Cinque Terre!

So, next stop on our Italian adventure was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Cinque Terre... which literally means five lands. The five villages themselves are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. You can stay in these towns, but being the thrifty backpackers we are we stayed in a hostel up in the hills in a town called Biassa. The hostel was beautiful and quiet after the noise of the wine bar outside the hostel in Venice. We got to the hotel in the early arvo, put our bags in the room and took the bus back down to the nearest sizable town, La Spezzia. Hmmm, Sunday in La Spezzia is fairly dead... very little open. We wandered around a bit, took a stroll along a rather smelly waterfront, and then found ourselves a small cafe for an early dinner (one of the only ones we could find that was open). By now Sara was fairly tired and grumpy so we got the little bus back up to Biassa and chilled for a while before getting an early night ready for our big walk.

In the morning we took a 7am bus from our hostel down to Riomaggiore. It was only about 15 minutes away down a very windy road. We found the tourist office and bought our passes for the next two days then got on the train and took it out to the last of the towns, Monterosso. We'd decided that we would walk from 5 back towards 1 as the two longest and hardest walks of 4km and 3 km respectively are between Monterosso, Vernazza, and Corniglia, and we didn't think doing the hard ones last would be smart.

When we got to Monterosso we had a quick coffee and planned our day. We had originally decided to do towns 5 to 3 on the first day, then 3 to 1 the next, but we changed plans and decided to do all 5 on the first day and then use the train on the second day to get between the towns so we could wear thongs and buy stuff and go for a swim in the sea without then having to hike in salty shorts (ouch!).

We had a quick walk around Monterosso then started our walk... and what it was. It was probably about 10am by now and it would have been about 28 degrees or so. The towns are right down on the coast, but to get to the next town you have to walk back up into the hills, then back down to next town. The 4km walk here consisted of about 2km up hill, then 2km down hill... it was reeeally hard going. The views along the walk are stunning though. There are beautiful terraced gardens and wineries (7500km of man-made terrace walls alone the entire walk), and then as you come out of the trees and actually get to raise your eyes from the mountain of steps in front of you, there are beautiful views of the next town. At times the path is only about a foot wide and rocky, but its a great walk.

We finally made it to Vernazza, and what a beautiful town that is. Probably was my favourite of the five. We again had a short walk around the town and got ourselves a light lunch. We didn't want anything too heavy as we knew we had 8 or so kilometres left to walk so we found a place that sold pizza slices and sat next to the water and ate them... and they were sooo good. Pesto pizza!

We started our second leg and boy it had gotten hot. It would have been about 12:30pm by now and closing in on 35 degrees. Muggins here was the pack mule so I had the 5 litres of water... though I think I sweated out at least 3 litres on each leg. This leg was only about 3km... a pittance! But again, all either up or down, very little flats. The views were just as good though...

When we finally reached Corniglia we at least knew we'd done the bulk of the walk. Now the Cinque Terre is renowned for its white wine, so what was the first store we came to? A wine bar! And they did tastings! Me and Gem decided to do the tasting while Sara just had a beer. We sampled 3 whites and 3 reds. The whites were all from the region and were excellent. The reds were from further a field, though still from close Italian regions, and were also quite good... but the region really excels at the whites. It was really informational too which was good.

We had a quick wander around Corniglia then started the walk to Manarola. This was a much easier walk and was only about 2km... and this one includes a few more flat bits... yay! You often saw the same people on the walks and even met a few Aussies from Perth who filled us in on the latest gossip from the Eagles :) In Manarola we again had a quick wander then found ourselves a nice bar in the shade for a well earned beer for me and Sara, and a glass of white wine for Gem. The bar also bought out a nice big pile of peanuts and a plate of quite tasty olives too... very nice. It was great to get to sit there and know that we only had 1km left and that part of the walk was paved.

The final stretch is called Lover's Walk and its a paved path against the cliff shoreline. The far side is walled and is covered top to bottom in graffiti of "person x loves person y". It was built donkey's years ago by the townsfolk of both Manarola and Riomaggiore to allow them to trade and stuff... We got into Riomaggiore about 5:30pm and our bus was picking us up at 6:30... so we had a quick look around the town and guess what, found a pub :) We also had ice cream too.

