DAY 3 ... Wednesday 24th June
Although most of western Europe is going through a heatwave, I did a short (2 mile) walk from the hotel to a spot on Moneglia's headland just northwest of the town.
You get attractive views of Moneglia from the spot where the path goes uphill away from the edge.
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The jagged outline of the coast looking southeast towards Cinque Terre.
Moneglia is situated north of the Cinque Terre, in an area known in English as 'Little Cinque Terre'.
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Moneglia.
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A pile of stones marks the end of this Inn Travel walk, the path continues uphill, but it's a bit challenging apparently.
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Returning the way I came, this is a dry river bed.
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Ruins of what may have been a house.
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DAY 4 ... Thursday 25th June
Today was a quiet day pootling about in Moneglia town, it was too hot to do much walking.
This was a typical back street.
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Mary and John under the blossoms.
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The interior of one of the larger churches in the town.
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John and I climbed to the ramparts of the Castello di Villafranca where there were good views of Moneglia.
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A vista looking north, on the previous day's walk I was on the headland at the top left of the photo.
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Another shot from the castle, with the church tower and other buildings.
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Looking in the other direction, towards Cinque Terre.
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DAY 5 ... Friday 26th June
Our first boat trip.
We intended to visit two of the Cinque Terre villages/towns, so we took a train from here at Moneglia down to Riomaggiore, arguably the most stunning of the 5 villages.
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Here it is, the classic, iconic view representing the Cinque Terre.
It's the village of Riomaggiore in all its glory, as seen from above the harbour.
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One of the many tourist boats which sail up and down the coast stopping at the pretty villages.
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A church and the plaza further up the hill in Riomaggiore, with John hiding in the trees.
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A view across the valley from the church square.
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We had a drink in the town and then boarded the next boat to move on up the coast to Monterosso. |
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So we leave Riomaggiore in our wake and sail north. |
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This stop was Vernazza, with children tombstoning off the large rock near the harbour.
We stayed on the boat here.
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A brief view down the harbour and main drag of Vernazza as we sail onwards. |
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We had a pizza meal in the town and then headed back along the promenade towards the railway station. |
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Monterosso station to catch a train back to the hotel in Moneglia. |
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DAY 6 ... Saturday 27th June.
My second solo walk.
John and Mary had taken a train to visit Genoa, but I wanted to do at least one more walk during this week in one of Italy's prettiest regions.
I caught the bus at the railway station in Moneglia. We drove uphill through remote villages, such as Bracco, going as far as Casa Marcone, barely a cluster of houses up on a ridge.
I set off with more than 3 litres of water in my rucksack on another scorching day.
I carefully follow the Inn Travel walk notes, passing a signpost on my way eastwards.
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Climbing the ridge, I look across to Moneglia, with the snaking road which I came up on in the bus.
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I note the point where the walk starts a loop through the more interesting bits of the walk and where I'll rejoin the ridge path on the return journey.
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I arrive at the archaeological site of an ancient church and hospital at San Nicholao, which has its origins over 4000 years ago.
The information board mentions a pilgrim hostel.
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Within the fence are the stone ruins of what looks like a church.
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I had some food and water at the picnic table and recommenced my walk in a clockwise loop heading up towards the cluster of communication masts at the top of Monte San Nicholao,
which is at the highest point on the ridge at 847 metres.
The peak visible in this photo is Monte Pietra di Vasca.
My walk route went behind this point on a flatter trajectory.
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One of five large communication masts dotted around the peak at Monte San Nicholao.
Shortly after this location I began my gradual descent back towards Casa Marcone.
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A pair of orange flowers of unknown species.
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The woods provided shade from the blazing sun.
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The main SS1 road which passes behind Moneglia and one of the its bridges.
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Within the last kilometer of the walk and I stop for a drink at this picnic bench.
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I arrive back at Casa Marcone.
I waited patiently at this spot, where I had got off the bus earlier.
I later watched in horror as the bus I had intended to board to return to Moneglia arrived and quickly departed from the official bus stop some 50 yards away on the far side of the roundabout!
Things had gone so smoothly today that there just had to be a sting in the tail!"
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DAY 8 ... Monday 29th June
A second boat trip along the coast.
Mary and John had worked out a plan for this last day in Moneglia.
First we took a train west to Levanto, from where we would board a boat bound for Porto Venere, a small town just south of the Cinque Terre region.
This building and attractive floral display was near the seashore in Levanto.
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The small harbour.
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This is Monterosso, which we visited on the Friday (day 5).
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Manarola, the village next to Riomaggiore.
We didn't disembark here at all during the week, staying on the boat.
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Riomaggiore, a really stunning location which we visited on Day 5.
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Porto Venere, the boat cruise destination for today.
The town is in the province of La Spezia.
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Porto Venere.
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We stopped for lunch at a place along this road before returning to the jetty and getting on a boat returning west, to Venezza.
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DAY 9 ... Tuesday 30th June
We took a morning train to Genoa and on to Milan.
Here's me in front of Il Duomo in the centre of Milano.
We did a hop on hop off bus tour around parts of the city.
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The huge Vitorio Emanuele 2 building near the cathedrale.
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The cathedral again.
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