Th Magic of the Cinque Terre Strikes Again

Sleep was just a few hours until Tim and Susanne were up and out again (6:15 AM!) Christyn and Michelle had requested time to sleep in. We took the opportunity to hike a bit of the trail to Monterosa al Mare...since it was early, the ticket booth was still closed allowing us to push past it a bit further than would have been possible had it been later in the day. The hike from the "village" is a steep staircase of rocky, uneven steps. The views quickly unfold before you at each turn...and Susanne had to stop at each turn to attempt to capture them. The pictures will not due the reality justice as this is such a beautiful area. As we climb, the houses grew further apart and the greenery of the terraced gardens surrounded us. We still had sweeping views of the Mediterranean Sea as well. We stopped at a great lookout, going further would have hidden the village as the trail bent around the natural curvature of the hills ahead of us. At this spot we had amazing views of the village, the harbor and the sea...just not a big enough lens to capture it all. We enjoyed a few minutes rest, still glistening in sweat from the hike up, to ponder the beauty before us. Alas, we had to head down to make it past the ticket booth before we were caught on the wrong side without a ticket.

We strolled into Vernazza with an eye towards breakfast. We stopped at a pasticeria to pick up some sweet rolls, apricot croissants and a quick cappuccino (this place only had coffee to go). We strolled down to the benches at the harbor enjoying the coffee and a "danish" with views of the fishing boats bobbing up and down. A hike up to the apartment to check on Michelle and Christyn revealed that they were still sleeping. We left the rolls on the kitchen table and headed out for another hike. This time we headed inland, under the train platform and into the hills along the main -err, only road. The stream flanked us on one side with houses clinging to the steep walls of the valley and sometimes built into the rocky outcropping. The sounds of the occasional waterfalls created a wonderful ambiance broken by the random car traveling along the narrow road. We passed the old rusty water wheel built into the house, and a "Nona" on her way to town carrying a bouquet of flowers. The pace of life is slower and relaxed. We reach a "Y" in the road and stopped to take some pictures and pick a couple of cherries from the nearby tree. We then turned around and headed home.

Upon arrival back at the apartment we found Christyn and Michelle just getting up. The decision was quickly made to stay for an extra day in Vernazza. The only problem was, we were again faced with the issue of not having a room. We went back to the travel agency we contacted yesterday, and she informed us that her last room was booked the day before. We needed to check out by 10:00am, so we took our packs to the little store that found us our apartment for the evening and asked if they knew of any places for four people for one more ni ght. Francesca said the knew of no apartments, but that they had a room for two people and they would call their contacts to see if another room could be secured for two more people. Within 5 minutes there was an older Italian man who spoke no English at the doorstep ready to take two of our group to the new room. The second room would not be available until later in the day, but we could leave the bags for that room in the store until it was available.

Susanne, Christyn and Michelle headed to the available room. The man brought us to a woman named Maria who spoke very little English but very rapid Italian. She explained to us the rules of the room, and there were a fair number of signs translated into English and German to help. She would point to a sign, we would read, then she would explain in rapid fire Italian. Thankfully for us, she also used plenty of hand gestures and sounds so that we could follow along. She explained all about the cats in the neighborhood that could get into the room and how to prevent it, we learned that the gals should not go to bed with wet hair on the pillows, and a bath mat should be put on the floor after a shower. Also, when we left the room we should turn off all of the lights and leave a water bottle in the doorway as a signal so that she knew it was ok to come in and freshen up the room. She was a delightful older woman who didn't seem to mind at all that we only understood a portion of what she said. Her house was also right above the room she was renting and she let us know to shout "Maria, Maria" if we needed anything and she would come running.

Maria's house was on the trail between Vernazza and Monterossa al Mare. We decided to head up to the checkpoint on the side behind Maria's house to see what kinds of views we could get without buying a ticket for the whole trail. We easily decided the night before that even if we stayed in Vernazza one more night we would not do the full hike between either of the two towns. There were too many people on the trails, and the weather was hovering around 85 degrees Having done the full hike in 2009, Tim and Michelle knew that shade was scarce and the hike would be just miserable. We opted to use the day to explore and relax. We did not get too far up the trail before we encountered the ticket booth, so we had only partial views of the harbor and city. Nonetheless, the views were still quite beautiful.

