Our destination for the next day was the Cinque Terre or “five villages” or “five terraces”. It’s five small towns along the area of these small peninsula’s. These towns are on these steep hillsides, one on the edge of cliffs. This area of Italy was only accessible by donkey for many years. Some parts are still accessible only by walking.
The area is famous for its beauty and its wine (predominantly white wine due to the hearty grapes… red doesn’t like the sea breezes). The grapes are grown all over the steep hills… I’d estimate they’re between 60 to 80 degree inclines. Land slides can be bad so the small houses among the vineyards are only lived in, a night at a time. You wonder how they go about harvesting… These days they have a small monorail system which can hold one person and their tools.
From the bus we walked through one of the towns and on to some of the tracks among the vineyards. The whole area has breathtaking views of the multi-coloured houses and the little steps and paths.
From there we took a train to the town of Monterosso al Mare . Our local guide was OK but our previous two raised my expectations regarding the quality of regional information provided.
The Oratory Mortis et Orationis (Death and Prayer), is a cool church of baroque style in Monterosso al Mare. It was being renovated but the cool thing was that there were skulls and bones in the decorations of the church, including the crest made of the skull and cross bones. Up on the wall were full skeletons in a laid back position. It was an odd mix of the grim and the hopeful. There was one with a pirate hat and in the woodwork at the door there were even more skulls, one of them smiling.
After that, I did a bit of souvenir shopping and wandered the little shops among the winding alleys. The cool thing was that I found a grocery store with some Dove products and lip balm – the sun and heat had not been kind… though on the positive side I am getting my tan back. 🙂
It was a nice sleepy village town and I could have wandered around for ages. Unfortunately, since time was running out, I grabbed a sandwich on the go and couldn’t help getting an ice cream cone too.
We met up and scurried back to the other town and the train station. I was last in the group but as the three in front walked, I noticed they passed the train station entrance. But the group couldn’t be found. I convinced them to stop but after checking the first platform still didn’t know where they were. After deciding to stick together we were rescued by someone else… Turns out they were behind the train on the last platform thus I couldn’t see them. Only a small drama.
Anyway, back to the bus and time for a snooze. Zzzz
The next thing you know, we’re checking in at the hotel in Florence, the new Hilton. Very nice.
After a brief check-in, we headed to the magical town of San Gimignano (pronounced San-jimmin-yar-no). This was by far the most peaceful town I’ve visited so far. They call this Tuscan hill-top town, “The Medieval Manhattan of Italy” because it has very tall towers, skyscrapers if you will. Not only were the views quite pleasant but the town was quite relaxed. They had winding alleys and little shops. My most favourite experience was when I got to the top and found a nice courtyard. I sat on the wall and listened to a Harpist, surrounded by garden. It was brilliant.
Our tour director then shouted us some ice cream. I love the ice cream here. I like getting a waffle cone with three scoops… chocolate chip, tiramisu and vanilla with chocolate pieces.
On the topic of Chianti Wine… grown in this area… we were told the story of the duke who, in an attempt to avoid dishonor of having someone else dance with his new bride before him, fled the city to a run-down castle in the middle of the night. In order to raise money to renovate the castle, he decided to try to blend the right grapes to make the best wine… After 13 years he had come up with Chianti (he was a little bit of a perfectionist). Due to its popularity he was then able to sell the wine and renovate his castle.
We also heard about the dilemma that once perplexed a particular monastery. The monks were concerned because they did their calculations and figured that they would run out of (a particular) wine that they used for communion. This was a big issue. They decided to pray about it. While praying, a donkey managed to get loose, even though they locked up their animals. It went into their vineyard and ate/destroyed even more of their precious vineyard. They were even more upset to discover this… They wondered why god had left them. As it turned out though, the donkey did them a service, it pruned the vine thus promoting growth. Thus, they were saved! The method of pruning was passed on and soon spread among the monasteries.
When we approached Florence and its terracotta roof tiles, I was reminded of Tuggeranong (my home district) were there is a similar requirement for all houses in the valley.
That night we had dinner in the hotel, I believe it was pasta then turkey with potatoes and some form of turnover dessert. It was the new Hilton in Florence. The room was very modern with an extremely large shower head and a phone in the toilet, how convenient! :-/ The night was concluded with a nice drink with the others… A pleasant evening indeed.
Anyway… That was that.
you stayed at the hilton no wayyyy