Cinque Terre-Monterosso-mortis et orationis

We stumbed into a rather odd little church in Monterosso that seems to have something to do with Catholics praying for the souls in purgatory. (I think it's the Brotherhood of Prayer and Death when translated.)


They were asking for 1E donations to assist in the rebuilding/care of the building. While the building was in poor shape, it was hard to justify dropping a Euro into the bucket. If the town cares that much about the site, they'd do something about it themselves without hitting up the tourists! We can't say that we've visited this kind of church before! It certainly didn't have the standard Catholic church feel to it. It may have been Noelle, who hightailed it out, while Steve hung out and snapped a few pictures. I'm now ready to visit the Church of Bones in Prauge! (Perhaps our next holiday!)
It may have actually been more welcoming that some of the churches we've visited in the past!

Walking the Cinque Terre-Riomaggiore to Manarola

One of the highlights of the Cinque Terre was walking from Riomaggiore to Vernazza. We caught a boat from Monterossa to Riomaggiore. The boat ride lasted about 40 minutes and only coast about 8E each. Cheap entertainment that came with a seat and a nice view.

All five towns are connected by a walking/hiking trail. We walked four of the five towns on the trail, and resided in the fifth town. The center three towns are, in tourist theory, cut off from civilization unless you walk, catch a boat, or catch a train. Isolation is the key word.

Early in the morning (11AM) at Riomaggiore. Steve was feeling a little too optimistic with a belly full of cappuccino and pastries. "God willing and the Creek don't rise, we'll bang this out in no time!"

The first portion of the walk, Riomaggorie to Manarola was a cake walk. Nice wide open paths. Crisp, fresh air. It's called the "La Via dell'Amore", or "Path of Love". It was divine and very easy to understand why it's a National Park. We walked on a path high above the ocean.

This is the chair of locks. Don't carve your initials on a tree, lock in your love by leaving a lock behind. It's good luck!

We forgot about taking a lock, so we had nothing to lock in our love except a kiss!

Manarola was only about a 30 minute walk from Riomaggorie. We stayed true to the cause and continued our walk and didn't spend a whole lot of time exploring this town. Manorola was kind of a point of no return. The next town had no transport in or out other than our feet, so we needed to keep moving so that we could finish the day with enough time to catch the last boat out of Vernazza.

(Even on vacation, there are still schedules that must be kept.)

We have some night shots (postcards) of Vernazza that are just amazing!

Cinque Terre-moon glow

The Cinque Terre was everything that the big cities were not. Small, intimate, and (somewhat) friendly. Things move at their own pace here. Even the dogs have their own benches to snooze on. What's not to like about that?




This was a picture we shot inside the window of a resturant that were ate dinner one evening. Steve had Fruti del mare, which (literally translated) equates to paying too many Euros to shell all your own clams, prawns, mussels and crayfish. It was good, but....


This place sold a "special cookbook" of recipes that the chef wouldn't even share with his special close friends, but he would share it with you, his "very special friend" for 10E.







A few pictures from the pier near our B. Normally we would call it a B&B, but the place we resided in this town only had Beds to offer, not a bed and breakfast.










There are local fisherman who work on small boats like this. We could see them out in the distance on the water working, but didn't see too many of them near the pier. We may have seen one or two on the pier working on their nets.











Moonlight reflecting on the ocean.

Cinque Terre

Hi All-

We are having a grand time in Cinque Terre and taking lots of fabulous photos.
No time to update.

Love to all


...san

Milan-Lake Como

Today we caught a day train out of Milan into Lake Como and kicked back a bit. It was a relaxing day w/o too much "must do" tourism. Tomorrow we move onto the Cinque Terre. (There is no "must do" on the Cinque Terre, except pay cash.)

The sight of an open park bench, that was free of charge, with no waiting line, was too much for Steve to handle. He had to put the bench to good use after a big lunch.

Milan

We meandered into the heart of the old district in Milan today and hung out for a few hours. Leonardo is rumored to have spent a vast majority of the productive years of his career working in Milan, so the city has a soft spot for him.

While the city of Milan may have a soft spot for Leonadro, Noelle has a
soft spot for whoppers at Burger King. (Biggest smile of the week.)

While all the pasta has been great, it was nice (in a sick way) to have a burger and fries. We actually found a Japanese place for dinner!

It's considered good luck to spin on the small testicles of the bull in one of the plazas. No idea why it's considered good luck, but it is. The locals wander by, do their business with the bull, and move on.

The bull is much worse for the wear.

The Duomo was amazing. Almost as large as St. Peter's Basilica, but not as crowded. The inside of the Duomo was good, but the roof tour was awsome. Standard for our visit, we had to climb stairs.

The rooftop of the Duomo was incredible. Here's a few shots.

Venice from the water

More Venice

This notice is posted around St Mark's Square. Guess they're trying to keep the place more respectable or something? It made us laugh.
Below are some shop windows at night. Sweets and alcohol in the same shop!

Glass and mask shops were everywhere. Masks are now used for Carnivale, the Venetian celebration of Mardi Gras. In times past, masks were used simply to hide one's identity so that a person could indulge in whatever they chose while visiting the city. Hmmm......

Another glass shop.

There are little dogs all over Venice. They go to work with their owners, in shops, restaurants, you name it, dogs go there. Mostly they're not on leashes, they just run up ahead and if they get too far, they turn and wait for their owners to catch up. Weiner dogs of all types were plentiful, as were poodles and a little dog that looks like a tiny collie and comes in all colors. The glass versions below were cute, but sorry Jess, as you can see by their price tags, you got a picture, not the real glass piece! :)

The live version:

Gondola parking. They keep the covers on till someone pays to go on a ride.

It seems that the lion became associated with St Mark. I can't remember why and am currently too lazy to get up and check the guide book, but there are winged lion statues all over. This one is on the Duomo.

The wooden table looking things are stacked around the island. They become sidewalks during the winter when the streets flood. St Mark's Square is the lowest point, so there were many stacks like this one.

Looking away from St Mark's Square. Again, too lazy to get the book and tell you more right now... Traffic jam. Things got really tight during the day.