We headed back into town to cross to the other side of the trail, this time headed in the direction of Cornelia. The beginning of this hike takes you high into the houses on the hill of the city. A beautiful trip, and fun to see so many tiny lanes and homes all stacked on top of and next to each other. On the trail there is a restaurant that overlooked the ocean and had signs for appetizers and drinks. Curious, we went inside to look at a menu. The prices seemed reasonable and the view could not be beat, so we opted to end our short hike on the Cornelia trail at the restaurant to take advantage of the views and the shade.

The restaurant had 4 different kinds of bruschetta, so we tried three with a bottle of wine. Christyn found milkshakes on the menu and decided to try a melon flavored one. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, with the blue expanse of the Mediterranean Sea in front of you and the beautiful stack stone of the rocks behind you. So much so that we made a reservation for the same table for dinner at 7:30. Seeing as that the next day would be full of trains, we thought it best to start dinner early.

Tim and Michelle left lunch early to go grab their bags and check into their new room. On the way they opted to stop off at the castle tower in town. The 1.50 euro entrance is well worth the views. The tower is on the highest point in town perched on the edge of the rock cliffs overlooking the ocean. There are sweeping views all around. Looking to the south you can see Cornelia in the distance and to the north the largest village in the Cinque Terre, Monterossa, is visible. It was our first time to the top of the tower, always nice to add a new experience to a familiar spot. On our way down the tower, we passed Susanne and Christyn as they headed up.

We reached Francesca's store and she walked us up to the room, leaving Franco to mind the store. The new room was slightly higher than the last apartment, and she explained as we entered the common entrance that her house was to right, our door to the room was on the left. The room was quaint with bed, small refrigerator and in the bathroom a beautifully blue tiled shower. The window opened up to peek-a-boo views of the sea. A quick change into out swimsuits and we were off to meet the Jacksons at the same spot we swam the day before.

The beach was much busier, as it was earlier in the day. We dropped our towels and shoes and headed in the water. The saltiness of the sea makes swimming and floating very easy, you only need to be aware of the boats coming and going. We decided to swim out past a large rock outcrop beyond the crowd. A small cove protected us from the waves on the other side but everything was rock. There was no easy way to sit and relax. The water being so clear we could look down and see the rock formations and sea life below. We opted to try our luck at the open water, so we climbed over the small rock barrier and carefully slid into the water timing our drop to coincide with the waves. The water was choppy, but not bad once we swam away from the rocks, we gently swayed up and down. If we stopped swimming the natural current was pushing us into the harbor and the buoyancy would nearly keep your head above water. We swam into the harbor, as Michelle and Christyn got our and dried off, Susanne wanted to "touch the sand" so Susanne and Tim swam further in to the small beach area. As Susanne's feet touched sandy floor she was happy, and since we did that thirty feet off shore it made Tim happy that we wouldn't have to fight the beach crowd to touch dry sand. Back at shore we parted ways to our respective rooms to shower and dress for dinner. On the way to dinner Michelle opted to go back to one of the shops they visited earlier in the day and purchase a new pair of pants. The legs are so full that when she is standing it looks like she is wearing a very long skirt. She had seen a few people on the trip wearing them so far and thought they would be a fun memory/souvenir of the trip.

Arriving early with the sun still well above the horizon, we started with a round of cocktails and pesto bruschetta. The sun slowly lowered towards the sea making the surrounding landscape jump out further. Michelle ordered lasagna with meat sauce and Susanne and Christyn ordered the lasagna with pesto. Tim had a pasta dish with a mixture of shrimp and mussels. We complimented dinner with a  bottle of the Cinque Terre wine and stayed late into the night. The hike down from the restaurant revealed the romance of the Cinque Terre as the glow of the lights of the town reflect off the aged buildings. The small alleyways and stairs create a picturesque setting to stroll around the quiet town. Another amazing day lost and found in the magic of the Cinque Terre.

Check out time is 10:00 and our train to Padova was leaving at 10:45. We all turned in early anticipating a long training day ahead of us. We could only hope that it did not involve the same kind of excitement we experienced on our way out to the Cinque Terre.