DAY 56– A Day by the Italian Riviera and A Night in Florence with a “Ghost Host”

May 14 - Cinque Terre – 5 “Must-See” Villages

We left at 5:30 a.m. to catch a train from Leo's place.  We had to walk quite aways, climb over a median, go through a pasture, down a steep hill, and over to a remote train stop.  We wanted to have a 15 minute stop-over in Pisa to see the famous, of course, "Leaning Tower of Pisa", so we hopped out of the train with our packs, raced through the outskirts of town, asking directions the whole way.  (People thought we were crazy!...the Tower is not hard to miss)  We took 2 quick pictures which aren't too good, then raced back to the next train to Cinque Terre.  WHEW!

Can you see it?  the famous "Leaning Tower?"

I felt a little tipsy from hurrying up so fast and for getting up at 4:15 a.m. to get here.  CRAZY!!  This is as close as we can get - gotta hurry and catch the next train!

Cinque Terre  means "5 lands" in Italian.  It is a portion of coast on the Italian Riviera.

Posing after our lunch

Get there by train or walking - we did both!

Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. The first historical documents date back to the 11th century.  I went into a cute little church on a hill and took pictures inside.

I love to go into the old churches

 These next two statues of Mary are just wonderful...the color, the look on her face.  What a magnificent portrayal of what she must have felt like to be the mother of the Son of God.

The Cinque Terre area is a very popular tourist destination.   I'm glad we didn't go in peak season because the trails were relatively quiet...and it was a most beautiful day!  It took over two hours to do our first hike.

 Won't you come along on our hike with us?  It's a most gorgeous day!

There were MANY steep steps along the way

With spectacular scenery throughout the hike

The floods of 2012 caused havoc in most of the five villages

This was one of our first most gorgeous, blue-skyed, absolutely GREAT weather days in Italy.  We picked the PERFECT day to hike in Rio Maggiore, Monterroso, Vernazza, Corniglia, and Monorola

We rode by train back to Florence and stayed with a new host, but we never actually met him.  We arrived about 10:00 p.m. and met one of his flate mates, but he was out.  She showed us the couch and maybe spoke about a dozen words to us before she was off to her bedroom to study.

We went to bed in a very noisy, young, party-part of the city.

The next morning after everyone has gone to bed after all-night partying -looking down from our window.

 We left early the next morning.  Since we never saw or met our host, we call him our "Ghost Host."