Saturday 3.14.12
Saturday we set out to hike to the other cities. First we hiked the “Via dell Amore” (path of love). This was a fully paved path that wound around the hilly seaside to the next town, Monterolla. Much of the railing along the path was covered with locks that people have put onto them. There were also writings on the walls along the way which were funny to read at times. Cinque Terre was hit with severe flooding and mudslides last October so the next few paths were closed. We took a train instead to Vernazzo, one of the worst hit cities by the flooding. None of the shops on the main corso were open. Most of them were either boarded up or were in the process of reconstruction. It was a pretty devastating flood for the city. Next, we went to Monterosso by train because we could not find the hiking path. We had planned to hike from Monterossa back to Vernazzo but by the time we got there it started to rain again. The lady at the train station told us that was the most dangerous portion of the hike with lots of stairs and narrow paths. Combined with the rain this would have been a terrible idea so we sat a bar for a few hours to wait it out. The workers decided it was appropriate to play country music through their loud speakers. They seemed to enjoy it and even belted out some of the songs including Garth Brooks and Toby Keith. It was pretty amusing. Once we left, they switched back to their normal beats. We made our way back to Riomaggiore for dinner with the rest of the group who also came to Cinque Terre this weekend.
City of Monterolla
hillside in Monterolla covered in vineyards
flood damage in Vernazzo
what used to be sea front is now an area of rubble
hiding from the rain in Monterossa
Monterolla looks amazing built on the rocks and all the colorfull buildings with the sea below. Wow.
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