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Published: March 26th 2009
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Its been a while since my last entry so enjoy this long post.
So this past weekend I went on a IES funded field trip to a place called "Cinque Terre" and the medieval town Lucca. We hooped a train 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon noon and arrived in the town of La Spezia just east of "Cinque Terre" around 8:30. We settled into our nice hotel room and went out to dinner. The dinners the IES program always gives you is like a 5 course meal and when you leave you can just "roll" back to your room. Anyway we went to a restaurant down the street where we were served meats, cheeses, and bread as an appetizer, ravioli for a primo, roast beef and mash for secondo, and creme pastry to finish us off. It's always a good time when you have food and friends.
The next day we took a train to the "Cinque Terre" The translation is "five lands" which indicates the five villages that comprise it: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park
Manarola
Town and Country and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All five towns have restricted vehicle usage and until the 70s impossible to reach via car. The coast that they occupy is roughly 6.5-7 miles. These towns are pretty much untouched, stopped and preserved in town. It is said the people that live in these villages rank amongst the oldest people living in the world. You see ninety year old people climbing steep steps that i'm falling down.
We start our tour at the first town Riomaggiore where we meet up with our tour guide. After a brief history of the town we tour the village and start the narrow path built into the cliff side. I included a picture or two of the path that is literally built into the cliff and therefore closed sometimes due to landslides. We made our first part of the journey from Riomaggiore to Manarola called the Via dell'Amore or simply "Road of Love". This path was made by two people from each of the connecting towns and is now dedicated to lovers. As we walked through the tunnel along the path there is a seat with a statue of two people kissing above it
Manarola
Town with sea in back where two people that are together are supposed to kiss. As our tour guide says this everyone (about 40 ppl) turn around and look at Laura and Me. We are pushed up to the seat and as 40 people look on and the Assistant Director of my Study Abroad program grabs my camera as I kiss Laura. Talk about being put on the spot! (For your sake I didn't include that picture.) So after a few more minutes of hiking we reach the second beautiful village Manarola.
Manarola is a picturesque village carved into the side of a cliff with a small little harbor and multicolored houses that comprise of this quaint little town. We walk to the top view an old church, take a break, and enjoy the scenery. By the way all the hillsides are either covered in vegetation or vineyards that help stabilize the soil let alone make for a great view. Look at the pictures for a better description.
We have another hike to the next town Corniglia which is way up on the top of the hill. We didn't get to go up to the main town since it was soo
high but instead caught a train there to the next town Vernazza, which is also absolutely beautiful. This town is the busiest with something that actually resembles a main street lined with shops, restaurants, and of course gellaterias. We have an hour of free time and a bunch of us stop for lunch and split a huge dish of Seafood Risotto which was full of clams, muscles, whole shrimp (head and all), and squid. It was excellent since all of these towns main dishes come from the sea. They have a cool harbor lined with row boats, colorful buildings, and a small church. I couldn't even imagine living in a town such as this. After our free time and a short tour of the village we depart via train to the last town Monterosso al Mare.
Monterosso is different then all the other towns in the respect that is not build along a cliff side but instead down in a valley. This is the only one of the towns with beaches. After another small tour of this town we had free time to roam through a couple churches and went to a small shop that gave us free
samples of sauces and drinks such as their renown Cinque Terre white wine and fruity alcoholic beverages. After getting a banana and strawberry gelato we headed to the beach to relax while sipping on a bottle of their wine. We relaxed, fooled around, and skipped rocks across the harbor (no waves). We departed back to La Spezia for another great meal in a restaurant in the hills and by the time we returned it was far to easy to fall asleep after a busy but amazing day in beautiful "Cinque Terre".
The next morning we woke up early and departed for a medival town called Lucca on the way back home to Rome, this time via bus. We toured many churches, cool piazzas, learned the history of the town, climbed a tower to over looked the town, and had a delicious lunch before departing back to Roma.
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Aunt Teri n Uncle Vic
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Thanks for all the great pictures!
Al - I have caught up on your trip by reading everything in two sessions on line. Don't get enough computer time in this house! I love being able to see all these places through your eyes. The pictures are fantastic. Keep enjoying - see you when you get back. Love, Aunt Teri and Uncle Vic