In starting to plan a trip to the Cinque Terre region of the Italian Riviera, I found the perfect inspiration in this golden view out to sea. Gorgeous!
Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - St. Escercent - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!
Location: Cinque Terre, Italy ★
Photo courtesy of St. Escercent
Although Firenze has my heart, the Cinque Terre definitely left a strong impression. Be sure to spend a good part of the day in Manarola. It is often overlooked by tourists who flock to Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza and Riomaggiore. Yet I found that Manarola had the best food, best harbor and friendliest people.
ReplyDeleteFrom what other travelers told me, it is less expensive to get a room in La Spezia and take the 10 minute morning train to Riomaggiore than it is to stay in one of the five towns. I heard there is a really nice hostel in La Spezia. I'll try and get the name for you.
I need to post more of my journal from the CT. This beautiful photo inspired me.
Awesome! I never heard of the town of Camogli. I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteIt was too bad for me that most of the days I spent there were cloudy, rainy and overcast so we didn't get a beautiful sunset like this.
Yes. That is too bad, but on the bright side, it just means you'll have to return and stay a little longer to semi-guarantee at least a few beautiful (and dry) sunrises or sunsets. Plus you have to go back anyway to see Camogli now ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm honored to have my photo chosen for this blog entry about the beautiful Cinque Terre!
ReplyDeleteI took this trip with my fiance and family and stayed in a lovely hotel in Manarola. I have never experienced anything as breathtaking as the four days we spent in the Cinque Terre - it feels like a different planet, and it's absolutely beautiful. I took this photo from the Via dell Amore walk, a path which I found disappointing, but this view made everything worth it.
This photo captures everything I remember about the trip - the easygoing, simple lifestyle of the residents of Manarola, the beautiful views that greeted my eyes at every second, and the peacefulness my fiance and I found every night eating gelato in the cemetery park.
Thank you so much for including me in this blog, and I hope everyone who reads this takes the chance to visit the beautiful town of Manarola (and eat at least 6 balls of gelato a day).
Thank you for your comment, St. Escercent!
ReplyDeleteGood to know that this is the view from the Via dell'Amore near Manarola. What did you find disappointing about the path? I did this portion of the walk, too, but I don't recall feeling disappointed. To be honest though, I don't remember it clearly. I think the weather was bad and for that reason I didn't take any or many pictures.
And 6 scoops of gelato per day? Not a problem!
To answer your question, risamay, I found the Via dell'Amore disappointing because I had read that it was absolutely beautiful and unmissable, but when I actually walked it, I found it lacking in charm and the concrete tunnel with all the graffiti didn't help. I suppose I'm more prone to enjoy walks on paths that seem more natural and older, like the vineyard walk or the many walks in the hills.
ReplyDeleteI capped off at 6 the last two days I was there... The first two days I managed 4. Stracciatella is heaven.
Oh yeah. I completely forgot about the concrete tunnel of graffiti (rather than love). Now that you've jogged my memory, I'm inclined to agree with you. The walk has its picturesque points, but overall it's certainly lacking, overall.
ReplyDeleteStracciatella is my favorite. Next to anything to do with mint! But a good stracciatella with nice shards or chunks of dark chocolate? Heaven. Just as you said.
I agree with St. Escercent. None of the tour guides mentioned the amount of graf. There was even graf on the statue of the kissing lovers. Actually, all the graf in Italy period is what disappointed me about my trip. Even the walls of the Accademia were tagged. It's like all these people come to marvel at the beautiful cities, yet the youth who live there want to tag their names on everything. I'm surprised that no tour books I read mention this.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to Manarola though. I think the best walk to take between Manarola and Riomaggiore is by hiking up the trail that starts in town in Riomaggiore, then walking the main road to Manarola. It is very picturesque and not crowded at all.
Risamay, I notice that when you comment the flickr photos, your saying "Congratulations Fidel..." on them, lol.
Graffiti is a problem everywhere (or most everywhere), and is as old as the hills. There is ancient graffiti in Rome, Egypt, etc. So it's not a new or modern phenomenon, by any stretch.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's even kinda cool though -
http://vivaca.blogspot.com/search/label/graffiti
But too often it's just your average, crappy tagging that is ugly and detracts from the beauty and enjoyment or conservation of a place. And that kind of graffiti is a real nuisance, and quite sad.
Thanks for catching that, Fidel. I usually cut and paste copy from the previous entry's photo when I comment on the latest Flickr pick. So the one for yours just got carried to all subsequent posts. I just fixed that on everyone's Flickr pic after yours. LOL. So glad you caught that. Who knows how long that would have gone on before I noticed!
I love good graf. Like artful graf. You'll see some great examples in my albums from Paris, Pisa, etc. You're right though, the tagging is very distracting and mostly what I saw in Italy was a lot of tagging.
ReplyDeleteNo problem on the comments. :-)
Well, I think I'm going to feature a little good graffiti on the blog today. Hopefully you'll dig my selection!
ReplyDelete