Saturday, March 24, 2012

Free Travel #3 Continued

We woke up to a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, skies clear, and Cinque Terre was on our agenda. Cinque Terre means "the five lands". We hopped on the train to the first city of Riomaggiore to hike to Manorola. The trail called the Via Dell'Amore ("Love Walk"). There were locks all along the path which will seal your eternal love. It was literally on the edge of a cliff protected by super sturdy rails and nets to catch falling rocks. The view was from a postcard.!
In Manorola, we caught the train to Monterosso. We skipped the two towns in between-one of those towns was Vernazza and it was hit hardest in the torrential rains, flooding and mudslides that happened on October 25, 2011. I have been told this town is beautiful and a favorite by many.
In Monterosso, we ate a quick bit of Focaccia bread sitting outside looking at the beach, The kids enjoyed rolling up their jeans and pretty much getting soaked from the knees down. When we returned to Santa Margherita, we did some window shopping, ate supper and actually got the kids to bed at 9.
We headed home on Friday after visiting the outside market in Santa Margherita. I love the Italian markets where you can buy anything from panties to fresh fruit! We again made a train error (my fault) which delayed us a couple of hours. It is confusing sometimes to figure out the train schedules and train bins! Irritating to make mistakes, but it does make you a well-seasoned traveler. The kids really had a good time this past week and it was nice to be on a slower schedule!

1 comment:

Brittyne Fitzgerald said...

Random comment. Bailey and Laura have the same striped sweatshirt....Do you remember the picture of them we have in the same baby outfit when they were probably six months old or so???

I have loved reading about your travels though they leave me green with envy. So happy you guys got to enjoy this as a family!