October 18,19 7 20, 2009

Bob’s Sabbatical

October 10-18, 19 & 20, 2009

 

Sunday, October 18 –

 

            Bright
sunshine as we depart Portofino.  Lots of
bicycles and walkers on narrow road. 
Back on toll road, we are in and out of tunnels.  We exit and head for the little village of
Tellaro, where we will stay at Albergo Miranda. 
An elderly couple is in the kitchen, and say their son, who speaks English,
will be with us in a minute.  .Allessandro
welcomes us and takes us to a large room, one bedroom and one sitting room with
couch, chiffarobe, table and chairs.  It
looks pretty dark.  He pulls back
curtains opens doors and outside louvered doors to reveal two balconies with
stunning view of large bay, hills, islands, boats.  Across the bay is Portovenere, on the other
side of which is Cinque Terre. 
Allessandro says he will check in the morning to see if the boats are
running to Cinque Terre, since that is the best way to see it – but this late
in the season they do not always run.

            When we
ask about internet, he says that a hotel down the way has wifi.  It turns out we have three balconies, the
third one looks up at a hillside village, Laserra [pic w/ birds].

            We walk
to the main part of town (one block long), no cars allowed.  Streets are really just walkways curving up
and down the hillside leading to the water. 
The doorways are of all shapes and sizes.  We see a man in a wetsuit carrying scuba
gear.  As he goes past, we look back and
he has an octopus hanging from his weight-belt. 
We have a light lunch, because we are eating at Miranda tonight, and
Allessandro’s parents are touted to be wonderful cooks.

            Susan
goes for a nap, and I walk down to check on internet.  Place is closed. I go a little farther, and
see winding steps that look like they go to the water.  They end at a small beach, with stones
instead of sand. 

            The sun
is about to go down behind the island, Palmaria, off Portovenere.  We’ll try to get pictures for Sarah, the
Sunset picture queen.

            The
Octopus is much beloved here.  Not only
as food, but for having saved the town at one point.  The guard was not paying attention one night,
and the Saracens mounted an attack on the town. 
The Church bell began ringing, alerting the townspeople, who were able
to fend off the attack.  A giant octopus
was credited with coming out of the sea, wrapping its tentacles around the bell
rope, ringing the warning.  There are octopi
everywhere.

            Dinner
turns out to be fantastic.  We were the
only ones they served.  We waddle
upstairs to bed.

 

 

Monday, October 19

 

            6:00 am,
the phone rings.  Chris and Sarah are
calling to let us know of the death of Bob Parks.  The news was already on Facebook, and they
did not want Susan to find out that way. 
Bob was the Rector of Trinity Parish in New York.  He was a good friend and mentor.  He and Nancy were surrogate grandparents to
Chris and Sarah during our years there. 

            About
the time I was taking pictures of the sunset last night, Bob and Nancy walked
to Church, where he died soon after she handed him a Prayer Book and
Hymnal.  We talked, cried and reminisced.

            Today
was the day we wanted to go to Cinque Terre. 
Allessandro checks to see if boats are running, and reports that they
are, so we take the bus to Lerici to get the boat.  Learn that they are on a new schedule, no
11:30 boat.  Next boat is not until 2:30
pm.  We decide to hang around Lerici
today, and do Cinque Terre tomorrow. 
Castle museum is closed on Monday. 
Only place with internet connection is also closed on Monday.  Eat lunch and head back to Miranda.  Eat dinner at Osteria del Borga, recommended
by Allessandro, since Miranda’s kitchen is closed on Mondays.  For the second night in a row, we are the
only customers in the restaurant.

 

Tuesday, October 20^th.

 

            Wake to
a cloudy and cool day, but if we are going to get to Cinque Terra, this is our
last chance.  Bus to Lerici, boat to
Portovenere, then continue to Cinque Terre. 
At Riomaggiore we get off the boat and walk to the second town, along
the Via dell’ Amore – “lovers lane.” 
People put little padlocks, with their names written with sharpie pens
or scratched on the lock anywhere they can find.  We had seen this elsewhere, but did not know
what it meant.  We got back on a boat
skepped Vernazza and went to the last town, Monterosso.  We ate lunch, got back on the next boat and
headed back.  It was freezing cold,
windy, and threatening rain. It was interesting to watch the boat unload and
load passengers.  It would come bow-first
right up to a small concrete pier where a ramp with wheels would be extended
from the bow.  The wheels allowed it to move
up and down with the waves.  The Captain
really had to work to keep the boat in position so close to the rocks and pier.

 Arrived back in Lerici, just missing bus to
Miranda and had to wait an hour.  Finally
home, half frozen, we are glad we are having dinner at Miranda again.  It was just as good as the first night.  There was one other couple in the dining
room.