Well, here we are, the week after our trip with 14 tenth-graders to one of the most beautiful places we've experienced, the Cinque Terre, in Italy. It is definitely a place that we will be going back to, though definitely not with quite as much company next time! Rain + cold + hiking + 14 sixteen-year-olds = Bad Idea. These are kids whose idea of a good time is not seeing beautiful, old buildings and landscapes, but shopping and eating. With that all said, I'll tell you about the trip that David and I had...
First of all, if you don't know about the Cinque Terre, they are 5 lands (or towns) on the coast of Italy, fairly recently discovered and now hugely popular. The area has been made into a national park to preserve the unique history, culture and landscape. The towns are all built on cliffs over the ocean, and are connected by hiking paths. The only way to reach the towns is by boat, hiking, or now by train. One of the towns dates back to the 11th century, and most have castles and old churches to explore. Here are two that we went to separately (more on that later...), Vernazza and Corniglia.
We took the train from here in Lugano to Milano, another train to Genova, and one more to Moneglia, a town along the coast between Genova and the Cinque Terre where our hotel was located. The day we arrived, it was chilly but not raining, so we walked to the beach - our first time touching the Mediterranean!
Then we took a hike through Moneglia and the surrounding area - the whole area is built on the mountains and valleys that make up the coastline. We saw beautiful 13th and 14th century churches along the way - one characteristic that we loved were the colored-pebble mosaics on the ground outside most of these small town churches.
From the summit of this mountain, which was only about 435 meters, we were able to look back and see the whole town of Moneglia on the seaside.
The walk through the area was like going back in time - we walked through terraced vineyards and orchards, by olive mills and "muretti" - the stone walls that they built into the hills to hold up the land, and on walkways that were used when produce was carried by hand into the town, whith little stone benches for them to rest along the way. We loved seeing olive and lemon trees, and the old, abandoned stone houses that nature has taken over. Our guide introduced us to a new fruit that we were able to taste since we walked through a field of the trees - I never had her write down the name, but it translates very loosely to "strawberry tree". The fruit really doesn't look like a strawberry other than being red and around the same size, but they do grow on a tree and are sooo sweet. A perfect reward after summiting a little mountain!
The next day, it rained, but I went with the students to the first two towns of the Cinque Terre, Monterosso and Vernazza. There were some beautiful views, but of course it would have been better in different weather, and also if David and I had both been able to go! One of our students was sick back in the hotel in Moneglia. This is a picture I took from the ruins of a castle tower of Vernazza. You can really see the terraced landscape that makes growing all of the olives and grapes possible!
We went back to the hotel early that day because of the rain and the next day, David got to have his turn with the kids while I stayed behind in Moneglia with another student who was sick. Oh, well! He got to see the rest of the towns, Corneglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. He even got to walk on the Via dell'Amore without me! Here it is, along with one of the lemon trees he saw with a spectacular background.
That evening was definitely one of the highlights for us. We took a walk on our own through Moneglia after I had explored earlier that day when everyone was out. I had found the ruins of a castle - there are actually two in Moneglia - again, with the amount of overgrowth, it was all very secret-garden. These are pictures from the top of the castle and looking up to it from the beach as well.
Also that night, we went to an Osteria, which in our guide's words, is "more truth than form" that a Ristorante, meaning that it was real, hearty, traditional food rather than simply showy. Since it was in Moneglia, a town that makes much of it's income through fishing, it was some of the freshest seafood we've ever had, and that's saying a lot! There were so many courses, we lost count - a cold appetizer plate with a seafood and potato salad, the first pasta course of home-made pasta with pesto, which, by the way, originated in this area! The second pasta course of home-made nero di sepia pasta (that's the black squid-ink pasta) with whole mussels, clams, and squid. The meat course, the seafood course of stuffed squid, then finally the dessert course. I didn't think I'd ever be able to eat again! We made sure to purchase some locally-made items before we left Moneglia - wine and limoncino from Cinque Terre, olives and olive oil from Moneglia, and cheese from a neighboring town.
On the final day, we took an early train back to Genova, and went to a seafaring museum - lots of history and nautical information of the area, where Christopher Columbus is from. After the museum, we were able to walk around the city with our guide and ate foccocia - also from this area - and saw many churches, some that had parts built in the 9th or 11th centuries. This was the largest and most elaborate - San Lorenzo. It is made of different types of marble; the strips are the gothic style of the area - most of the churches we saw in the area were striped like this, but some were painted with stripes - it was amazing to see the stripes made of actual marble. This one had beautiful detail, too, also of marble. You can see a little on the second picture, but one thing we found interesting were all the chimaira carvings - our guide explained that these pagan symbols were placed all over the outside of churches to keep the "evil" on the outside.
So as you can see, even though the circumstances may not have been the best, we still enjoyed our time in the area - we were able to do so much! And having a guide was wonderful - we felt like we were really able to have a true experience. Hope you enjoy the photos!
We took the train from here in Lugano to Milano, another train to Genova, and one more to Moneglia, a town along the coast between Genova and the Cinque Terre where our hotel was located. The day we arrived, it was chilly but not raining, so we walked to the beach - our first time touching the Mediterranean!
Also that night, we went to an Osteria, which in our guide's words, is "more truth than form" that a Ristorante, meaning that it was real, hearty, traditional food rather than simply showy. Since it was in Moneglia, a town that makes much of it's income through fishing, it was some of the freshest seafood we've ever had, and that's saying a lot! There were so many courses, we lost count - a cold appetizer plate with a seafood and potato salad, the first pasta course of home-made pasta with pesto, which, by the way, originated in this area! The second pasta course of home-made nero di sepia pasta (that's the black squid-ink pasta) with whole mussels, clams, and squid. The meat course, the seafood course of stuffed squid, then finally the dessert course. I didn't think I'd ever be able to eat again! We made sure to purchase some locally-made items before we left Moneglia - wine and limoncino from Cinque Terre, olives and olive oil from Moneglia, and cheese from a neighboring town.
On the final day, we took an early train back to Genova, and went to a seafaring museum - lots of history and nautical information of the area, where Christopher Columbus is from. After the museum, we were able to walk around the city with our guide and ate foccocia - also from this area - and saw many churches, some that had parts built in the 9th or 11th centuries. This was the largest and most elaborate - San Lorenzo. It is made of different types of marble; the strips are the gothic style of the area - most of the churches we saw in the area were striped like this, but some were painted with stripes - it was amazing to see the stripes made of actual marble. This one had beautiful detail, too, also of marble. You can see a little on the second picture, but one thing we found interesting were all the chimaira carvings - our guide explained that these pagan symbols were placed all over the outside of churches to keep the "evil" on the outside.
So as you can see, even though the circumstances may not have been the best, we still enjoyed our time in the area - we were able to do so much! And having a guide was wonderful - we felt like we were really able to have a true experience. Hope you enjoy the photos!
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