We woke up early to make sure we had a good breakfast to the start of another sight seeing day. Today we were heading to see Cinque Terra. The gentleman at the desk was so helpful in helping me plan our day.
AJ packed up and ready for our adventure!!! The gentleman told us of a great beach, so we let the boys bring their swimsuits and towels, just in case.
Waiting at the train station - I don't think I would mess with any of these boys!
Michael and I on the train heading for our first stop. We took the train all the way South to the first city Riomaggiore.
This mural is modeled after real-life Riomaggiorians, glorify the nameless workers who constructed the nearly 300 million cubic feet of dry-stone walls that run through out the Cinque Terra.
The boys and I enjoying the view!
Here you can see how beautiful the country is, around the hill and in the background you can see another one of the towns.
This is their marina. When there is a big storm coming everybody who owns a boat and some that don't, go running for the marina and help to get all the boats out.
These are more murals in the town showing their fishing industry and fruit.
This was the view back towards the mountains.
This was the view back towards the sea. It would be very peaceful to live here, if you didn't have to worry about all the tourists in town.
My boys in front of the only church in town. Still very impressive for such a small town.
David and the boys walking down the streets of Riomaggiore.
The marina is one of the most beautiful places in the town. You can see the color of the water.
David and the boys waiting for the boat to come and pick us up to head to the next town.
The boats really didn't have a dock, it was just rocks they put this plank out for us to cross and it went up and down and sometimes I wondered if we were all going to fall into the water. But luckily we all made it!
Isn't that just picturesque?!? So beautiful!!!
Next we headed to the second town, Manarola. The boys wasted no time in finding places they could climb! They didn't want to walk on the normal path.
Look at the color of the water here, gorgeous!!!
We headed into town and this one was a little busier than the last, it was also getting a little later in the morning. The streets are narrow and there are very, very few cars that are in the town.
This little square was built in 2004, giving the town a safe and fun zone for kids. It is one of the few areas that is actually flat there. This mosaic depicts the varieties of local fish.
This waterwheel recalls the origin of the town's name - local dialect for "big wheel." Mills like this powered the local olive oil industry.
I am not sure if you can see the size of these lemons, but they are HUGE!!!
This is the Parish Church of St. Lawrence dates from 1338.
This bell tower served as a watchtower when pirates raided the town.
These are the two pieces from the unnamed Master of the Cinque Terre, the only painter of any not from this region.
This is the little organ they have in the church. It is cute.
The boys on the way up as we passed small vineyards, fruit trees, etc.
Daddy and AJ enjoying the view from the top of the mountain!!
Michael was done with the hike, so he found the way down and off he went running!!
Here they had a playground, this is the only one that I say in the four cities that we visited. Of course Michael was the first to find it.
This is the view looking back at the town from the point.
This is the I-beam that they use to put the boats into the marina. You can see the boats on the left of the picture just chilling waiting to be used.
AJ and Michael aren't the only ones who like to climb!!!!
Daddy and AJ finding some shade while waiting for the ferry to get there.
Michael decided on a little different place to wait for the ferry.
This is where the ferry docks - not much of a dock is there?
This is the third town Corniglia. This is the only one that doesn't have access by the sea.
AJ wanted to watch them "dock" in the fourth town Vernazza.
This is the view we had coming into town. It looks like it is a little more popular with the tourist crowd. We had a little more time here because the next ferry didn't come back for a couple of hours, so we decided to see if we could find something to eat.
David decided to try one of the local beers. He said it was pretty good, not the best he has tasted, but nice on a hot day.
Michael with his pizza and AJ trying a new bacon and egg pasta. He said it was really good!!!
I decided on some pizza as well. We had a nice relaxing lunch, played a game and after everybody was ready, we decided to head around the town and check it out.
As you can see this is a much busier town then the other two that we visited.
This is dedicated to those killed in WWI and WWII. Not a family in Vernazza was spared. After 1943, Hitler called up Italian boys over 15. Rather than die on the front for Hitler, they escaped to the hills and became "resistance fighters" in order to remain free.
The boys checking out the small river in the town.
This is a really, really old water wheel that has seen better days.
Check out these stairs, you can see how steep everything is around here.
This is a big millstone that was once used to grind local olives into oil.
In 2011, they had a HUGE rainstorm after a very dry summer. Within four hours, 22 inches of rain fell. Flash floods rushed down the hillsides. Vernazza and Monterosso were devastated, buried under 10 feet of mud. As we walked through the town you would have never known such a devastating flood was here.
Ice cream time!!!! And yes, Michael is still on his no ice cream kick. Crazy kid.
This is the view from inside their church. I would love to have that view every time I worshiped!
This church is unusual for its strange entryway, which faces east (alter side), rather than the more typical western orientation.
Here you can see the church and how high it had to be built to keep it dry.
The boys were having fun watching the kids jump off the rocks, though they were a little jealous because they wanted to do it as well. But I told them swimming was the next town and I didn't have my suit on and no change of clothes if I had to go in and save them. ;-)
Our fifth and final town is the biggest one, and the most visited, Monterossa al Mare.
Hitler also liked this town and put up two bunkers, one on each side of the town.
The boys were soooooo excited to finally get here because they knew they could swim!! As always Michael is first in the water!
AJ testing out the water, he said it was a little cold.
The boys were having so much fun in the water!!!
I am not sure what Michael was doing with the rocks, but they were having fun and he wasn't throwing them at AJ! A bonus both ways! After the boys were thoroughly soaked and cold, we had a little time before our train came, so we decided to walk through the town.
There were two churches across the road from each other. This one is Saint John the Baptist. It was built between 1244 and 1307. It survived two floods thanks to the towns people coming and saving the statues.
Across the road is the Oratory of the Dead. During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church offset the rising influence of the Lutherans by creating brotherhoods of good works. Monterosso had two, nicknamed White and Black. Their mission was to arrange for funerals and take car of widows, orphans, the shipwrecked, and the souls of those who ignore the request for a euro donation. Membership passed from father to son for generations.
You can see the inside of the church is set up more for funerals. After that it was about time to catch the train. Unfortunately I didn't realize it was on the new side of the town and we had to really hike it to make it to the train.
We made it back to our town and back to the same restaurant for more fun and food!!! We decided to play Forget it - a dice game.
David decided he needed a little meat for dinner tonight after all the pasta, so he had meat, meat and some more meat. He was nice enough to share with the rest of us. It was a beautiful night and we sat and enjoyed the evening. Then we had to head back to pack up for our next day.
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