6/18/14. The post where we hike a million miles.

6/18/14:...and I'm back.  I think I got you as far as Monday night in the last post, so I'll start with Tuesday morning.  Tuesday was market day in one of the towns, so we started the morning by picking up some fresh produce to make dinner.  The market was very small, but the produce was incredible.    We spent much of the rest of the day exploring two more of the Cinque Terre towns.  

There are hiking trails connecting each of the five towns, but two of them are closed because of recent landslides and flooding.  As luck would have it, they are the two easiest trails.  (More on that later.)  You can also get to the towns by car, train, or ferry.  Tuesday we chose to go by car.  The layout of most of the towns is the same.  Visitor parking is above the town, and then you walk steadily downhill through the (mostly) pedestrian-only town until it ends at the Ligurian Sea.  Which means you walk steadily uphill back to the car.  A gelato will usually take the sting out of the uphill walk.  

We got back to the villa in the late afternoon and followed the now-familiar routine of appetizers and wine, quality time with Russell the dog, and then dinner outside as the sun sets.  I could get used to that.  Tuesday was a breakthrough with Russell.  He gave us our allotted petting time, then wandered off.  But this time, he looked back at us, then turned around and came back for a long bonus round.  He even wagged his tail once or twice. He doesn't want to admit that he likes us, but I'm pretty sure he does.

This morning we decided to brave one of the hiking trails between the towns.  We had a brilliant plan.  Drive to one town, hike between it and the next town, have lunch, then take the five-minute train ride back to the first town to pick up our car.  We knew the trail would be rugged, so we did it in the morning while we were still fresh and we were prepared with water and our sturdiest shoes.

The hike did not disappoint.  It took about an hour and a half of pretty strenuous hiking up and down rocky steps to reach the next town.  We were rewarded with some beautiful views, but by the time we were done, we felt like we had earned a big lunch at one of the restaurants down by the water.  Unfortunately, we hit town at exactly the same time as a horde of day tourists from either a cruise ship or a sightseeing bus who wanted the same thing we did.  For several moments, we got swept up into the swarm of people all wearing matching tour stickers and shuffling through the main road of the town shoulder to shoulder, crowding the narrow lane so that no one could possibly really see or enjoy any of it.  I heard one of the women from the group say to her companion, "Well, this is disappointing.  Not what I expected at all. It's so crowded."   Many potential responses flashed through my mind, none of which were very polite.  Just as I was about to create an international incident, my patient, long-suffering husband grabbed my hand and whisked me onto a quiet side street and up a flight of stairs to a nearly empty restaurant.  We sat down to another unbelievably delicious meal in a place we might have missed if it weren't for the crowds.

We took the train back to the town where we had parked our car, proud of ourselves for avoiding the long hike back.  When we got off the train, we saw the sign pointing to the town center and started walking that direction.  I was surprised not to see any buildings immediately.  Then I looked up and thought, why are there ants on the top of that cliff?  Oh wait, those aren't ants - they are people.  What are they doing up there?  Walking into the town, that's what they're doing.  Then I saw the zig-zagging staircase descending all the way down the cliff to where we were walking.   

On legs that were already wobbly from our hike, I followed my patient, long-suffering husband up the stairs, pausing frequently to rest and catch my breath.  We certainly earned our gelato today.