Day 12 (Day 11 from Ed arriving) Pictures here.

Cinque Terra is stunning. Before heading up there, I didn’t know if I was going to head to Cinque Terra, Pompeii, Naples (a distant third runner), or some other random place. I am VERY glad I went to Cinque Terra. The land is BEAUTIFUL.

Before Rick Steves put the place on the tourist map, it was a quiet place for Italians to come on vacation. Now, English is almost a second language. The ‘Five Lands” are several costal towns on the west coast of Italy, at the northernmost edge of the coast. The Med is amazing. One friend of mine made the first picture he saw his background image on the spot (now THAT’S gratifying to a photographer).

One thing that rather surprised me was how high the surf was, and how little impact the tides had. The surf had a pretty constant 10-15 foot delta between wave top, and bottom of the waves. And also, the midpoint of those waves didn’t seem to change that much… at least I couldn’t discern a ‘high tide’ from a ‘low tide’.

I ended up staying in Vernazza, which is town #4 (counting from the south). Though I did something that most of the guidebooks disagree with… They uniformally discourage you from going with people selling rooms at the trainstation. Also, there is a certification board for Cinque Terra that puts plaques at all the ‘approved’ hostels. I utilized someone (Franchesco) at the trainstation, who offered me a good deal of 40 Euro per night. I got a room with a bunk bed to my self, and a shared dining room/kitchen area. There was another room with a double bed that he was renting out as well for 70 Euro. This worked out really well for me, at the small (ish) expense of climing up a fair number of steep stairs with a heavy backpack.

I’m not sure I’d completely recommend flaunting everyone else’s advice, but it didn’t burm me this time.

Anyway, After sorting my luggage, I went down to the beach, took a few pictures, and then went up to the small fortress (really nothing more than a watch tower), for some pictures, and relaxing time. I was pretty burned out at this point of traveling, and I needed some downtime. Cinque Terra certainly gave it to me. I went up there, and relaxed, people watched, took some pictures with my camera, and offered to take several pictures of people with their cameras. And that was about it. Unfortunatly, the watch tower closes at 7:00, so I couldn’t take sunset pictures from up there, but there was a storm rolling in, so that promised interesting pictures for tomorrow.

Day 13 (Day 12 after Ed arrived) Pictures here.

Well, if I was impressed by the waves yesterday, today was even more impressive. The storm had really kicked the surf into high gear. There was no one on the beach, but there were a lot of locals who were working pretty fevorishly to get most of the boats out of the water. I sat around and watched them with the grin of a man who sees a LOT of work to do, and who doesn’t have to do any of it.

So, this was the day that I hiked over to Monterosa. This was the hardest leg of the 4 hikes between the towns… there was LOT of up, and a LOT of down to get through. This leg either needs to be the first, or done by itself. I got some good pictures of Vernazza, and of Monterosa (and even one of me) on the trip though. It was market day in Monterosa, and after poking around for a while, I went back to Vernazza (by train) and took a long siesta.

That night, I learned that Anchovies don’t have to taste awful… so long as their fresh (caught that day) and not salt curred, then they are REALLY tasty. They’re one of the things that Cinque Terra is known for (along with lemons, being the birthplace of pesto, great olives, and wine).

Their wine. Wow. I don’t even like wine, but their wine was praised… in POMPEII. Pompeii was burried… in ash… 1934 YEARS ago (in 73 AD). Their Sciecchetra is amazing… it’s kind of a rosie (sp?) desert wine. It’s REALLY good. I got to try both of these specialties this night, and I went back to my bed very satisfied.

Day 14 (Day 13 after Ed arrived) Pictures here.

This was the last day I took pictures… but what pictures there were to be had.  I began EARLY in the morning, hiking all the way to Riomaggorie, through the other 3 towns I hadn’t seen yet.  The Vernazza -> Corngilla route is longer, but not quite as challenging as the Vernazza-> Monterosa route.  It’s still a good hike though.  After that, it’s very flat (after climbing down 400 steps that is) to the route to Manarolla, and then through the via Della amora to Riomaggorie.  This was a crystal clear day, with beautiful sky, and great water. I took lots of pictures of flowers and more flowers (and more flowers), and other sundry things.  There were more trails that I could hike, but I ended up avoiding them, and going back to Vernazza from Riomaggorie, buying a shirt that said ‘I made it’ (through the full hike), and taking a nap.

The reward for this was a STUNNING sunset.  There were BEAUTIFUL pictures this night.  I was really wishing I had a tripod though… taking pictures with the camera placed down on a convienient rock is… convienient, but rather limiting.  But getting something like this makes up for it.

My last pictures were of the moon setting into the Medeteranian Sea.

Day 15 (day 14 since Ed arrived) (No pictures)

Well, I packed up this morning, and went back to Roma.  It took a while to get there, but I pulled in around 3:00 in the afternoon, got to my hostel room, dropped luggage, and took the Metro over to San Pietro.  I got lucky.  I got there at 3:30, chilled out for a bit in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and then went looking for confessions.  Well, it turns out that confessions are offered, starting at 4:00 PM.  I hit the sacrament, then went back to the blessed sacrament chapel (this is the Tabernacle… I took this picture last time I was in Roma).  But I got lucky again, because they were offering Benediction.  Then, with the hat trick, I went to Mass, in San Pietro, at 5:00 PM, and it was a vigil mass (whoHOO! I was worried about being forced to go to Mass Sunday night after an 11 hour plane flight…).

After this, I went back to the hostel, made sure I was packed, and went to bed.  I already had my train ticket to the airport, and everything else I needed.

(Thank GOD I didn’t have to come back this past Wednesday… with the terror alert cranked to Red, getting through the airport wouldn’t have been much fun.)