Day 8: May 25

 


The ride to Cinque Terrre was beautiful, and I'm glad we got here as the rain stopped. It was an easy hop on the train which took a little more than the anticipated 20 minutes to arrive to Levanto. Then we trekked to the hostel, where four of the six grad students holed up overnight. As the other five went to lunch, I wandered around, talked to some family and friends, and realized that while I never loved the seaside, I can change my mind for Cinque Terre. The area is stunning. I must come back on vacation with my husband.

 Walking to the hostel

 View from my room

        

        

        

First row: on my walk
Second row: Castle of Levanto, lemon trees, cacti
Third row: Crimson bottlebrush, living my best life


The other grad students and I later followed Tori's lead and signed up for a three-hour boat tour of the villages, ending with the sunset back in Levanto. I don't like boats and thought I'd be cold, but I figured that I might as well join the others. 

Not only did we get fed (and yes, I ate two pepperonis and half of the cow cheese and even drank some wine), but we stayed a bit longer than 3 hours to watch the sun set.

        


We saw some mountain goats, that we later learned like the salt.


    


Monterosso: There used to be more than the statue of a giant there, but that was destroyed in WWII. Towers are here including a bell tower. There is also a large vineyard.

To the side is a railway station from 1872 that is no longer used.


        


Vernazza: It's the smallest village with a castle but is now a restaurant. It has one main street—which was easier to defend in the past. It has a lot of people in the summer.

There are stone stairs where people dock and head into the village…or people dive from the top and then head up the stairs. There is also a really neat cave heading away from it!


        


Every village has a sand quarry.


Comiglia: This is the village built on the hills. It's a quiet village because they stop the ferry for visitors: who can go by bus or walk in the village. There was a water mill on the rocks and the river still flows down in the sea (waterfall). On the hill, the church is in front of the sea. 


    


Manarola: There is a restaurant on the left. The gray house is a military house (no watchtower or castle). They do fireworks on Christmas. People are also able to rock climb to the right of it. 


    


Riomaggione: The village name means big river. There is a sanctuary at top.


        


We eventually had 7 seagulls all but attack us. It was still worth €105. The sunset was beautiful.


        


Some videos of the day:

    A walk around Levanto

 Video at sea






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