Jenson Adventure, Day Two...

March 13, 2012

Day two of our adventure with the Jensons began with breakfast at the apartments.  We bought fruit and yoghurt the previous evening, so it was nice to just wake up and open the doors to the balcony and not have to go anywhere for breakfast.  The views were spectacular as well.

We began the day with a hike up through the hamlet of Riomaggiore to the top where you can look down over the whole town.  Then we wound our way down the opposite side of town to the train station.

From there, there is a hike north along the sea that leads to the next hamlet, Manarola, which is the second of the five hamlets that make up Cinque Terre. The weather was absolutely incredible.  Not too hot, not too cold, just right, said Goldilocks J We stopped many times along the way to take pictures.

The path between Riomaggiore and Manarola is called the Via Dell'Amore (the path of love).  All along the way there are padlocks, locked in place by lovers to show how they are locked together.  You can see them on the railings in this picture with Danika.

We stopped for lunch in Manarola, getting fresh bread, ham and cheese and taking it into the piazza.  It was so quiet that we had the whole place to ourselves except for the occasional group of tourists led by a tour guide.  This picture is of the ceramic fish in the floor of the piazza.

After lunch we walked up through town to the top where there is a church.  Again, you can view the entire town from above. 

There is a beautiful vineyard that you can walk through that skirts the northern edge of the hamlet.  

The vineyard itself is wonderful, but it also offers amazing views of the town and sea. 

Once through the vineyard we wound our way down near the sea to a cemetery.  The kids had fun exploring here.

The hiking path to the next hamlet north of Manarola was closed because of the terrible rains they had last October, so we couldn’t hike any further.  We returned to the harbor of Manarola.

Then we walked to the train station and the hike south back to Riomaggiore.

 We saw this guy "working" on our hike back... so funny :)

Once back in Riomaggiore, we had to stop for some gelato before driving to Florence.

The traffic was crazy in Florence, but we finally made it to the convent where we were staying.  It was fabulous!  The nuns were so nice and the rooms were spotless.  We had a two room place that slept four, and the Jensons had a two room place that had 3 bunk beds in one room and a double bed in the other room.  Really fun!

David called ahead and made reservations for our large group of ten for dinner at Trattoria Icche C'e C'e ("whatever there is, there is").  The forty minute walk into the city center was gorgeous along the Arno river.  The night was so still that the reflection of the city opposite was stunning.

We were all exhausted after dinner, so we walked back to the convent and turned in for the night.  Another spectacular day J

~Mary