Cinque Terre: Friday

Alrighty, so if you've stuck with me to this last post, I'll make it worth your while.  Tim took some absolutely beautiful pictures on our last day in Italy.

The mudslides of a couple of years ago have left two of the four sections of the coastal trail closed (in fact, the two "accessible" portions).  The other remaining open section connects Vernazza to Corniglia. It was near the difficulty of the hike we did on Thursday, and it wasn't clear that Maya would do another one.  So in the morning on Friday, Tim set off on this trail alone, and I took the girls by train to Corniglia.  We walked through Corniglia and out onto the trail briefly to meet up with Tim.  Then we wandered a bit in Corniglia before all catching the train to the southernmost of the villages--Riomaggiore--for lunch at a gorgeous self-service place overlooking the ocean.  (This is where, incidentally, we must have been when the earthquake happened.  We didn't notice and no one else appeared to either, even though it was decently nearby.)  After lunch, we wandered a bit in Riomaggiore then took the train to Manorola (between Riomaggiore and Corniglia).  We wandered here a bit, stopping for gelato and some playtime in a park, before heading back to Vernazza (again by train, though I toyed with the idea of myself walking the trail in the opposite direction).  We had dinner on the main square in Vernazza, where we could watch the boats, the ocean, and the local kids play.

Saturday, we headed home.

Cinque Terre: Thursday

Wednesday, we drove from Levico to Florence, deposited the car, and caught a pair of trains to Vernazza, on the coast in Liguria.  Vernazza is one of the Cinque Terre, a set of five villages situated in close proximity (by foot or boat) to each other along the coast. Up until about a hundred years ago, the only real way to get from one town to another was via some footpaths that followed the coast (or by boat).  Then the train line came and connected them through a series of tunnels that hug the coast.

When we were visiting Italy a couple of years ago, rainstorms caused massive landslides in this area, which did significant damage to these towns.  In fact, you can find videos online of rivers of mud coursing through the streets of at least two of the towns we visited (Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare).  A lot of work has gone in to saving and reviving the towns, where tourism is, it appears, the major (only?) industry.

Vernazza was just beautiful.  We were so glad we had chosen to stay here.  It was a unique mix of small town (seriously, we saw the same curly-red-haired toddler playing in the street at least once every day).  The locals all greeted each other warmly by first name. But it's also clearly driven by tourism.  The vibe was just so welcoming and warm that it was amazing.

Thursday morning, we got up early and decided to hike the coastal trail from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare.  This turns out to be one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) and almost assuredly the longest of the four coastal trails.  The hike was not easy, and it was hot.  But it was definitely worth it, and I think everyone (even Maya) was glad to have done it in the end.  The trail deposited us right on the beach in Monterosso al Mare, so after lunch, we dove right in to cool off.  As a bonus, we didn't have to hike back; we just caught the ~5 minute train back to Vernazza for dinner at a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea.

Trentino: Tuesday

While we were visiting Trento previously, Soprabolzano was one of our favorite places to visit. It turns out that Amy and GP had never been there.  So on Tuesday, all of us (minus GP) headed up for a visit. It was also much cooler at elevation than it had been down in Trento.  We took a walk around a lake, had lunch at a German restaurant, then took a big lift up to the "top" for great visitas of the surrounding mountains.  When we were finished in Soprabolzano, we drove back towards Trento and stopped in Mezzocorona where we met GP at Francesca, Dario, and Gaia's house.  Francesca laid out a wonderful barbecue dinner, and the kids had a great time running crazy in the yard.  Unfortunately, Dario had to join just by skype, but it was really great to spend another nice evening with friends before we left Trentino on Wednesday.