13: Biking or Hiking The Cinque Terre?
1. Joe had his own bucket list moment when he jumped from a rock into the Mediterranean Sea at a beach cove we stumbled upon while biking.
2. After staying two nights in Monterosso and a night with our friends Rick and Donna in Santa Maria, we headed to Bonasolla, a small beach town that borders the 5 Cinque Terra villages. The Cinque Terre is crowded with tourists this time of year and Bonasolla is smaller and where the Italians vacation.
3. After three days in Paris and three in Italy, I was getting my bonjours and buongiornos, my au revoirs and arrivedercis mixed up, so Joe did most of the talking. He’s more social and better at languages than me.
4. We discovered that apart from hiking between the Cinque Terre villages, we could ride bikes through tunnels on either end of Bonasolla and visit other towns on the Italian Riveria that way.
5. Joe’s bike had a repetitive scrape that sounded like the clop of a horse and buggy. It was cool and eerie and we passed lots of other bikers.
6.This was an interesting sight we came across, a statue of the Virgin Mary high atop a monolithic boulder with an empty chair next to it.
7. Gelato, focaccia and soccer were everywhere we went.
8. It was surprising to see so many Italians in American T-shirts: Boston Red Sox, Calvin New York, Nike, Northface, Arizona USA and more.
9. Apart from jumping off of ledges, Joe really enjoys interacting with Italians and shopping in the grocery stores.We bought freshly made pasta noodles and paired it for dinner with homemade pesto we bought.
10. We cooked the pasta and pesto for dinner at our AirBnB, which had a kitchenette and was just steps away from the ocean.
11. On the beach, most of the men wear gold necklaces and speedo bathing suits. Most women of all sizes and ages wear bikinis, and some go topless.
12. When we arrived at Bonasolla, it was Sunday and the beach was packed, but on Monday and Tuesday we practically had the beach to ourselves.
13. We swam everyday and sometimes two or three times a day. This was my answer to Joe’s cliff jumping. The waves crashed in and knocked me over a couple of times. See HERE.
_______________Thirteen Thursday
August 15th, 2018 8:15 pm
Such an amazing trip! ? I would have been scared of diving off rocky cliffs without knowledge of water depth and placement of rocks under the water surface. Were there locals around to offer info? Looks like you both are having a remarkable vacation! Love seeing the pics. I have a friend who is headed there next week for a cycling and hiking adventure. It’s an organized tour for that purpose.
August 15th, 2018 10:15 pm
Joe looks like he’s really coming into his own on this trip. Such nice smiles.
August 16th, 2018 3:37 am
Joe made me nervous for sure! He first started rock climbing and did check out the water first.
August 16th, 2018 8:27 am
Cliff diving, Gelato, & topless beaches, you say? I might have to at least consider getting out of the Northeast Kingdom at some point in the future. (Maybe I’ll start with a trip to Floyd…)
August 16th, 2018 10:04 am
blessed
August 16th, 2018 3:47 pm
Italy is lovely. Thank you for sharing 13 of your tourist adventures from there. Whoot! Diving from the rocks!
August 16th, 2018 3:59 pm
My goodness. This sounds like quite an inspiring trip.
August 17th, 2018 6:59 am
I love these pic! Joe’s dive was perfect! It reminds me of when we used to jump off the Ledges in Hull. I would want to do that too! I am going to say WOW again – what a Grand vacation.
August 28th, 2018 9:32 pm
One very good thing about getting way behind on blog reading is getting to take the whole trip vcariously all at once. (Well not all of it yet, but all the parts of France and italy that came before this wrapup. What a fabulous trip. That little pool in the rocks is perfection.Admire Joe’s courageous dive, but soaking in that pool is my idea of heaven!! Great to have good friends to show you the special places that mere tourists would never see (that hike, those sheep, the belled cows, just wonderful.