Italy 2006 - Cinque Terre

Hike #3: Levanto to Monterosso
Time to leave Santa Margherita.  We caught the train to Levanto - almost an hour.  A few members of the group opted to visit the beach and took the train all the way to Monterosso where we met them at the end of the hike.  At Levanto we walked into town and again we had quite a bit of time to get supplies.  Then we started the hike out of town.  On the way we passed the beach, which was the largest one we saw on the trip, and a small castle.  Then came a big climb.  This led to a viewpoint where we took group pictures.  The story is that a physics professor hiked along the same stretch many years ago and was lost.  People believe that he fell off a cliff into the sea.  It was certainly steep enough.  Since I have a physics degree, I know the law of universal gravitation and felt no need to do any experiments to verify it.  I decided to stay well away from the edge.  From here we could see along the coast back to Genoa and further north.

Once we gained the ridge we contoured along the slope with great views of the sea.  After a while we came upon a house.  Virginie told us that the guy who lived there was in his seventies.  Every day he walked over 4 miles to town to get water and supplies.  A lot of work, but he certainly had a magnificent setting for his house.  The trail continued to contour along the ridge with great views.  At this point we encountered a large German tour group and got to share the trail and viewpoints with them.  For the next few days we were on the same itinerary as they were, so Claire tried to plan out start times to beat them to the trail.

Finally we reached a saddle (Base Zero - an old WWII military post).  Slightly further we stopped for lunch at what was probably the most spectacular viewpoint of the whole trip.  Great weather, good food, a fun group of people.  Awesome.  Definitely a photo for the trip catalog.  We could see Monterosso, Vernazza and the whole stretch of the Cinque Terre coast.  After lunch we explored some old ruins and some WWII outposts nearby, then headed down.  As usual, it was a steep trail back down to sea level to Monterosso, the northernmost of the Cinque Terre.  We stopped for a drink at a place by the beach when we first reached town.  After that we had about an hour to explore.  A few people went swimming in the Mediterranean.  Anthony got a nasty sting from a jellyfish.  Sandy and I went into the old part of town and found an internet cafe so Sandy could do email.  She needed to check in on the progress of her job app.  We did a quick check of the shops in the old town, but they sold mainly souvenirs.  No more designer shops for Sandy.  Just as well - she had already filled up all the extra space in our baggage with stuff from Santa Margherita.  Finally we all caught the train to Riomaggiore.
 

Italy 2006 photo pages
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Italy 2006 photo pages
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