From Ligurian Sea to the Caribbean!

Leaving in early morn to catch a flight to the British Virgin Islands to spend some time on Blew Bayou sailing around the islands!!!!  Taking my Italy stuff with me so I can work on finishing the blog.....hope to be back here really soon.   Be sure to follow my other blog......www.constantchatter-jmac.blogspot.com where I will be documenting the sailing adventures!  and drinking a few of these!!

Would you like to walk with me from Monterosso to Vernazza??

September 16, 2012

After our long day of adventure yesterday, we all slept in and met up at 10 am for breakfast before heading out for our walk on the trails to Vernazza.  This was about a 2 hr hike around the mountains from one town to the next.  About a 3-4 minute train ride.....or a 2 hr hike!

With all but a few of us in tow, we began the climb.  Supposedly it's easier to walk from Monterosso to Vernazza than the other way around.  It's tougher when you first start in this direction, therefore; easier to hike when you're fresh! And remember what I always say.....when you see a gorgeous landscape in front of you, always turn around and you'll most likely see something just as pretty behind you!



At the beginning of the hike and looking back to Monterosso.

Looking ahead to the trail on the side of the mountain

Up Up Up.....some of the steps going up!

Farther along and looking back one more time!  Amazing!

Whew.....we're going the right way!

Along the way, you might run across a secret door!  Did I open it?? Not on your life! heh.

Or a man selling homemade jewelry....which, of course, we helped out the local economy with!

We stopped along the way to document our hike!

and many times, just stood in awe of the beauty around us

Just when everyone's water is running low and our knees began to feel the hour of hiking straight up, we turn the corner and the walk down and into Vernazza with ease and anticipation! This tiered area of land is nothing but grapes growing!

From high above, and thru the trees, we see the land of glory!

It's me!!!!  I really was there!!

see the yellow and blue umbrellas over by the water next to the building? Lunch!!

As we made our way down and into the town, one of the first things to greet us was

he was playing the coolest Italian musico on his horn and smiling as everyone passed by him!

then I spied something red and blue on the side of this building.  As I walked a lil farther down, I saw that it was a boat in a window!

soon, we walked thru a gate and down a narrow street into the open main street of Vernazza!

basket weavers!

back streets that led to homes....just loved seeing the old, worn steps made of concrete from days gone by, weathered by much activity.

Then, as you know by now......the first thing on the agenda was "eating"!!! Hey....we had just burned lots of calories!!  Lunch was under the yellow umbrellas right close to the sea!

naturally, someone had fresh tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and olives!

and somebody always had some good ol' italian spaghetti with sauce!

and look!  from this same spot, I took the same picture that I took in 2005...the last time I was here.  Look closely.....it's the same place of the pic in my banner above on this blog!

After a leisurely lunch and a long hike, we walked back to the train station for the 4 minute ride back to our hotel.  A little downtime before a BIG night out.  That will be the next post!!!