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07/04/2004: "Cinque Terre - June 4"
Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!
Yesterday, we left Milan...
Before leaving, we went to a chapel called Santa Maria Della Grazie to see "The Last Supper" painting by Leonardo da Vinci. We were able to see it without a reservation, and it was absolutely beautiful - so amazing to see it in real life after seeing it in books for so long. It is protected by an air filtering system in the museum, and only one door can be open at once. The doors entering and leaving are two sets of doors, and both can't be open at one time. So, basically you stand in front of the first door, wait for it to open, then stand in front of the 2nd door and wait for it to open (only opens after the first closes), the finally entering the room with the fresco. The same procedure happens when leaving the room.
After looking at the painting we search for the Internet Cafe. It is supposedly by the Duomo, so we search for it for quite a long time, but after we discover that it has closed, we head back to the hotel to check out. The Milan hotel had the best breakfast, but the hotel itself was someone irritating with all the rennovating that was occurring. We found out later that they had marked the rooms down because of the construction (down to 70 Euro from 280....well worth the the extra noise).
We left Milan and decided not to stop in Portofino or Genoa, since we were running a bit late. Upon arriving at Genoa (Genova), we were immediately able to catch a train to La Spezia (we're getting good at this!), and then onto the town of Manarola (number 2 of the 5 Cinque Terre towns). From there we waited (& waited) for the National Park Shuttle up to our hotel in the very small town of Volastra. There is only one hotel (/bar) and one restaurant in the town. As soon as we got to Volastra, we were very hungry, so we went to THE restaurant of the town. Unfortunately they did not open until 7:30, so we had to make "reservations" for later on. After watching some tv in our room (yes, tv!!), we went back to the restaurant promptly at 7:30 - they were surprised to see us there so early! The meal was good, but cheap - a liter of "bianco della casa" was on 6 Euro! We tried some grappa as an after dinner drink (a strong brandy), but we soon realized that grappa was "crappa!"
Today, in Cinque Terre, we got up pretty early eat breakfast (pretty good) and then caught the first bus down to the train station. We took the train to the first Cinque Terre town (Riomaggiorre) to begin our hike. We hiked all the way from the first town to the fifth (Riomaggiore->Manarola->Corniglia->Vernazza->Montarosso). The first and second legs of the hike were very easy, but the third and fourth (fourth especially) were tough. The total distance was 11 kilometers. The difficult parts were in very wild and green, mountainous areas, up and down hills (see photos). Even though the hike was tough, the views were spectacular, and well worth it. The geography was a bit similar to the Big Sur area of California, but the coasts dropped off much steeper. On the last leg of the trip, there was a man on the trail who was selling lemons for 50cents. We bought one, and he cut it into 4 slices --- a lemon has never tasted so refreshing!! Finally after 3.5 hours (usually 5 hours), we reached the last town, for great meals and cold beer for Mike. Then we rented a couple of beach chairs and laid on the beach for awhile....it was absolutely beautiful, and such a nice rest. The beach was much more sandy than that of Amalfi, but the sand was still rather course compared to Southern California.
Finally we headed for "home," taking the train back to Manarola. We thought we had missed our bus in Manarola, so we went to grab some gelato. When we got back to the bus stop, the bus was driving away!!! grr...that meant we had to wait an HOUR to get back to our place. After a long and tiring day, we finally got back to our hotel, and after showering, we went to "the restaurant." I had plain ole' spaghetti (yum), and Mike had gnocchi with crab. No Grappa tonight!! (or probably ever again - ha!).
So far, we loved Cinque Terre, but Sorrento is still our *number one!*