Agenda: Stay along the Italian coast in the famous "five cities" for a couple of days and take a "relaxing stroll" along the national park trail that connects them.Actual quote from Chantal: "Yeah... the time in Cinque Terra will be really relaxing... we'll just be hanging out along the coast of Italy and doing that walk."
Highlights:
Walk? WALK? My strong senses of reality and justice require that I report that this "relaxing stroll" is actually a 7.5 mile climb/hike in very rocky, steep terrain. Some of the stairs are covered in green (see picture, left). Other stairs are bare and rocky, with no green (not pictured). However, despite any variety in foilage growth patterns, the stairs in all their rocky glory go on and on and on. And then you turn a corner, and they go on some more.
In any case, that "leisurely stroll" was arguably worth it for the amazing views of the ocean/cities that we got from above while on that trail. It would have been nice if I had been smart enough to wear waterproof pants on that hike, or bring an umbrella. It would have been even nicer if it hadn't started pounding rain while we were between cities two and three (Vernazza and Corniglia), with nowhere to go but up some more rocky, and now slippery, stairs. Regardless, soaked legs, destroyed calves and all... Cinque Terra is beautiful.Additionally, I learned what a cat kingdom might look like if cats took over the Earth--in the middle of two cities, we saw a little family of three cats, a small tent set up for them, and a few feeding bowls. With no other humans in sight and the middle-of-nowhere locale, I found myself wondering where these cats (and their camping gear) came from.
2 comments:
Anyone who knows Catherine well realizes that before she bought her Lexus, and changed her parking style to a preventative-being-doored four spot radius, her idea of a "hike" was having to walk any distance further than 5 feet. Therefore you must take her comments with a grain of salt... perhaps even two.
You guys make me feel like a lazy bum. We opted to sit our bums down on a beach in Riomaggiore and just lounge. We did, however, hike to our hotel and to restaurants when we got hungry. That has to count for something....
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