Deep in conversation after dessert at Moresco:
The kids dress up for their fancy Italian dinner:
At the highest elevation of the hike we find free drinking water coming out of a stump!
We also find a big church in the middle of nowhere:
Relaxing near the summit:
Going up:
One of the many trailside grottos for pilgrims to rest and pray in:
On the beach in Monterosso after the first leg of the hike:
Il Gigante:
At the summit of the first hike - the ruined monastary:
Part of an abandoned building near the monastary:
Looking down at the Mediterranean:
We made it to the top (of the first part):
There are several houses that dot the high mountain trails - this one uses local materials for the roof - just pieces of slate gathered in the hills:
Looking back at Levanto (where we started from):
A medieval castle the Nazis used as a weapons store and bunker during WW II:
Going up:
One of the many interesting and creepy characters around the hostel in Levanto:
We made it back:
Sunset over the beach in Levanto. Incredulous Italian kids are standing behind me.
The well muscled, tough bunch of hikers who did the second leg of the hike, happy now to be on the beach in Vernazza:
Vernazza:
High on the hills:
The German backpackers took this photo (which is why I am in it!)
Relaxing at Soviore:
"Do we have to keep going?"
Shelby enjoying the beach in Monterosso:
Photo wars:
"The next trail goes up. Way up."
Don't do it Mr. Becker:
The best tasting lunch packets ever:
Making sure we are on the right path:
One of the high points:
A break early on in the hike:
"Yo, no photos!"
One of the trail side homeowners works on his stone wall:
Jaqueline, proprietor of Ospitalia Del Mare (the hostel where we stayed in Levanto) informed me that we were lucky - my colleague from another school in Langley was here several days before us with a school group and it was SNOWING! They don't typically get snow here, but it has been an unusually cold winter in Europe this year (opposite of ours).
We, on the other had, awoke to blue skies and a perfect temperature for MASSIVE ascents on the Cinque Terre. This year we walked from Levanto to Monterosso, stopping at the ruined monastary on the high point overlooking the sea on the way. In Monterosso, some of the group decided to take the train back, but 21 of us kept on, hiking an even more gruelling climb to Soviore, the site of a chapel built in the 1300's to house a Pieta carved in the 600's! It was a nice surprise, as I didn't know what was up this trail since I had never taken it before. With the assistance of some German backpackers who were attempting to cook pasta on their portable stove, we contiuned along the path and down to Vernazza for unlimited gelato (the kids deserved it - the hike was hard). On the way down we met a local gentleman who informed us that the path we were on was an ancient Roman road, and that Julius Caesar himself had once travelled it. At this point, though, the kids were much more focussed on the gelato, and much less focussed on history. Which is OK. Sometimes.
A lot of the kids went swimming in the Mediterranean after getting back from the hike. When school in Levanto got out, some of the local kids were walking around near the beach and shaking their heads in disbelief at the crazy Canadian kids in the cold water.
On a side note, today is the day many of the kids got to try the Italian train station toilet. Which is simply a hole in the floor. With some ridges on either side so you don't fall in. Good balance everyone!
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