il Belle Paese

   Last week I was talking up Lucca a bit, as it is a wonderfully bike-friendly Italian city. Today, as I was watching a stage of the Giro d’Italia travel along the Ligurian coast, I was reminded of how beautiful, but very bike-UNfriendly, the area is, mostly because the roads weave over narrow roads, up and down brutally steep grades! I recalled the first time my wife and I visited the Cinque Terre in 2005, and she commented how I would have to give up cycling if we lived there - or learn to love hills. “Oh, I’d find some way to manage!” was my answer.

   The peloton certainly wasn’t doing any sightseeing during this short, but brutal stage (plenty of terrain like that pictured above) that was being ripped apart by attacks. The production crew wasn’t sure which group it wanted to stick with, the first breakaway, the small group in “no-man’s-land” in between, the main peloton that contained the favorites or some of the suffering pretenders (including the current wearer of the leader’s Maglia Rosa, pink jersey) as they were spit out the back.
   The action was so furious that the camera crews didn’t have much time to linger, as they usually do, on some of my favorite landscapes in Italy. Well, as Eurosport commentator Magnus Backstedt so rightly pointed out, “I don't think there are many areas in this country that aren’t stunning!”
   The Cinque Terre, as the name implies, involves five towns that lay just over five miles apart (as-the-crow-flies), along and atop the rocky cliffs above the sea. Travelling northwest from Riomaggiore, the other villages of this UNESCO World Heritage Site are Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. Except for the popular beach area of Monterosso, there is no auto traffic (only small delivery vehicles allowed in the mornings), with the most convenient mode of travel being a 10-minute train ride from end to end.
   Some travelers are a bit disappointed that the mostly tunneling rail route denies them the beautiful views, but considering that a car drive, which would only bring you to parking areas above the towns anyway, would take about four times as long, and over some harrowing roads, the relaxing train ride is well worth it. Not that I would have called them a convenient alternative, but unfortunately many of the spectacular trails that used to connect the villages were wiped out during tragic flooding and landslides in 2011.
   The towns have recovered well from the horrible event, and tourism is strong again in the area (probably too strong for some of the locals), but I still have trouble watching the video of nature's destruction of this amazing area. There are some things that are probably gone forever, like the Via dell’Amore, which was a walkway cut into the cliffside, providing a beautiful 20 minute casual stroll between Riomaggiore and Manarola.
   We were having some computer issues recently, and I was going through some photos and files to back-up. I thought in honor of today’s Giro locale, I would share some images that I came across from visits to the Cinque Terre.

When Sue and I visited in 2005, our accommodations were among the buildings that line the main courtyard located above Manarola. This is the morning view from the large doors leading to the balcony outside of our room.

This is the view up to our room (arrow).

The whole family was along for the trip in 2009 - this was the inviting entrance to our Vernazza apartment.

A 2005 shot of Vernazza during a hike to Monterosso – the flooding/mudslides completely changed that small beach area behind the seawall.

The hillsides are terraced mostly with vineyards, but there are sections with other crops.

Borrowed from the ‘net, but I didn’t want to leave it out, is hill-top village of Corniglia, which is the only one of “Le Cinque” completely separated from the water.

382 steps lead up from the train station to Corniglia.

During the 2005 hike we took this fantastic shot approaching Monterosso.

A swim was a welcome reward after the hike! The pulverized rock beach in Monterosso had quite a different feel than the groomed sand we are spoiled by in Stone Harbor.

   I found a couple of other photos that I took of the Giro d’Italia peloton flying through the small hilltop town of Monterotondo. During a visit to Rome with my mom in May of 2011, I knew the race was passing close by and couldn’t resist the opportunity to catch a glimpse. I hopped on a train, where I met some folks from Texas who had the same idea, and we took a rather strenuous walk up a long, steep road in order to see about 5 minutes of action, mostly consisting of the event caravan and team vehicles. The race itself, including a breakaway and the main body of cyclists, probably passed by in 30 seconds, but hey, I can now say I saw the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France (finish on the Champs-Élysées in 2009).