Awake 7:00 am Clear sky
I slept well on my upper bunk but Kathy & Katrina were cold during the
night. Perhaps it was 1 or 2 degrees cooler down by the lower bunks. Our
breakfast which was included with our room, coffee, juice, rolls & jelly,
was kinda skimpy but we'll eat more later somewhere.
We pack our backpacks, pay our fee of 20 euros each & walk further up this
mountain road thru the village of Biassa. They have a fantastic view from
up here. Our bus that will take us back into town is arriving soon so we
say goodbye to the daughter of the grandmother who's friend rented us the
room for the night. Her daughter speaks some English & owns a tobacco shop
where we are catching the bus.
Back into the town of Riomaggiore again, we buy some healthy snacks &
water for our hike to the next village of Manarola...a mere 20 min away.
Before we enter thru the arch however, there is a fee of 3 euros each, and
they tell us there will be an agent checking along the way for our pass.
This path is affectionally called: Lovers Lane & it is absolutely
beautiful. There are cozy little benches along the way for couples to sit
& whisper sweet nothings, short tunnels with paintings on the walls,
fantastic views of the Mediterranean Sea with it's bright blue waters &
the path itself is wide & easy walking.
Manarola is built right on a cliff with a view to die for. It's a small
village so we spend little time walking thru town...but Katrina did buy us
each a banana to munch on. The trail to the next village of Corniglia is
not nearly as crowed as Lovers Lane & now it gains & loses altitude along
the way. Instead of being close to the sea, we are hiking more inland &
alongside vineyards on the terraces & olive trees. These people survive on
their vast wine & olive sales throughout the region and have done so for
many, many yrs. However, since these 5 villages with a hiking trail
connection have been discovered, there are tourists flooding into town
during the summer season from near & far. This is why we might have
difficulity again finding another room for the night at our 5th village.
We reach Corniglia in 1.5 hrs. Here Kathy & I have focaccia(Italian flat
bread) pizza and Katrina has focaccia pizza with fresh tomatoes...for our
lunch. We eat in a small alcove along a very busy & narrow street.
The next hike to the village of Vernazza is much more difficult. The
climbs and descents are much steeper, the trail is narrower, & Kathy with
her injured knee is hiking slower. Both Katrina & I end up helping her on
just about every climb & descent. Our time to Vernazza is just under 2
hrs.
Vernazza seems to be a much busier village. A lot of people milling about
on the main street. We keep seeing ice cream cones being licked on &
contented smiles from the lickers..as we sit & sip our bland water from
our bottles. How much more pressure can 3 warm & somewhat hungry hikers
take....no more. We each buy a double scoop & find a better people
watching spot so we too, can tantalize those street walkers.
At this point in our day's hiking plan, Katrina & I are both feeling
somewhat uncomfortable with Kathy's hiking strength. It took no persuasion
whatsoever to have Kathy board the train & meet us @ the destination
village of Monterosso.
It was a good choice. This next trail was even more challenging & narrow
then the previous. It takes us about 1.6 hrs to reach Monterosso with
little
breaks. The village of Monterosso appears to be the bigger of the 5
villages we visited. We agreed to meet Kathy @ the train station & gave
ourselves 1.7 hrs. As we are decending into the village, we spot Kathy
walking leasurely thru the town square. What a nice rendezvous. She
reported the short train ride being overly crowded with no seats available
even for a young & good looking chick like herself.
First things first: We begin searching for a room...after 2 room finding
services in town turn us down & offer no encouragement, we try finding
something on our own by walking thru the village streets. Casually Kathy
notices people entering what appears to be a church alongside of what is
obviously a church. " let's go see if it's Catholic " I say. Sure is, so
we attend the service which is entirely in Italian. As I sit & ponder &
pray, my mind wanders a little on how to find a room for the night. Time
now about 6:30 pm local & darkness is near.
I think I'll try this idea: Ask the older people about a room for the
night as they are leaving the church. Once again, Katrina's language
talent comes into play. The 3rd person I ask tells us to wait right where
we are next to the church. She has a cousin who might have a room
available tonight. It takes about 20 min & then we see this middle age
woman riding a bicycle toward us...it's her cousin Rosie & she speaks some
English. We follow her to her rental place less than 3 min away. Rosie
apologizes that the beds are not made up & she needs an hr to do so. We
ask for her recommendations for a good restaurant.... so we check out one
of her favorite places called La Tavern. Rosie was right! It was great &
we needed some good food, wine & desert after our long day. Then the bill
arrived. Something is wrong! All that wine, food & desert and only this
much cost? WOW! I would like to do this again soon.
While walking back to our place for the night we hear loud music playing
around the corner in the town square. There are a lot of people dancing in
the square & a lot of people just watching a lot of people dancing in the
square. Good D J music to dance to. Kathy & I do a few numbers, then
Katrina & I do the hip-hop stuff & then....and then...I am wearing down.
There were some very elequent ball room dancers who stood out among the
group of average street dancers. It was a joy to watch them. We could have
stayed longer just being casual observers...but the D J & his music system
had a power failure & everything stopped ...then we too began to have a
power failure. So back to our room for the night we go before we stop.
It was truly a great day. Lights out: 11:40 pm
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