Lisa has been extremely busy gathering last minute details that need to be captured in our group travel document (will be shared soon with Mike and Denise). I try to provide as much support as I can, which primarily is editing, as I have probably forgotten more about using Office Word and Excel, than the average person on the street, but remember enough to do what we need done. Still, the support effort caused me to a miss a trip countdown blog post.
We’re watching the weather in Wengen, Switzerland, carefully now, not that we can do a damn thing about it. LOL! Right now, it looks like day temps will be in the mid-50’s (F) with lows at night in the 20’s and 30’s (F). Brr! Oh, and of course, it’s supposed to rain! Not much, according to the forecast, but we will have to pack for it, for sure. If it’s a light rain, we’ll feel right at home!
After Wengen we head south to a town with a rather pretty name, Sestri Levante. Why Sestri? Primarily because of its easy access to Cinque Terre[1], the Italian Riviera. As you might guess from the name, Cinque Terre, means “five lands”. And indeed, there are five towns built into the sea cliffs along the Lugerian Sea (another wonderfully romantic name). Why visit any of these towns in Cinque Terre?
Well, I think this photo says it all, don’t you?
I just knew you’d agree! The five towns of Cinque Terre are (going north to south): Monterossso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. These 5 oceanside towns are all part of the Cinque Terre park system and you can in fact, hike along the ocean cliffs and all 5 towns (about 7 miles in total).
We are only in Sestri for 3 days and will not be hiking the entire trail. Actually, parts of the trail system are closed due to the flooding and landslides the area experienced last year (remember the news?). But we will be visiting Monterosso and Vernazza, for sure, as the trail we are hiking connects these two towns, plus we will probably take the inter-town train to visit at least one more town. Needless to say, a Cinque Terre sunset dinner overlooking the ocean is definitely on our menu!
After indulging in the beauty of the Italian Rivera, we will be heading to our next destination, Lucca and a lovely B&B called, La Boheme. I’ll discuss Lucca in the next post.
[1] Cinque Terre is pronounced, “Cheen-kweh tehr-reh”.
0 Comments