World Adventure

Cinque Terre Sorry if this entry feels negative but I started believing the hype on this location and was disappointed. People often write nostalgically about how a location was in the past not how it is now. I believe that it was amazing 30 years ago and perhaps even 15 years ago. Cinque Terre is a small area of colourful villages in coves along a steep coastline. This was our expectation. The reality was it was tired and over-touristic and showed only glimpse of the charming villages that they must have once been. Vanessa and I caught the train to Riomaggiore from La Spizia. We already knew that the track was closed but decided to walk high the pass between towns. We arrived early before the tour buses and wandered down to the waterfront. I was previously annoyed that we had been beaten to accommodation in the town but was glad when we saw that the place was run down and well in need of maintenance. Not that that really matters to us but when the price is a premium then the accommodation needs to meet the market standard. One of the other reasons to visit is the interconnecting track walk #2 that interlinked the villages along a cliff path. Unfortunately this way closed due to a landslide that damaged the track and injured some Australians recently. Our observation was that the track was poorly maintained in many place despite the tourist fee charged to visitors for the region. We walked up high but found that the track was uninspiring so walked along the main road to Manorola and dropped down to the village. It was similar and unfortunately the tour bus groups had started arriving.We sat at the water front and discovered that the local fish absolutely loved the Swiss roll that we didn't particularly enjoy,or need to eat , so fed the best part of the cake to them: it was an Italian version of a swiss roll and the fish were Italian so it was obviously something they enjoyed partaking in on a regular basis from foreigners. We had earlier decided only to purchase a ticket for the first leg of the day trip and found that the station validation machine did not work so our tickets were still valid. We validated and decided to head to Vernazza and had a look around then decided that we would catch a boat back to Riomaggiore and catch the train back to La Spezia. The boat trip was quite nice and highlighted the colours of the towns along the way. It was clear that the image we had seen before visiting were actually dramatized by the camera lens but the villages were still a drastic contrast to the background of terraced vineyards. There was a little confusion at the train station. Getting to the other side of the track. It is a rite of passage to find the secret subway to the other side of the tracks. There were plenty of arm waving directions from helpful fellow travelers who had reached the platform and seen fellow travelers looking confused. We boarded the train and had that sinking feeling we were going in the wrong direction again. This is becoming all too familiar. We were not alone and it seems that there was a stuff up on the board. Our story anyway. We hopped off the train at Manarola and luckily did not have to wait too long for a train traveling in the correct direction. Deny. Deny. Deny. It was definitely not our fault... We have had more train problems in this trip in Italy than all previous trips combined. It is a sad fact in life that there is no way to leave a place visited uninfluenced; it is never the same as before you came. So the same can be said about the formerly sleepy villages on the Cinque terre. It is a reflection on a smaller scale of the paradox of tourism. The locals benefit financially by virtue of the tourism and this causes growth of facilities in the area but to the detriment of the reason why the tourists came in the first place. The location loses its virginity to tourism and it cannot be undone; we travelers become bored and look our next conquest only to repeat the same mistake. If there is a lesson to be learnt it is that once you discover a gem in the world then you should keep it quiet for every-ones sake. Exploitation by a few for their own financial benefit has been a major cause of this problem. Perhaps an American Travel writer that American's seem to worship is not the travel god that he would have the mass population believe and maybe he is the travel devil. He is not the only one to blame in this fiasco as any travel guide book has pointed tourists in this direction as well. Switzerland has taken a novel approach to solve this problem. Financially support people to continue the traditional ways so that the authenticity of a location is retained. Vanessa believes that we are probably becoming jaded traveler.s Perhaps she is correct. I think that we are victims of our laziness in travel. It is unlikely that we will find satisfaction on the tourist trail and we need to take the path less traveled to find the real Italy. Vanessa tells me that this is not an original thought. She is of course correct !! Yesterday I dubbed the main central street of La Spezia as loiter street. It felt decidedly dodgy. Today we walked it all the way to the waterfront and it was quite enjoyable. There were lots of loiterers but the good kind. People sitting on benches with their dogs and children; old men playing board games; people fishing on the water; fish swimming in circles eating some unknown matter from an unseen outlet.(Edit:In other words we have no idea why the fish were there but suspect it may be due to a sinister overflow) It is a nice place and has a french feel in the architecture. Good news. My Marcel Marso acting in a supermarket has resulted in us obtaining a cork screw. There was much joy in both myself and the shop attendant when the game of charades was solved. Grazie. Perhaps the result is the cause of this erratic blog entry.