Sept. 19 Magical Sunset

Sept. 19     Day two in Cinque Terre 

Our second day in Cinque Terre was very relaxing compared to our first.  We knocked off the last two villages, Vernazza and Monterosso, by lunchtime.  Vernazza was beautiful but quite small. It is the village with the famous turret on its waterfront.  We spent some time watching the tour boats attempt to navigate the choppy waters and were more than grateful not to be on one of them.  Not sure if the nausea or the fright would have gotten us first. 

In the local church we found a single devout worshipper.  A near comatose cat was sprawled across one of the pews and could not be moved under any circumstances.  I suppose if there is such a thing as a church mouse, then a church cat is a natural progression.

Monterosso is the flattest and sprawliest of the villages, and the one with easily the greatest amount of beachfront.  We had a splendid time just wandering the length of the town, appreciating the flatness of it all.  It was ironic that, after surviving the mountainous hike the day before, each of us managed to trip over the safety surface that gets put into children’s playgrounds so that the kids don’t hurt themselves.  Chalk it up to overconfidence, I suppose.

For the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel and then walked (downhill, this time) into Levanto.

After the obligatory gelato stop, we put in a bit of time at the beach.  We got thoroughly blasted by flotsam and jetsam and sand for our trouble, but it was great to enjoy ourselves in a less touristy environment.  Sad to say, by the time we headed back to the hotel, we found that it was uphill again.

For our evening, we decided to return to Manarola to look for a dinner venue.  Without a reservation, we figured we would have to settle for a lesser eatery to dine in.  We were delighted to find that a fifteen minute wait, and bolstered by a beer we could wander around town with, we scored a waterfront seat at a seafood restaurant with ringside views of a classic Manarola sunset.  It made for yet another magical evening.  We’re feeling like our luck has turned.


            


                                                   Welcome to Vernazza


A crazy windy day!



One of the beach access points...About 4 feet high and requires crawling!

A beautiful little lemon shop carved into an old battlement.

The famous tower in Vernazza

 
The chapel of Santa Margherita by the sea, the most beautiful of the Cinque Terre Churches.

A nice place to rest on a warm day...

 

 

Laundry day in Vernazza


----------------

Welcome to Monterosso

Notice the crazy stone statue emerging from the stone building on the point.


You can see the train in the foreground and the elevated highway in the mountains. There are a few cars in this village but very few in the other villages. There is very limited road access in the villages and no access to some.




It's the end of season and the beach umbrellas are coming down. 
Lots of vacancy on the beach, not so much in the restaurants!

---------------Back to Levanto for a relaxing afternoon-------------

 
The hike up the hill towards our hotel from the train station.

At least it was downhill to the beach in Levanto


Surf is a little abrasive today and you didn't have to get in very far to get wet!

Oh, bugger!

The beach in Levanto

-------------To dinner and reflection on Cinque Terre ------------

Dinner and sunset in Manarola

Such a gift!

Arrivaderci Cinque Terre, you are beautiful!


Next we are off to Florence!


Comments

  1. RuthSeptember 21, 2023 at 12:30 PM

    Love the devout cat and the beautiful sunset. Ahhh the lemons. Drank a lot of limoncello while we were there.

    ReplyDelete

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