Italy 2006 - Cinque Terre

Hike #5: Riomaggiore to Portovenere
The weather was threatening, so only some of us did this hike.  Quite a few members of the group took the train directly to Portovenere.  The rest of us started (of course) with a long climb out of Riomaggiore.  We reached a church above town located on an exposed viewpoint over the sea and stopped there for a rest.  It was cold and very windy here, probably the only place on the trip where we stopped somewhere that wasn't very pleasant.  There was a snack shop where most of the group bought coffees to warm up.  Since there was no place to stay inside, we didn't stay long.  Soon we were climbing up above the church and eventually reached the point called Telegrafo on the map at 524 meters.  From there we had a level walk through the forest on the top of the ridge.  This part of the hike was weird, as there was all sorts of gym and playground equipment along the trail.  Finally we came to the town of Campiolia.  There was a view from here of the bay and the town of LaSpezia.  It's not that impressive.  LaSpezia is a naval base and industrial town.  It's probably better that it's hidden around the corner for most of the hike.   In Campiolia we stopped at a cafe and had a delicious lunch.  There were plates of bread, sliced meats, cheeses and vegetables which we passed around the group.  For those who weren't totally full, they had cake and gelato for dessert.  With energy renewed, we started on the last part of the hike.  We traversed a high ridge with a lot of rock bands.  The trail was quite exposed in some places.  This hike would not have been pleasant if it was wet.  We reached a viewpoint where we could see the church at Portovenere and took some great group photos.  It took quite a while as poor Virginie had to take the same picture over and over again with ten different cameras.  After that we were on the home stretch, but rain started before we got to the end.  We did the last half hour of the hike in the rain, and just as Claire had promised the steep trail was really slippery when it was wet.  It was slow going, but we did make it down without incident.
It rained most of the night and the next day was threatening, so Sandy and I didn't go with the group for the final hike on the island of Palmaria.  Instead we spent the day exploring Portovenere. At the very tip of the promontory that the town is on there is the church of San Pietro.  It is a striking sight from the castle above, perched above rocky cliffs on a tiny tip of land.  Parts of the church date from the sixth century.  In ancient times there was a temple to Venus on the site, which is where Portovenere (Port of Venus) gets its name.  Below the church is Byron's Cove, a (somewhat) sheltered area where the poet Byron would come to swim when he lived in Genoa.  An old fortress built by the Genoese to guard the entrance to the harbor was still in great shape.

In the afternoon we looked around the shops in town and eventually stopped at a cafe for lunch, wine and some gelato.  We ran into Mary Ann in town and had lunch with her.  In the evening, Sandy wasn't feeling well so she skipped the last dinner.  After a whole week of being polite, the discussion at dinner finally erupted into some serious political debate.  I guess everyone was feeling comfortable by this time.

Next day it was raining heavily - time to go home.  The bus was delayed by flooding but we eventually got going.  We rode to the train station in LaSpezia and one by one we caught our various trains to head off to various destinations.  Sandy and I took a train into Milan.  We spent a few hours walking around Milan - not an attractive city.  Then we took the bus out to the airport and a cab to our hotel.  After a quiet evening, we had an early start to the airport and a long day of traveling to get home.  Another trip in the bag.

Italy 2006 photo pages
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Italy 2006 photo pages
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