love forever by adding a lock. There are locks along the entire path. As you can see it's a whole lotta love goin' on here.