Wednesday 26 February 2014

Feb 25 Arrivederci Italia

We returned to Genova to stay one more day to visit and then take a train to Ventimiglia (border with France). We had initialy chosen a hotel with questionable reputation € 60 per night and breakfast included at 400 metres from the train station. When we arrived at the Hotel door, all our questions were answered. The gate in front of the door had a chain and a lock and a sign written in italian. After reading the sign a couple of times, we decided to follow the arrow. The arrow took us to a big, old, luxurious hotel a few steps further on. We thought the staff of this fancy hotel were going to do the clerical protocol for the cheap hotel and perhaps show us a back door or tell us how to enter in the hotel we had booked.
But nooo! They were going to take the best care of us. The nice receptionist of Grand Hotel Savoia said that for €19 extra to our initial reservation and € 12 p/p for breakfast and spa access,  we could have one of the best double suites in the hotel with a grand view. Well, we couldn't say no on our last day in Italy, so off we went to inspect our room with a grand view.
Wow! The view from our window was brilliant with gigantic cruisers, the sea, magnificent view of Piazza Aquaverde, the train station and the rest of the town. The room was perfect that made us feel guilty. So, for € 97 including the tourist tax, this was an awesome deal. At the end of the day we didn't go to the spa since we had a luxurious jacuzzi tub in our bedroom to soak our very tired feet from walking all day. 
It was really hard to leave this beautiful country where we loved the friendly people, the colourful villages, the landscapes, the home made pasta, the sweet bread, biscoties and the list goes on.

 Good way to end our vacation in Italy.


The room


There were no treasures inside the chest.


The bathroom


A small view of Genova


The train quais


Train station and the Piazza Aquaverte, a statue of Christopher Columbus at his birth city.


Giant cruise ships at dock.


A very complicated elevator. The most complicated elevator ever, first it went east on the level for about 600 meters, then it swtched rail tracks to pass the decending elevator, then it went straight up in one of two elevator shafts for 150 meters. 


Church Santissima Annunziata
The cielings are being restored.




A cascade in Villetta di Negro Park 


A view of monumento G. Mazzini from the cascade.


Many scoooters outside Porta Soprana


Church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano. Closed for restorations



The cruise ship was also leaving Italy


 In the evening


Ciao, ciao, Bella! We even saw people using the pay phones, they actually work! 



Monday 24 February 2014

Cinque Terre. Feb 23

Cinque Terre is national park in Itally on the Mediterranean. Cinque Terre refers to 5 pretty towns on the  coast of Italy: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. These towns are linked by a series of trails built upon the ancient terracing for vine growing. The region specializes in white wine. The wine is produced from a must containing at least 40% of the Bosco grape but may also contain up to 40% of Albarola and/or Vermentino and up to 20% of other white-berried grapes approved and/or recommended for the Province of La Spezia. The wines tend to be dry, with straw yellow colour, and a delicate aroma.
Much of the trail follows the ancient pathways that have always linked the fishing villages. The trails are arduous and are all currently closed (Feb 23 2014) because of damage from unusually high amounts of rainfall. We saw some local itallian people hike the entire length of some of the closed trails. We hiked around some of the towns and part of one trail that wasn't closed. We took the train to 4 towns for a fine day in sunny Italy. We hope that the national parks efforts to maintain the trails are successful because they are truly beautiful. Some of the towns have been damaged in flooding and mud slides in the last several years and look a little worse for wear than they looked in photos from just a few years ago. 



Here is the view from our hotel in Spezia which is a very nice town at the south entrance to Cinque Terre.


The beach at Monterosso, the only one of the towns in the park with a beach.


Monterosso



Leaving Monterosso and on our way to Vernazza.


Looking back at the beach in Monterosso. 


Old school terracing for the grape vines on hills between Monterosso and Vernazza.


Rivers run all through the region, especially this year.



A gorgeous veiw, that hand rail is not as sturdy as it looks and it didn't look very sturdy.


