Cinque Terre - Porto Venere

 On Sunday we bought Cinque Terre Cards, or day passes for the train, so we could see the towns we haven't yet been to.

We took the train to Riomaggiore, the largest and southern most of the towns. We got off the train and walked through the tunnel ro the town. There are more restaurants and bars here compared to Manarola, where we are staying. We then walked to the marina and then up the cliff a bit, to get some great views.

We didn't stay long in Riomaggiore. It is the first stop for people on day trips to Cinque Terre, and perhaps because it was a Sunday, the crowd of people was overwhelming. Also, despite the weather forecast for cooler temperatures  it was still very hot and humid. So, we went back to the hotel in Manarola to change into lighter clothes.

We then took the train to the next town north, called Corniglia. It is up on a hill so there is no ferry stop. In fact when you get off the train, there is either a bus up the hill to town, or you climb up a long set of steep, switch-backing stairs.

Once you got to the top it was worth it. Corniglia is a very quaint little town with lots of narrow stone alleyways and great views of the surrounding countryside and the water.

There is so the old stone church of San Pietro built in the 1330's.

After walking around we had lunch, and then back down the stairs to the train station and back to Manarola. We had to wait quite a while for dinner because all the reataurants were fully booked.

On Monday we took the ferry to Porto Venere, which is outside the Cinque Terre park but it was recommeded to us as worth visiting.

The weather was finally turning, clouding over and getting windy, so the waves were large and the ferry ride was very choppy.

Porto Venere was definitely interesting. It is bigger and has more of a feeling of a city on the water rather than the small towns of Cinque Terre. There is a strip of shops and restaurants along the water by the dock, and a beach farther along. The strip is lined with colourful buildings.

 Narrow stone streets go up the hill to the small church of San Pietro in Porto Venere, built in 1198, which is on a point of land on cliffs overlooking the water.

Further up the hill is the imposing Castello Doria, built in 1161.

Just behind it is the church of San Lorenzo, built in the 1100's, with its interesting facade and huge black columns on the inside.

From there we walked back down through the narrow stone streets, and had a traditional meal in one of the restaurants.

We caught the ferry back to Manarola - another choppy ride and a bit of rain. This was our last day in Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre

On Friday we caught a high speed train from Bologna to Florence, and then regional trains to Manarola in Cinque Terre, via Pisa and La Spezia. So far we'd only used high speed trains for which we had pre-booked tickets, so using regional trains was new to us: getting the tickets, validating them, trying to find a seat, etc.

Cinque Terre is a national park on the northwest coast of Italy, in which isolated, beautiful, colourful towns sit like gems nestled in the cliffs, terraced vineyards, and olive groves of the steep, green shoreline. There are five main towns, from south to north they are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa. Here is a picture of Riomaggiore.

An interesting thing about the train to Cinque Terre is that the train spends much of the time going through tunnels. Even the towns have pedestrian tunnels connecting one part to the other.

Upon arriving in Manarola, I was a bit shocked at the sheer density of the crowds of tourists. Just getting off the train platform took a long time since so many people had to funnel through a tiny exit. 

We found our hotel and after settling in we walked down the main street of the town to the water. There is a rocky protected cove where lots of people were swimming. I went into the water for a bit because it was so hot and humid. We then found a place for dinner. The view up the road gives a good idea of the scale of the place.

There is a ferry that goes to most of the towns (except Corniglia which is on a cliff above the water) and beyond. 

The next day we took the ferry to Vernazza.

Near the dock there was a group of people painting watercolours of the town so I joined them and did a sketch.

There are hiking trails connecting all the towns, and we did the hike from Vernazza to Monterossa. It was quite a hot day for a hike, about 30 degrees C, and the first half was all uphill. The trail went through olive groves and, dry Mediterranean shrubbery and huge aloe verra plants. It was sometimes dirt and sometimes very narrow stone steps. 

It was great to get a view of Monterossa with its large beach.

After a dip in the water we went for a drink and a bite to eat, walked around a bit, and then caught the ferry back to Manarola. Here is a view of both Corniglia and Manarola from the water.

After cleaning up at the hotel, we found a very nice restaurant up on the side of the hill for dinner, and a great view of the town at night.

Bologna

On Wednesday we took the high speed train from Bolzano to Bologna. The train left early in the afternoon so we had the morning to have a leisurely coffee and wander around the centre of town a bit.

The scenery from the train was still mountainous for a while, then changed to flat agricultural land about half way. We arrived in Bologna about 4:00 pm, and we checked into a small hotel near the station.

After a bit of reading we found that the main center of Bologna is the Piazza Maggiore, about 20 minutes walk from the hotel, so we headed in that direction.

