Ciao 60: Views

In a scene from An Affair to Remember, Deborah Kerr jokes to Cary Grant, “If the view is so lovely down there, why did you bring me up here?”

Nowhere is that line more repeatable than in Cinque Terre: A set of five villages in the terraced hillsides of Italy along the Riviera, built in the eleventh century to ward off Turkish invasion. As Ted remarked, “They were built to keep invading tourists out. Yet here we all are.”

No cars are allowed, so you must travel by foot, by boat, or by the train that unpredictably runs between the five villages (it’s on time, there is just no guarantee if it will stop at each town). Regardless of your mode of transport, or your position in the towns, the jaw-dropping views are your reward. Each town contains colorful buildings, sea breezes, cats, and a gabillion stairs. Given all the rich wine, bread and pasta, the calves and butt have the chance to work it off.

It was to these five towns, now a National Park, that we came with our friends to celebrate October 2nd, Ted’s birthday. It was here, along the shores of the Monterosso village, Ted waded out to swim in the Mediterranean for the first time in his life–the Italian reconnecting with the water of his roots. Still warm. Salty. And a sweet way to say Ciao 60.

The first five images below are all taken in one of five towns, Vernazza, from different vantage points. At the base of the tower, inside it, and then walking away from it up and out of town.