Now I am all by myself in the town of La Spezia. This is where I will take off for the Cinque Terre by boat in the morning. I’ve heard so many people rave about the 5 towns hanging on the cliff that I want to see them for myself. I don’t plan to hike from one town to the next as most tourists do because I think it would be too scary for me so I will see them by boat and take the train and stop at some on the way back.
The train out of Florence was spot on time. On the way I saw white areas on the mountains that I knew could not be snow. They are marble quarries. So that’s where Italian marble comes from! One town had 2 big cranes like those for container ships and piles of huge blocks of marble in their yard waiting to be shipped. There also were a lot of big slices of marble.
The harbor looks a lot like Sausalito in California. It made me a little (not much) homesick. There were a couple of little fishing boats. Some have lights in front to go out at night and draw the fish up to their nets–anchovies, I think. I’ve had some tasty anchovies dishes–not like the ones packed in oil that we get on a Caesar salad.
The picture with all the steps I think is a bit like what I’ll see in the 5 towns. I don’t plan to climb them if I can help it. My new knee is doing very fine but I still feel a bit unsteady, or afraid I’ll stumble on the cobbler stones. That fall in Japan is still a close memory.
The last picture is from my hotel window. I sure know I’m in Italy! Church bells rang again at 5:30.