Saturday, May 26 - On the road again . . . this time to the Cinque Terre

Leaving Rome was an experience not to be forgotten.  Jesse wanted to leave a little early so that we could add a visit to two different hill towns in Italy before we got to the Cinque Terre.  By the way, Cinque Terre is pronounced Chin-kwa Ter-ray.  Jesse has mentioned several times how our group has been the most punctual group he has had, we didn't disappoint this morning either.  We were done with breakfast, packed and ready to go by 7:15AM.  We were on the bus, and we were on our way . . . and then we were not.

Seems that in the crazy Roman traffic, a motorcyclist "was hit" by our bus.  We were pulled over by the Carabinieri and an hour and a half delay proceeded to take place.  There was a motorist, driving what looked like an Audi wagon and a fellow on a Moto Guzzi motorcycle.  We were all just wondering what was up, our tour guide Jesse would feed us info as he got it.  When all was said and done, and paperwork (seemed to be a lot of it) was completed, we got started back on the journey and heard the story.  The car was going to pass our bus on the inside of a traffic circle and saw that he could not do so.  So the driver backed off and the motorcyclist came flying into the gap to get around the bus on the right and then struck the back right corner of the bus and because of that then struck the car he had come in front of.  We all thought it was the fault of the motorcyclist, but the authorities did not consult us.  Anyway, the delay was over and we were again on our way.

In the image below, our bus driver Derek (Dirk) is in the blue shirt, Jesse in the red, and the motorcyclist is wearing the glasses.  By the time this was over, there had been 10 Carabinieri officers on the scene along with the three drivers and 29 tour people.

The Italian countryside is so pretty. Our traffic delay meant that we would not be able to see two hill towns, but we did get to see one.  We had to make a quick exit from the bus (as it pretty much filled up the intersection we briefly stopped at) and walk up a hill into the small town (I don't recall it's name).

What a surprise we had when we reached the top of the hill right next to the church . . . the bride and groom had just come out of the church and were having rice thrown on them!

A view inside the church below.

Another view of this small hill town below.

Isn't my sweetie just the cutest thing?!?!

We passed many little towns nestled down in valleys before we arrived at our ultimate destination for the day.  This little town was near (or maybe part of) Levanto.  We left the bus in a parking lot in Levanto and road the train to the next town, Monterosso al Mare.

Below is one view in Monterosso, the northernmost of the five cities in the Cinque Terre, and our home for a couple of days.

We had quite a meal this evening, the main course was mixed seafood.  And boy, was it mixed!  Mussels, octopus, lobster, shrimp, various fish.  And yes, we did eat the Octopus, tentacles, suckers and all!  Kind of tasted like chicken . . . really, it did!