The Five Villages

I checked out of the hostel in Genova and decided to take the bus all the way to the Brignole Station instead of trying to navigate my way via bus to the Principe Station. Trains to Cinque Terre leave from both stations, so no problem there. The train was mostly empty until we got close to the 5 villages that are situated in Cinque Terre National Park. Even then, there was still plenty of space. Once I arrived in Riomaggiore (the last of the 5 villages counting from the N), I walked through a long tunnel decorated in mosaics with tile and rocks depicting scenes of Cinque Terre to get to the main part of town. From there it was a steep uphill climb to where the hostel was. It was taxing, but could have been worse. The room has 6 beds and isn't too bad. Kitchenette, bathroom, TV and free laundry are all part of this room. Kind of excited to wash some clothes.

The park was set up to preserve the fragile coastline in this part of Italy. I'm not sure why it was endangered or why it's so fragile. Any information I have come across in the town where I am staying has been in Italian. It is beautiful coastline. Jagged rocks with striated patterns stick out along the water where they are pounded by the teal blue sea water. The rocks have multi-colored bands running through them of yellows, greys and blacks. Everywhere you look along the coast are picture perfect views. Two men in thick sweaters and orange-yellow waders pick through their fishing net. Boats of every color line one of the streets down by the water's edge where a string of orange buoys marks the way out into the sea. The houses rise like brightly colored red, orange, yellow, green, peach and cream towers from the rocky hillsides terraced into various levels with staircases, elevators and ramped streets linking them together.

Being such a small town, though the largest of the 5 villages, there is a limited supply of food items available. Two small street shops supply most needs, but bread is hard to come by and I haven't seen any fresh meat--only luncheon meat [which I'm still not ready to eat after the Bologna dinner incident]. For dinner I wanted to make a concerted effort to use up my 500g box of rice that I've carried with me since Firenze as I have been without cooking facilities. The famed dish of the area is pasta and pesto. I thought "Why not try rice and pesto? I can call it Italian Rice when I open up my cafe someday." Having learned in Firenze that I need to limit how much I buy so I can actually eat it in the days allotted, I chose some pesto, a small red pepper and two tiny zucchinis to garnish my rice. With some olive oil and garlic it all turned out pretty good for not having spices and in about an hour. The only improvement I would make is to add a bit of salt and pepper. Surprisingly the pesto added a great flavor with the sweetness of the pepper.

Not wanting to spend the entire evening indoors, I went for a walk after dinner thinking I might get some gelato if the shop was still open. I discovered that a coop shop across the street was miraculously open. Both branches 1 and 2 were closed this afternoon. I wandered in hoping to find some bread for breakfast and walked out with raisin loaded focaccia, peach juice boxes and some crunchy, lightly sugared cookies. I walked to a nearby bench and opened the cookies right away. The cookies really hit the spot. Just enough sweetness and lots of crunch. Yum. I also located two churches I could check out tomorrow for Pascqua (Easter). Originally I think I had intended to be in a larger town to see the pageantry of Pascqua in Italy or France, but I think a small resort town celebration will be equally interesting.

Tour De Roma

My day began with a short 7 min. walk to the Piazza del Popolo and the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Popolo. The church is lined with tiny chaplets along both walls each with a different theme--Jesus, the entombed body of a saint or major public official, work of art from a biblical story. They had started mass shortly after I arrived, so I sat in to see what kind of service it was. Turns out it was a communion one and I got half of Jesus in bread form. Better than no Jesus at all. From here I wandered through a lovely park area called Villa Borghese and lounged on a tree stump. The grass was quite green though a bit damp and there were no flowers to be seen. They seem to only reside at flower shops in town.

The Spanish Steps were next which were apparently named for the Spanish See (papal seat). Without the trademark red flowers they felt a bit bare, but it is still a lively spot for rowdy teenagers and lazy tourists. The sinking ship fountain was very cool. And so began my tour of the fountains of Roma. First stop was the Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini. I checked out the four corners fountain which is literally a fountain on each corner of the intersection. Fontana di Trevi was quite exquisite and large. One could spend a good hour here and not notice time had passed.

After the Trevi fountain I came across some lovely watercolor work by a man named Dumo (Doomo). He was born in France and has spent the last 15 years in Italy. For a small piece--roughly 2"x3"--it takes two days to complete. I'll have to find a way to keep them from getting bent or wet from no until June. A teacher from the US happened to stop at his corner the same time I was there and we had some lively discussion about how the Euro hasn't been very good for the Italian people. With the Lira you could buy enough food for two weeks for about 100,000 Lira. Now with E50 you're lucky to afford a couple meals, a coffee (sort of a requirement in Italian cuisine/culture) and an afternoon snack. I learned something new today about the global economy.

I passed by Adriano's Temple, St. Ignatius Church, Palazzo Venezia, Chiesa del Gesu, Area Sacra ruins, Campo de Fiori with the statue of a monk who was burned at the stake for heresy in that very piazza, Piazza Navona with the Four Rivers fountain and finally the Pantheon. Talk about a gargantuan building. The dome is an amazing architectural feat. If built out of concrete, it would have collapsed ages ago. It's design with the occulus at the top distributes the force of the walls evenly throughout the ceiling while providing light and fresh air. Like most things in Greece and Italy they are being reconstructed during the low tourist season.

To finish my long walking tour I planned to hit a gelateria around the corner from the Pantheon. It was E2.50 for a cup 1.5" in diameter so I opted to hoof it to the Old Bridge gelateria where I could get 4x as much for E2 or less. It was a long walk, but essentially on my way back to the hostel. Definitely worth the effort! I sampled Amaretto, Pineapple and Dark Chocolate. To die for!! I don't know what makes gelato so different from ice cream, but it's wonderful and something I need to investigate for future creation. Much contented I plopped on my bed with some Mika music and relaxed. Dinner was leftovers from yesterday though still quite tasty. I went for a walk in the neighborhood because I was craving some kind of dessert. Most things were closed by 8pm, but I managed to find some cookies and a pastry. Tomorrow will probably be a trip to the Roman Forum to see the ancient ruins.