We could see right away that the architecture was quite different from what we've seen so far. In contrast to the bright Baroque architecture of Rome, Bologna is full of red brick, Medieval buildings from the 1200's or 1300's.

As we walked down the main street toward the square, we found we were walking under a long series of arched, covered walkways, or porticoes. Apparently Bologna has almost 40 km of them.

The Piazza Maggiore is surrounded by red brick buildings that were Medieval adminstrative buildings, and St Petronius Basilica.

Branching off from the main square are little sidestreets filled with restaurants and food shops. Bologna is supposed to be a 'foodie' capital  and this is where it's at. The streets were very lively with restaurant patios filled with people.

We had a dinner of the local specialty Tagliette al Ragu, and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we walked to the square again and went inside the basilica. In addition to the impressive altar, it has the world's oldest organ, and a line of longitude engraved in the 1600's.

 

Next we walked down to the towers of Gaisenda and Asinelli, which are symbolic of Bologna. 

Garisenda is the shorter on and leans at an angle of 4 degrees, even more than the tower of Pisa. The Asinelli tower is 97 m high, built in 1109, and for a fee you can climb the 498 stepa to the top.

The views of the city from the top were amazing.

Afterward we found a nice little restaurant that served local specialties, and we had a late lunch with a bottle of wine.

We then wandered around the sidestreets some more, headed back to the hotel for a rest, and then found a funky restaurant nearby for dinner.

Bolzano - St. Ulrich

 On Monday we took it kind of easy: slept in, did laundry. In the afternoon we walked up the market street in Bolzano to get some stuff for making lunches.

The next day we woke up early and caught the 350 bus to Ortisei -St. Ulrich. It is a quaint ski town.

From the bus stop it is a bit of a walk to the Seceda cable car. You can tell everything is built to accommodate the large numbers of skiers in winter: there were wide escalators and moving walk-ways all the way. We took the two cable cars all the way to the top. The second one was really steep.

At the top you are at 2600m altitude, and right up close to tbe dramatic mountain peaks of the Dolomites.

There were people on the cable car with paragliders, and we saw them floating down from the top soon after we arrived.

The views of the Dolomites in all directions were incredible.

Just below was farmland and some of those small long-horned cows.

 There are some short hiking trails that take you right to the edge the peak called Fermeda, if you don't mind a little vertigo.

I've always wanted to see the Dolomites, so this day was a real highlight for me.

We had a beer at the cablecar station, then made our way back down and caught the bus back to Bolzano.

We got back just in time to check out the South Tyrol Archeological Museum which has the remains and the artifacts of a 5300 year old mummified man that was found in melting ice in the 1990's. Very good displays describing eveything that was found and what it meant for our understanding of human history.

Afterward we got cleaned up and went out for our last dinner in Bolzano.

Bolzano

 On Saturday we took the high speed train from Venice north to Bolzano. Bolzano is called the gateway to the Dolomites, the beautiful mountains in the north of Italy. It is in the Tirol region, which seems to have mainly German influence. In fact the cities here each have an Italian name and a German name. Bolzano's German name is Bozen. 

As soon as we stepped off the train, it kind of felt like we weren't in Italy any more, with the different style of buildings.

Our hotel was in the pedestrian area in the centre of Bolzano, and as we walked there we saw a huge festival going on, with bands playing on every street, and eating areas with stalls selling beer, pretzls, sausage, etc. We dropped off our bags at the hotel and went out to check it out and get something to eat. Most people were speaking German, so when I ordered food I got to use what little is left of my German from when I lived there for a couple of years in the 90's.

We heard about a cable car that is just a few minutes walk from the station. The next day we headed there, and on the way I got my first glimpse of the Dolomites.

We took the Rittner cable car up to the mountain town of Oberbozen, and then a small train to Klobenstein. Our hotel provided us each with a Bozen Card, which gave free unlimited access to all busses, cablecars, and trains in the area.

From the train that went between the mountain towns, the view  of the houses and landscape was just like something from the Alps.

From Klobenstein we did a short walk through the woods, with some views of the mountains. We then took a bus higher up to Pemmern Tre Vie, which has another cable car up the Ritterhorn mountain. The place is a ski area in winter, and the cable car goes up to 2100m altitude. At the top there are paths to viewpoints from which the views of the Dolomites are absolutely stunning.

We had a beer at the top and I did a sketch of the view.

We made our way back down to Klobenstein and the train back to Oberbozen. From the cable car back to Bolzano, there were great views of the valley with vineyards and the mountains in the background.

In the evening we found a quiet street with a nice restaurant that served local specialties.