Cinque Terre- my heart belongs here. There is something about this area that draws me in. Every part of me screams that it is where I belong. Beauty here permeates everything - the people, the language, the buildings, and the landscaspe. The food is perfecto.
We will visit each of the five villages. Riomaggiore is my favorite and luckily, where we stayed. It has the proper mix of old and tourists. It is easy enough to get by with my terrible Italian but also it has a wonderful Italian village feel about it.
Today we explored Riomaggiore. We climbed to the highest point in town, looked over the village and the sea.
From top of hill looking toward train station and water:
From top of hill looking down on village:
We went through the (rail) tunnel that connect the village with the train station and the path onto the next villages. The tunnel is covered in murals (very hard to capture):
We then went onto via dell amore. It is the path that connects Riomaggiore to Manarola. It is named because when it was built, the young lovers who lived in Riomaggiore and Manarola would meet along the path to see each other and to court. These days it is the place for lovers- symbols of love include etchings, locks and items tied to commemorate love. As I walked through it, the emotion overwhelmed me. I thought if I were to ever fall in love again, this is the place where I would come.
Manarola as viewed from via dell amore:
We wandered throughout it and admired the beauty of the village:
The cinque terre trail from Manarola to Cornilia was shut down. But we managed to walk out for a bit and look back on the town:
We walked until the trail was closed - due to heavy rains and flooding of the mountain, obscuring the trail. We came to the point which allows you to look back and see a fabulous view of Manarola:
Afterwards we returned to Rio Maggiore and spent some time down by the docks:
I couldn't wait to explore the rest of the trail tomorrow.
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