Day 33,34. Touristica

On route to our penultimate destination we detour to visit Italy’s most famous civil engineering mistake, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We find the tower a little out of town in a surprisingly grassy square. It is surrounded by other magnificent marble buildings, which are all very square to the horizon. We are amused by the truckloads of tourists all posing for the same photo, pretending to hold the tower up – we resist. The tower is impressive and the lean certainly makes you feel a little off centre.

By mid afternoon we are at La Spiaggia Hotel, Monterosso. The owner of the hotel, an overweight bald Italian, who bares a considerable likeness to Richard’s late father, gives us a nonchalant run down on the walks around the Cinque Terra and then without another word walks off to attend to other business. We get the impression we were required to be grateful for any words from the great man.

We catch the train to the furthest town (Riomaggiore) with a group of Italian hikers who are very conscientious about their sport. Their clothing, backpacks, boots, scarves and hiking sticks indicate they are serious walkers. As they get off the train the excitement level is feverish and we are a little overwhelmed by their passion. Sadly, the classic walk between the five famous towns is mostly closed due to the bad flooding in 2011, but there are many other hiking options through the hills above. On advice we catch a bus to Volastra, a town high up in the hills and like Amalfi we enjoy a wonderful and challenging walk descending through terraced agriculture to the picturesque hill top town of Corniglia. In contrast to the very serious Italian hikers we meet a family from Perth who are hiking in thongs (flip flops). She’ll be right!

The weather is a warm 22 degrees and the grey sand and pebbled beach is crowded with Europeans desperate for some sun. It’s all rather wonderful, but when it comes to beaches…it’s not exactly the Mid North Coast.