The bus finally came and picked us up, and we headed back to the hostel. Quick showers all round then we headed down the road to the local pizza place... which could well have been the only restaurant in Biassa. We were damn hungry after our massive day so we all had a pasta for primi (first course), then got two pizzas to share for secondi (second course). It was all simple fare but so good. The region is also famous for its pesto and the spaghetti al' pesto was brilliant. After getting our fill of good food we were basically wiped out... so we wandered back to the hostel and got into bed. We knew we were having a much quieter day tomorrow so we could have a sleep in.... oh yeah :)

We had breakfast in the hostel then made our way out to the bus stop to head back into Cinque Terre. Once in Riomaggiore we took the train out to Vernazza, which was our favourite of the towns and had a beautiful swimming area. We had a quick wander around then headed down to the beach. The beach area would only have been about 200m wide but you could walk round the rock a little and lie on the warm rocks and get in the water that way too. We all sun creamed-up then got in... and boy it was a fair bit colder than we imagined! But after a while we adjusted and started to enjoy it. Then Gem managed to step on what could possibly have been the only sea anemone in the area and fill her heal with about 10 or so spikes. She swam back out to a big rock and Sara proceeded to try and get them out for her with a pair of pliers that a fellow aussie sun baking on the adjoining rock happened to have in his bag. She got a few out but most broke off.... It didn't seem to be bothering Gem much (she's a trooper) so she just sucked it up and figured she'd have a go back in the hostel with a needle.

We stayed either in or around the water for a few hours just relaxing, then headed up to grab some lunch from a restaurant that had been recommended in our guide book... and boy it was right. Gem had a lovely seafood dish, I had scampi pasta, and Sara thought she'd be game and try the black squid ink pasta. Looked awful but actually tasted very good. All three meals were actually.

After this we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Manarola and Riomaggiore and bought ourselves a few bottles of the white wine Gem loved, a marble mortar and pestle for me, some pesto, and few tiles for Gems art project when she gets back to Oz. Oh, and stopped for the occasional drink too :)

The evening saw us head back out to the same little restaurant in Biassa (not that we had much choice) and fill our tummies with more good food (picking up a pattern here are we?). After that Sara had a go at Gem's heal with a needle. I think she got out a couple but the others had sort of worked their way in deeper. Gem figured they'd come out on their own eventually like splinters. In the end they didn't and she still has them in her heal at the moment, but at the time they weren't causing her much discomfort so she just let them be.

Well that was the end of Cinque Terre. We got some sleep, and got ready to leave earlyish for our trip to Florence (Firenze to the Italians) with a stop at Pisa to the see the famous Leaning Tower.

More on that soon. :)
Duncan.

New Shiny Things

People,

There are 5 new galleries and 4 new movies to look at over on the left. We are now finally into 2008 with our pictures...

Enjoy!

22nd May - Venice

Yaaay for us!!! back on the Continent. It was a very very early start on Thursday morning when Sara, Duncan and I left for the airport, too early for coffee even which meant Dunc and Sara were a little on the cranky side :) I however was full of beans...

We arrived in Venice around lunch time and being the thrifty travellers that we are took public transport to our hostel. A bus you ask? Well yes, but a water bus, also known as Vaparetto. So we cruised down the Grand Canal on a little ferry type boat that stopped every so often on eithe side of the canal to allow passangers on and off.

Our "B&B" was located near the famous Rialto bridge, so location wise was perfect. I say B&B with tongue in cheek, as although marketed as a bed and breakfast actually had no breakfast during the months of april and may only.... (had we read the very fine print on the booking information).

That first afternoon we did a self guided walking tour around some of the churches, squares, canals and streets of Venice. It truly is beautiful. I had read prior to going in various reveiws that people either love or hate venice. Hating it due to its rundownness, crowdedness etc. I certainly did not hate it. Many of the buildings do have flaking plaster or paint, but we felt this show of age only added to the charm and beauty of the place. The forecast for the three days that we were in Venice was for rain and storms. Luckily for us the Beeb weather agency doesnt seem to get it right to often and it was nice and warm and sunny. (I have just discovered that this Italian keyboard seems to be lacking an apostrophe key, so apologies for the poor punctuation)

Due to our incredible early start it was a fairly early night for us after some good italian grub and vino, mmm. Fortunately for me I was soooo tired (and not grumpy :) that I slept soundly through til morning. Unfortunately Duncan and Sara were not so lucky and discovered that we were actually sleeping about a wine bar that mascaraded as a little sandwich/coffee shop by day, but by night transformed into a hive of veritable veneitan activity.

The next morning we feared we may have been too hasty in judging the Beeb, there were some dark clouds in the sky! But this did not dampen our enthusiams (ha ha). We took a path down past the fish market (the Venetians have been selling fish there since the days of Marco Polo). Fish markets sound incredibly boring, but you would be suprised the different creatures you can find at them. Next door to the fish market was a daily (except Sunday) fresh fruit and veg market. So bananas for breakfast it was as we continued on our way.

Heading south we crossed over the Rialto. A bridge of some sort has been in this location since around the 1100's (hey look i found the apostrophe!), but the present stone one was completed in 1591. It quite pretty with three pedestrian lanes separated with small shops.

Further south still we came to Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square; since 1177) a large impressive square with lots of tour groups, over priced cafes and over friendly venetian pigeons (much to Sara's disgust, she does not like those birds). The Square is bordered by the Basilica, the Doge's Palace and the Procuratie (three interjoined buildings with a lovely facade of marble archways). We had arrived quite early to visit the Basilica but I was quite amazed by the sheer amount of people that were already in the square.

