Monday, 5 June, 2018
As has become our custom at the end of each EuroBall season, we were due for a vacation in an exotic European port of call.
With money being an issue, we decided to stay somewhat close to our home base of Venegono Superiore just north of Milan.
Our pick this year was in the region of Liguria on the coast due south of us to the . . .
. . . Cinque Terre city of
Vernazza
To get to Vernazza, population 498 souls and two atheists, would first require our usual commuter train to the Milano Cadorna train station followed my a Metro ride to the Milano Centrale train station to buy our train tickets to Vernazza.
That is where we hit a minor snag. The next train to the Cinque Terre area was sold out so we would have to kill about three hours until the next train to our vacation dreamland.
What to do?
Take pictures of the impressive Milano Centrale train station of course!
The main waiting area
Under this MASSIVE dome are over
20 railway lines waiting to accommodate
excited travelers like us
Keeping guard over all of us
We read some too while
waiting for our mid-day train
Did I mention that we attended the
Palio in Legnano a few weeks ago?
MAMMA MIA!
How tough are this guys hands?
"The Senate and the Roman People"
A Sentinel
The Eagles won the Super Bowl
this year in case you didn't know
An Italian Horn-of-Plenty
Loving the helmet
Buy your train tickets in here
I like squares
Once we finally left Milano Centrale, all went smoothly including our transfer at Levanto and finding our delightful Airbnb in Vernazza.
A bit about the beautiful Cinque Terre area before we go any farther. It is a secluded six mile strip of the Italian Riviera located on the coast of the Ligurian Sea.
Five wonderful villages make up the Cinque Terre or Five Lands. The five villages from West to East are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Cornelia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. As already stated, we are staying in Vernazza.
Each village sits in a ravine carved out by a river over the many millennium and are all to a great extent traffic free. These villages offer swimming, boat rides, hiking, sun, cuisine, wine and the joy that is always at core of the Italian lifestyle.
After settling in at the Airbnb, we headed towards Vernazza's quaint harbor.
Lots of small boats in the
Vernazza harbor
A small lookout tower left over
from the days of pirates ravaging
the Cinque Terre back in the 1500s
Sunning on the rocks
Vernazza has a CHURCH!
Fishing vessel
The Vernazza Armada
Another lookout tower
A pirate ristorante taking
advantage of the local history
Obviously, seafood dishes are a
big part of the local cuisine
So is GELATO!
Late afternoon beach crowd
Picturesque Vernazza
I said it was a picturesque so I
took another photo from a new angle
Just outside Vernazza's harbor
Kayaking was not on our list
of things to do today
The owners of these crafts will
happily rent them to we tourists
A boy jumping off the rocks
into the pristine Ligurian Sea
More rockbound sun worshipers
The joy of a lazy day
I just liked the composition
and the colors
Chiesa Santa Margherita di Antiochia
Koreen FitzGerald would like this
mosaic in front of the Chiesa
A REALLY old church organ
Laurie and her new hat
A river ran through here until
it was engineered underground
many years ago
In 2011, a freak rainstorm dropped 22 inches of rain on Venazza in just four hours! The resulting flash flood left this street under 12 feet of mud and debris. It took a long time for Vernazza to recover but recover she has thanks to the hard work of these resilient people.
Flash flood?
What flash flood?
Monday must be laundry day
The mandatory World War monument
Vernazza's WWI fallen on the left, the WWII caduti, as they are called in Italian, on the right.
Our Airbnb, the Santa Marta Rooms 25,
are located on this Via
Near Airbnb's front door
Outside our loft's bedroom window
Security is tight in our neighbhood
A random grape press
The path to Vernazza's "New" Beach
The "New" Beach is
all rocky
It is called the "New" Beach because much of the debris from the Flood of 2011 was moved here to create this beach which has been gradually eaten away by the tides over the subsequent years.
Beach rocks can become
Beach Art in the right hands
Not mine though.
Lots of artists frequent the
"New" Beach it seems making
these interesting cairns
This cairn caught my eye
Magic Hour fast approaching
Vernazza's harbor
Laurie about to dine at the
Trattoria del Capitano
Seafood platter for her,
shrimp gnocchi for me
The food was amazing but our waiter, Andrea, was more than worth the price of admission!
Vernazza after dinner
Two no longer hungry tourists
Another Venazza ristorante sitting
high above the harbor
Serene
One more look towards the "New" Beach
All in all, a GREAT first day in the Cinque Terre!
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