THURSDAY 27^TH DECEMBER 2012.

MANAROLA

Today I stayed at the apartment on my own.  I wanted a day to myself writing and painting and watching the doings of the village.

Our apartment is on the second floor and from the living room window one can watch the comings and goings of the locals.

This is what I did today.

The following three images show what I saw from our apartment window today.  When watching the locals talking I came to the conclusion they wave their hands to emphasise a point and I got to wondering why.  Research into the hand waving indicates that in centuries past the masses in the old Roman Empire were mostly illiterate and thus with a limited vocabulary leaders used a form of sign language to make a point.  The idiosyncrasy of hand waving for Italians has remained.

The group in the background were doing a lot of hand waving.

One of my paintings I did today.

Above Corniglia.

Washing for all to see.

The following images show what Bev did today.

Looking back towards Corniglia. The railway station (the starting point for Bev’s walk) is at sea level.

High above Corniglia.

One has nothing but admiration for the people who developed the olive groves and vineyards of the region.  Imagine having to walk from town every morning to where Bev took this photograph to start work.  The trees in the foreground are olive trees.

On the donkey trail around the terraces.

Mountain wandering.

One of the thousands of terraces in the Cinque Terre.

Terrace  retaining wall.

The predominant plants on this wall are lichens and mosses.  Lichens are by no means a simple single plant but two plants living in a symbiotic (shared) relationship comprising algae and fungi.  Lichens came into my world following the acquisition of a powerful microscope some years ago. I used it to show clients on our Backtrack tours the microscopic world under their feet.  Mosses (we all love them) have a very important role and that is to break down their host (rock in this case) and release nutrients.

Some lichens look like paint smears, others are forest-like.

Lichens close up. For more images go to Irish Lichens http://www.iridhlichens.ie

A wonderful pitcher plant along the trail today.

Breathtaking scenery looking back towards Corniglia.

Rahel, Michi and Emma

Destination Manarola.

Down the steep path to Manarola.

Steel cross with personal touches including, pincers, hammer and a ladder.

Land agents  tell us location is everything; maybe this is the ultimate location.

Or maybe this is. The picturesque Manarola situated in a narrow valley.

Tomorrow we are going to Porto Venere, a small historic town on the Ligurian coast. It is also a World Heritage site as is the Cinque Terre.  We take a train to La Spezia passing through Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore and then a bus to Campiglia from where we will walk down to Porto Venere.