Cinque Terra - The Movie Set

This is a comment I overheard as I was walking around Vernazza yesterday. That is the supposed most picturesque of the five villages making up the Cinque Terra chain of villages. To continue that metaphor, the villages and villagers all seemed tired of the roles they had been given for this year's summer stock play. They just wanted the tourists to all leave so they could hang up their 'costumes' and become the villagers of the little fishing village they love so much. Oh, yes the money the 'audience' brings in is nothing to sneeze at, but when you take a small place with a population in the hundreds and for four to five months they have to deal with tens of thousands of people, I can see how that would wear on you.
I wasn't able to get a room in one of the five villages - they were sold out - so I stayed just north in Deiva Marina and I am so happy I did. I stayed at the Hotel Clelia and it is a three star 'resort' near the beach there and they make no excuses for their catering to tourists. The room was the best I have stayed in so far, the staff very helpful and they have an excellent restaurant serving local foods. A little expensive, but it is a resort. The town, even here goes from a population of around nine hundred to over ten thousand during the summer. Another reason I was happy with my choice was when I saw the travelers in Riomaggiore, the favored village by several tour books, hauling their luggage up the hand hewn rock steps up to their quaint little room. I had a lift to the second floor.
The villages are picturesque and the colors, though fading and chipping, are memorable for their 'Mediterranean' look. All stacked up atop and next to each other. The ferry boats that go from village to village is the only way to travel here, unless you are an avid hiker. But two of the trails were closed and that limited their walks.
Off to Siena today on my way to Florence and the tons of tourists I'll find there, but with a week I should be able to pick and choose my battles.
I'll leave you with a shot of a fisherman in the setting sun.

Fishing at Deiva Marina, Italy

Ciao