cinque terre

5 villages, 4 trails, 3 Singaporeans, 2 days and 1 lone hiker.

We headed down towards the coast to Cinque Terre, which literally means 5 lands in italiano. After bring holed up in the mountains for months now, it was awesome to go to the beach and hear the crashing of the waves again.

Woke up early in the morning and headed out to run/hike through the 5 villages. Actually I planned to just go for a 2 hour run, but the scenery was so amazing that I just went on and on and ended up having a 4 hour workout. My biggest regret on this trip was not bringing along a camera as I usually like to run light, and so I could not capture the magnificent views. Grr. As I said, I initially intended to just head out for 2 hours, but I ended up going too far to head back. Oh wells, at least the memories will be retained in my head (I hope)!

Anyway an observation was that everyone (all Occidentals) on the hiking trail were wearing full trekking attire and equipped with walking sticks and what-not and I was the only one ferreting through the foliage in running garb and with just €5 in my pocket. Dang, they must have been wondering what this crazy Asian must have been doing along the hiking trail dressed so skimpily!

But I digress. Went for lunch after the morning's exertions then took a cruise to Portovenere. Was with a bunch of school children on the boat and they just mass sang/danced all the 1.5hours of the journey. Madness I tell you. It was like Italian Bollywood on the high seas. Anyway, got to Portovenere, discovered that it was not that all different from the Cinque Terre, but I still went to the abandoned castle there, explored the port area, and ate a gelato (yum!), then it was already time to go back, so I took the return boat (no singing children this time) back to Monterosso.

main boulevard at monterosso

children playing along the beaches

les choristes

err.. i think this is vernazza

portovenere

the above mentioned castle

Tried to rattraper a little by going around to the other villages to snap some photos before heading back for dinner but I managed only to cover Vernazza and Riomaggiore. Oh wells, better than nothing! So anyways I got my photos, then I met mom and aunt Helen up for dinner. We left the next day for Nice, where we hung around for just one night before catching a flight back to Geneva. Nothing much to write about Nice, since it rained and we couldn't go to the Promenade des Anglais, but the train ride there was pretty as we passed along the Italian and French riveras.

wall mural at riomaggiore honouring the workers who built the cinque terre

vernazza

perfect contrast when we left

the last dinner

So anyways it had been a great 2 weeks travelling with the 2 ladies. I had a fun time being a porter, tour guide, doctor, translator, and basically just hanging around and touring about. (although those daily expensive restaurant meals helped! =P)