The terrain over which the path traverses.


This is cute bridge but it's cuteness doesn't quite shine through and the shots from other angles didn't work because of the light.


This bone was in a wash that crossed the path, its a left foreleg of a now extinct type of sheep that was common here at the turn of the last century but dissapeared in the 50s due to pressure from wine growing and predation by a mysterious monster called La Chupa Cabra. Or is it?


This is a narrow section of the trail.



Steep too.


Every once in a while you get a glimps of the next village. This is Vernazza.


Old guy tending wine vines.


The view changes as one approaches the village.


After carrying baskets full of grapes on one's head to the wine press for a couple days, over the treacherous trails, one might work up the courage to drive this death trap out to the fields.




Flooding this year and ground soaked with rain washed a large part of this house down a small river.


You can see the route the machine takes up the side of the hill and decide for yourself if it is a death trap.


Same location from farther away.


Down into the town of Vernazza. Each house has a front door at ground level and three floors up has a back exit also at ground level. The houses were set up like that so the occupants could escape from Saracen pirates who atacked the villages regularly back in the day.


Church in Vernaza


Edge of a cliff.



You can see the path along the edge of the water just outside Manarola.


Main stree of Riomaggiore.



The part of Riomaggiore.


Us lost in Rio.


The view from the ultra light aircraft we used to take the bone of the extinct sheep back to our lab for testing and carbon dating. We found the sheep bone was probably from the last sheep to sucumb to the Chupa Cabra.
Or maybe this is one of Yoly's best shots! Town of Vernazza and Monterosso in the distance.
 

Saturday 22 February 2014

Feb 21 The Leaning Tower of Pisa

We arrived at late morning and found our modest but ever so accomodating hotel in Via della spina. Hotel Alessandro Della Spina five minutes walk from the train station happens to have an awesome staff with a great service. We started our walking tour at noon, while it was sunny, with map in hand and a mission to discover new parts of Italy we've never seen before. 
It took us 30 mins of brisk walking to the Piazza del Miracoli where all the main monuments are located, including the leaning tower, The Baptistry of Saint John, the cathedral, and The Camposanto Cemetery. Pisa is a very touristy town but it has unique and interesting  monuments and plazas to see. We managed to get tickets to climb the tower but had to wait a while since only a small group of people can enter at one time. Small purses like mine are forbidden, backpacks are out of the question, and people with heart condition and children under 8 yrs were also not allowed. There are lockers provided at the office where the tickets are purchased for any belongins at no cost. After the guide gives the safety rules and a bit of history of the tower, we were off to the top. 294 steps doesn't seem bad at all; it's the tilt that changes rapidily around the tower that throws our balance. Imagine going up stairs on a down tilted ground. It's a bit awkward. 


They have a tower that leans. 
The tower is 58.36 metres high at the foundation and 55 metres above ground and it was built in 1173 A.D. The construction took a couple of hundred years to complete due to wars. There was a an ancient river bed underground in the area of construction that was not detected when this monument was being built and because of the soft ground, it started to sink to one side. The architect remains anonymous. 


A river runs through Piza. On the right, a small chapel called Santa Maria della Spina unfortunately it is closed to the public. 


There is a church in the same square as the tower. In fact the tower is just another bell tower for a famous church but it seems like the tower is stealing the show.


Part of the cathedral undergoing restoration.


We wern't the only ones having  trouble with the stairs, you can see from the wear marks on the stairs that people have been challenged by the changing horizontal perspective for many years.







Another church in the distance viewed from the tower.



Us and the bell on the leaning bell tower.


There are 7 bells, one for each musical note.


Romulus and Remus being fed by a female wolf.


Jesus in the Cathedral (Piazza del Duomo)


The cathedral back entrance with bell tower.


This will be a better picture when I get home and straighten it up. The tower leans more. You could just tilt your head a bit to get the full effect.


You can see the banana shape of the tower after the 4 th floor they decided to try and level the tower a bit.