The Village of Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy (Road Trip 62)

September 2018 – The last ‘Cinque Terre Village’ that we stopped at was Vernazza.  The day was now very hot and people were sitting in the shade cooling down, but I had a church to explore, already husband was looking at his watch, and we had only just got off the little cruise boat.  No chance of an ice-cream then…….no, wait until we get back to Deiva Marina.   But I did have a chance to take a few more photos, more so then in the other villages, the square was quite large and the main street was wider, didn’t get pushed by people, unlike the other ones, which is not good when trying to take photos.  I did enjoy seeing the villages, but the crowds of people do take away the simple beauty of the them.  You see them at their best from the sea, to see them in the distance clinging to the hillside is beautiful.  I was a little disappointed that I did’nt get to take the photos that I had planned in my head, also I was still suffering from a cold and the heat was almost unbearable for me.  But yes I am glad we came when we did, because if they can’t restrict the visitors, the villages will suffer and in a couple of years it will be out of control.  At least in Venice, you can loose the crowds, but here, there really is nowhere to go.  Now it’s time to visit a church……to continue.

A few views from the small cruise boat and we came back much closer to Corniglia, so I took a couple more photos.  Also there is one looking back at the villages we had passed, a view that I would never tire of.  The rest are of Vernazza, and  this, in the end, was my favourite viillage, the reason is because of the horrible flood of October 25, 2011 when Vernazza was devastated. The town was buried in mud and rocks,the ground floors basically disappeared.  Homes and businesses were ruined, but thanks to the incredibly hard work of local people and all the help received from outside, Vernazza is still with us.  I found a poster on a wall showing the aftermath and realised that the whole lot could have been washed away and that would have been terrible for everyone.