The inside of Saint Marks Basilica was quite opulent, but I think in a fairly subtle way.... that is of course if oppulence can be subtle. As you walked in it resemble many of the other Basilicas that we had visited although my eyes were immediately drawn to a wonderful mosaiced floor. Although very big it did not however have such a large amount of paintings and sculptures that other churches display, instead when you looked up you saw that the roof was decorated not just with frescoes, but with mosaics of gold, bronze and other coloured stones and tiles. Also on display behind the alter was a very old alterpiece full of precious gems and stones. Many of the art works displayed were thought to be looted from Constantinople or by artists from their following the crusades. It was also interesting to see the similarities between Ayasofya and the blue mosque in Istanbul (what was Constantinople) and the Basilica. We climbed up to the 1st level which afforded a splendid view over the square and also housed a small museum of art and information on how the church was maintained. The highlight of this section was some very old bronze horses (dating somewhere between the BC-AD changeover) which were once again booty from looting Constantinople.

The sky was continuing to darken so we continued our pursuit if indoor activities. The next on our agenda was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, the same family that opened the Guggenheim museum of modern art in NYC. From what I could gather Peggy was an American with a lot of money, who knowing very little about modern art, became interested in modern art, sponsered (and married) many artists and became a collector. By modern art we are talking anything from the 19th century onwards. This was her personal collection and included works by Picasso, Pollock, Max Ernst. So after this I felt much more enlightened and cultured. I did find one explanation for modern art quite interesting: that with the introduction of photography there was no longer a need for 'realistic' paintings and portraits, and that these would become boring, so art needed to evolve to something different to maintain the veiwers interest.

It rained while we were in the Guggenheim... good old Beeb

We headed out to one of the small islands of venice San Giorgio Maggiore which has a Monastery and Church. Climbing the bell tower (via a lift there were no stairs :) gave a spectacular view back across Venice, marred only by the rain!

We headed back to the B&B buying some local vino and cheese along the way and we chilled out at the B&b for a while. We headed back over the Rialto for dinner and ate at a pizzeria. After dinner, some night photos of Venice and a much sought after Gelato we headed back to bed.

On our third day in Venice we sailed out to a couple of Islands in the Venetian Lagoon. Once again it was lovely weather sunny and hot, and not a cloud in the sky. Our first stop was Burano. Burano is a really colourful fishing village that became very famous for its lace. Our time was spent wandering the small islands along side its canals and gorgeous houses which were all different colours. So different and so bright that we wondered whether you could paint your house any colour or whether you had to get permission first. It turns out you apply to paint your house and they let you know what colours you are allowed to choose from. We didn't buy any lace.

The next stop was Murano, slightly bigger it looked more like a much quieter Venice. Murano is famous for its glass, and should you be in the market for glasses that cost 300 euro each or lamps that are over 1000 euro then this is the place for you. A lot of the glass work was beautiful.... but there was a lot of very over the top and dare I say...... tacky..... stuff, but hey who am I to judge, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

We were walking from the water bus into town and were accosted by a woman standing outside what looked like a private residence saying come in and see glass being blown. It was one of those situations where we were sure we were about to get ripped off or taken advantage of, but it was like putting chocolate on the table in front of me and saying it's alright it is free... taste it....
So we did. And it was actually pretty good. We saw to methods of fashioning glass, one 'blowing' a vase and one 'pulling' a horse. Very impressive! After that we were shown the way out... you guessed it through the gift shop!

From here on my luck in Murano when downhill, In one store while inspecting some very unique glasses I cut my finger on an unevenly finshed one and was bleeding 'everywhere!!!' Then i think it could have been the very next store, I picked up the only thing i could afford, and tried on a glass fashion accessory ring... In the process of prying this off my hot sweaty swollen finger, I threw it on the counter and in slow motion Duncan and I watched it bounce across the table onto the floor and break!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Silence ensued and we both looked at the door to see how quickly we could get out before the sales assistant reached us. My conscience got the better of me and I picked up the pieces to give to the sales girl. Luckily when I offered to pay for it she said 'oh that is only cheap it is not important do not worry' (it was still worth 20euros), so holding my breath I walked very carefully out of the store!

On our way back to the B&B that evening we walked along the coast near to Arsenale and past The Bridge of Sighs. Being hot and in need of refreshments we considered sitting at one of the canals and looking out over the water. This was going to be a costly experiment, so instead we bought some beer and wine from a tiny little street vendor, walked over and sat on the marble embankment next to the water. Watching the cruise ships sail in and the little water taxis ducking under the bridge to take their patrons into Venice central was a lovely way to finish up

We had dinner close by that night (Saturday) as we were heading off early to catch a train for the next stage of our journey.

....... Next time on the Blog: Cinque Terre...............