Cinque Terre

Last night we had dinner at a local restaurant in Camogli and the seafood was fresh and delicious. There was no english spoken so it was challenging to converse only in Italian! While waiting for our food, we were intrigued by the enlarged photo montage along one wall of the restaurant showing some of the events at Camogli over the last 60 years or so.

One photo showed a statue being raised from the seabed by ropes; two scuba divers appeared to be cleaning the figure as it was being raised. Our waitress wrote down 'Cristo degli Abissi, San Fruttuoso' which, when we Wikipedia'd, we found was the statue of Christ of the Abyss, dedicated to Italy's first scuba diver who died in the late 1940's. The statue was set on the sea floor in 1954 close the monastery we had seen the day before and is 17 metres below the surface. It was raised for cleaning in 2003, hence the photographs. A similar statue has been sunk in the Caribbean and another at Key Largo in the Florida Keys. We had seen a glass-bottomed vessel hovering near the harbour entrance the day before so it must be possible to visit the site, and the visibility must be fantastic.

Today we set off for the town of Riomaggiore, southern-most town of the Cinque Terre. Our intention was to walk the trail to Manarola, an easy 20 minute walk. The sky was blue, the sun shone and it was a marvellous walk along the track, the tiny town visible along the edge of the outcrop. Along the way we stopped for many photographs as the scenery is unbelievably lovely. Trails lead down to the water's edge and it was an ideal day for a swim - 28 degrees and no breeze whatsoever.

Unfortunately the track was closed from Manarola to Corniglia due to recent rains so we back-tracked to take another look at Riomaggiore before taking our train. A stream was roaring through the town, active even at summer's end. Grapes and terraced fields surround the cluster of town buildings and we were rather keen to taste some Ligurian wine! We did stop for lunch at a cafe near the Manarola track and I had a glass of white wine, which was cool and good so I'm hoping it was local to the area.

Tomorrow we leave for Milan for our last couple of days; we are staying at Oleggio and planning a trip into the city and also a trip to the Lakes. The italian weather is expected to continue fine and we're looking forward to warmer temps when we head home.