Sat and Sun

Saturday and Sunday
We came in by train arriving in Verannza about 12:30 from Florence. We had to change trains twice in three hours. Cinque Terre is an area along the coast of five small villages that are connected by a walking path. I was hoping when we arrived that this was going to be restful and lovely. Well, the train was so packed that it was difficult getting off with those big bags.


There just one main street here that goes down to the harbor and at the harbor are several outdoor restaurants. This street had so many people it was difficult to maneuver. Eileen asked a local woman where our rooms were located and to our delight they were right on the harbor. Rooms were hard to find so we didn't really know what to expect. We had two rooms. Eileen and I shared one, we only had to go up 63 steps. Judy was on the top floor (an additional 18 steps).
This is the building we stay in.


We were so overwhelmed by the number of people in such a small area. I have a cold so went to rest. Eileen and Judy went to explore. By evening the crowd was mostly gone. We had a wonderful dinner outside on the harbor. The owner was about 80 and treated us so royally.


We had a bottle of his own wine. He spoke good English because he worked with his brother in New York for 30 years. We had sardine anti pasta, vegetarian ravioli with walnut sauce and lasagna. Great dinner. The city was beautiful and quiet except for the church bells every hour or more. The trains had gone on strike from nine to nine, which was another reason there were not so many people around.

The morning was full of excitement. A storm was coming and the older community men (some in their speedos) were in the harbor pulling in their fishing boats up onto the upper areas out of the water before the rain. The rain came. We were' t able to walk the trail so it was a restful day with many of the locals. The boats weren't working either because of the weather.





We did get to see the excitement of an Italian wedding. Evidently, many Italian couples choose this location for their weddings even if they live in the states. We walked around this city a bit and found stone houses in the hillside. People live in very small simple spaces. The grapes are on tiered areas on the hillside. There many stone walls, walks and houses.






Since their wasn't any outdoor setting we just had some cheese, olives, pesto, ham and bread for lunch. For dinner we had a great pizza. We will be getting up early to head for Sienna. Joan














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