Cinque Terre

Back at the train station our group on the way to Cinque Terre. One of our group had her wallet stolen on her way to the hotel at this same station. They warn you to keep a tight control over your stuff when in the train stations because of the "Romany gypsy" pickpockets. As we were waiting for our train Pia said she thought she was seeing the same girls she felt stole her wallet. There was no police or guards around so we all just had a good look at them before we got on the train......as we left they just melted away. Good clue is they have no bags or anything that indicates they are travellers.

An underground tunnel to get into the town of Rio Maggiore. It is all covered in ceramic tiles, that with the lights on is almost psychedelic in its colours. I'm pulling up the rear of the group so I can take pictures.

A great street as soon as we get into the village. Lynn and I want to sketch first and walk second so we stop on a set of steps to capture the unique buildings with balconies, iron fences and laundry and stairs.

There is only one of the Cinque Terre village walks still open after rock and mud slides caused damage to so much of this area of small towns built on the sides of hills and small harbours. The area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. We are on the move to Vernazza, thought of as the most colourful of the 'five' towns. Unfortunately this area is now a very popular tourist area and those that want to walk the trail between the five communities are now restricted to the one part of the trail between Vernazza and Monterossa al Mare. The only section that is open at this time.
We spent the afternoon sitting in the harbour area sketching. We had a nice lunch of pasta and salad, a little glass of local wine in the sunshine. There are three shopping items in this area of Italy....leather, silk scarves and linen. We wandered thru the shops but didn't purchase anything yet. We seem to be the only ones of our group left in Vernazza as we head for the train station. It's the first time we have travelled by train without our group and all is good until we realize we are on a train that ends at Sestri Levante station, only half way back to Rapallo. As we wait for our connecting train we hear an announcement that our train is 20 minutes late. We hear this over and over again..."a nocho di retardo" translated meaning, a notice of lateness ...... It's times like this when having a sketch book handy passes the time easily. An Italian lady tries to ask ME if the train will be late. I try to explain I don't understand Italian but she keeps trying. I think she feels if she speaks to me enough I will eventually understand. Not so, and she leaves us feeling like we have been in a Monty Python skit as we start to laugh about our situation. The late train comes on it's late schedule and we are on our way home.

 

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