Its been about three  months since we left off on our Euro adventures. Since then the air here has cooled, snow has fallen and the air of the holiday season is upon us. And, three months ago I had taken on the task of wrapping up the blogging for our final few cities and clearly have not be on top of that responsibility.

You’ll recall mid-trip we were weathered out of Switzerland, allowing us the opportunity to arrive in Forence sooner and, based from that wonderful city, day-trip out to a number of near-by locations with our extra days.

So, off we treked one morning to the Cinque Terre which is located on the coastline of the Italia Riviera, west of La Spezia.  As my usual source of wikipedia describes it “The Five Lands” comprises five villages: 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 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cinque Terre – in reality – cannot be seen in any great depth in a day, even a long one so we decided to take our first organized excursion to maximize our footprint.  We left Florence on a Greyhound-style bus at dawn and drove for about 90 minutes to arrive at our starting point.  I am told we past some of the Italian marble quarries, however, I slept right through that. Vacation’s are exhausting!

What sets Cinque Terre apart from many of the tourist destinations we have visited is the lack of tourism development and don’t misunderstand me when I say this is not a bad thing.  While the cruise industry, sadly, is changing the foot traffic dramatically, those tourists arrive (in fairness as we did as well) en mass, and march through the 5 villages so quickly there is very little time to make a significant economic impact – eating in restaurants, staying in hotels and spending in the little shops along they way. The locals struggle with the increase in people traffic and the wear and tear of all those feet, especially because they don’t actually leave that money behind for those trying to earn a living.  But at the same time, while clearly tourism was an important part of the locals & their livelihood, we didn’t get the sense there was desire for mass commercialize and over-development.

When one thinks of Cinque Terre you inevitably picture beautifully painted structures and terraces precariously built on the steep rugged coastline that history says would help guide the fishermen home.  They stretch all the way up to the cliffs that overlook the water.  What also makes Cinque Terre unique – and one of the ways it manages to sustain modern impacts is the connection of the villages by walking paths, trains and boats. Cars – and buses like ours – cannot reach them from the outside. We experienced all of these modes of transportation in our tour.

Wikipedia details the history better than I could ever summarize – “the first historical documents on the Cinque Terre date back to the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza sprang up first, whilst the other villages grew later, under military and political supremacy of the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century to oppose the attacks by the Turks, the inhabitants reinforced the old forts and built new defence towers. From the year 1600, the Cinque Terre experienced a decline which reversed only in the 19th century,thanks to the construction of the Military Arsenal of La Spezia and to the building of the railway line between Genoa and La Spezia. The railway allowed the inhabitants to escape their isolation, but also brought about abandonment of traditional activities. The consequence was an increase in poverty which pushed many to emigrate abroad, at least up to the 1970s, when the development of tourism brought back wealth.”

The variation of house colors is because while fishermen were doing their jobs just offshore, they wanted to be able to see their house easily. This way, they could make sure their wives were still home doing the wifely duties. Most of the families in the five villages made money by catching the fish and selling them in the small port villages. Fish was also their main source of food.” Clearly femininsm had not yet reached these fishing villages….

In 2011 terrible rains caused flooding and mudslides, killing several and creating signicant damage to Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare.  It also washed popular trails that allows you to walk from village to village – something that with more time we would have loved to have done. Sentiero Azzurro (“Azure Trail”), connects the five villages. The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Via dell’Amore (“Love Walk”). The stretch from Manarola to Corniglia (still closed in June 2012 for ongoing repairs since the October 2011 damage) is the easiest to hike, although the main trail into Corniglia finishes with a climb of 368 steps. (source: wikipedia)

 

 

Upon arrival at Manarola,  our first of the five cities that make up the village our tour guide – who I can only describe as an umbrella weilding maniac – ushered us off the bus and marched us to our second form of transportation for the day – the train.  Her rationale was that if we didn’t move it we would be trapped behind all of the other hundreds of tourists swarming the parking lot.  So we booked it down past lovely gardens, old buildings and, for Justified fans, Joelle Carter and an unidentfied man, unpacking their Fiat for a few days in a secluded villa.

From there we spend the day going from village to village – the train taking us to our second location where we had little time to wander, snap some photos and then – unbrella waving – we were herded on to the top of  ferry boat and toured along the breath taking coastline where you could really get a sense of the impressive coastline and imagine the painstaking work it would have taken to build up the coastline to the cliff points.

Our ferry pulled into the marina shortly before lunch in Monterosso al Mare and we had the opportunity to chat over pasta, fresh bread, wine and seafood with some of our fellow tour-sticker wearing tourists. It is always interesting to hear others motivations to travel and the various “routes” people take when they do a trip like this – some had come via Ireland and London, others -like us – France.

After lunch we had time to wander about, so we toured a tiny “lemon festival” and explored our way up the hillsides and down into town. That is when the grey skies that had joined us that day, opened up and and sent us scurring for our afternoon cappuccino.

Meeting up with the group, we were next herded back onto the train which took us to our last stop. Along they way – against some pretty serious threats that had occured since daybreak not to do so – several folks were seperated from the tour. We carried on and ended our tour in Vernazza which can best be described as a harbour watched over by a ruined castle and an old church. A bar is perched off the edge of the castle. There are little shops to wander through and a breakwater of rocks to scramble across to get a better look at the little boats bobbing up and down in the water and the late day sun (as much as there was) bouncing off “some of the coolest rock walls….geology!” we had seen that day.

 

The drive back to Florence was quiet as the scenary zipped by and darkness began to fall. Astrid was able to point out – and explain the significance of – the quarries I had missed on the way out that morning.  It was also a chance to reflect on the scenes of the day and our usual “Would one go back?” assessment of any rushed day trip. The consensus was yes. It is the kind of place you could go and Slothcation.  Find a little villa, settle in and just wander from village to village – hike, read, wander, sun on the beach (in better weather) and just ‘vacation’.