Goodbye beautiful Vernazza

Today was a beautiful day. We hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare, and the views along the way were worth every step and stair. The hike was just over 2 miles with steep stairs at the beginning and the end. It took us about three hours to complete, probably because Tommy had to stop every 20 steps or so to take a picture :) There were lots of pretty flowers and a bunch of lizards (all seemed to be the same type) along the way to look at. On the tail end of the hike there was the bottom of a mostly dried up waterfall with three frogs! Not little tiny ones you usually see in ditches and other swampy areas at home. The hike was definitely worth the first extremely steep bit, and the numerous narrow areas. We had much of the path to our selves, but as we got closer to Monterosso we encountered more hikers going the other way and had to pull over a lot. I really can't imagine what these hikes might be like during the peak season when it is both much hotter out, and many more people hiking the trails.

Our destination

Looking back on Vernazza

Getting closer!

We arrived in Monterosso and rewarded ourselves with a focaccia bread lunch.

After we had eaten and sat for a little bit along the harbor, we decided to explore the Church of the Capuchin Friars and the hilltop cemetery set in a ruined castle. Yes, those were both up more stairs. The cemetery is within the confines, and around the grounds of an old ruined castle. The cemetery in Vernazza and the one in Monterosso al Mare both have vertical cemeteries. That means you see a wall of stone faces with names, dates, sometimes some other phrases or inscriptions, and sometimes a picture of the one being remembered. These face plates ranged from around 24" by 24" to 4' by 24". I think the wider ones were merely fake marble facades, and the ones there were more square like actually had the remains buried behind them. There were some spots that seemed to have had someone there but are now empty. I'm not sure why. There were a few family mausoleum as well on the grounds. The only place that had anyone buried underfoot were at the top of the castle. There didn't seem to be any pattern to where people were buried. I didn't notice that some areas had all of the older burial plots, and as one went a certain direction they got more recent. I did notice that some of the plots were for people that were born in the 1840s. That's before Italy was unified officially in 1861!

The cemetery

We decided to head back to Vernazza, we were trying to decide between going to Corneglia and hiking back to Vernazza, or going back to Vernazza and getting cleaned up and visiting Corneglia without the hike, or just calling it a day. Well, the train we were trying to catch was delayed by 15 minutes and eventually cancelled, so that set us back almost an hour. We decided on just going back to Vernazza. We got cleaned up, rested and went back into town for our last dinner with a view in Vernazza.

Tomorrow we are off to Lucca where we will be staying for just one night. After we get settled in Lucca, we will be taking the train to Pisa for the afternoon, which is about 30 minutes away.