Via Dell'Amore (April 20)

After a leisurely breakfast in the apartment, the church bells sounded their ten-minute warning, and we hurried to mass at San Giovanni Batista. While we couldn’t understand the exact words being spoken, the flow of the mass was as familiar as at home. We enjoyed a marvelous lunch on our sun-drenched terrace, feasting upon pasta with the local Ligurian-style pesto, accompanied by some delicious foccacia from the bakery below our apartment.


At the bakery, the staff had debated our nationality and expressed surprise to learn that we were American (the town was full of vacationing Aussies). The staff also polled us on our preference for Clinton or Obama and, like the many others who asked during our trip, agreed with our support for the latter (“Tutto e Obama,” one said). In the afternoon, we walked to the next town, Manarola, along the Via dell'Amore (the lovers’ path) that is built into the cliffside by the sea.


We wandered around Manarola and then took a bus to Groppo, a small town up in the hills with its own olive mill. The mill was closed – although the strong odor of olives remained in the air – and so we decided to take the next bus back. While we waited for the bus, Bill realized we had left some belongings at the mill and ran down to retrieve them. Upon returning to the road. Bill was distraught to see the bus barreling down the hill, but was relieved when it stopped for him after Claire had convinced the driver to make an extra stop. We walked back to Riomaggiore and had dinner at La Lanterna, a lovely restaurant by the town dock specializing in local seafood and traditional Ligurian cuisine.