Past life regression: A method that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations.
--Wikipedia
I had a birthday celebration planned, for May of 2020. Thirty persons joining me. In the small town of Levanto on Italy's Ligurian coast, immediately to the north of the Cinque Terre National Park. But the Covid virus had other plans, and by March 2020, we were all confined to quarters.
Three years later, and we're all traveling again -- statistics show we're traveling with a vengeance. Someone called it "revenge travel." And that missing birthday blast kept preying on my mind. How much did I miss out on?
No way I could round up thirty friends and relatives for another go at Levanto, but that needn't stop me from exploring Levanto -- and the Cinque Terre -- for myself.
And so, on May 10 -- three years almost to the day after the Birthday Celebration of 2020 that did not occur -- I boarded a plane in Seattle and set off for Rome.
One of the major attractions of the Cinque Terre that we had advertised in 2020 was its hiking opportunities. Hiking in May, when the weather would be at its best -- sunny, warm, but not hot. Unfortunately, as I left Seattle, the forecast was for cool temperatures, with a better than fifty percent chance of rain virtually every day I was in Levanto. Not promising, but I promised myself that I'd be flexible, that I'd adjust to whatever weather the Gods of Irony should throw at me.
Also, I flew off with a bad cold and a hacking cough. In fact, I had, after three years of evading Covid-19, finally been tackled as I left the country. But I didn't know that until I returned to the States and tested myself, surprised at the longevity of my pesky "cold," and at my odd need to nap for an hour or two every afternoon.
But I digress. I arrived in Rome on Thursday, May 11, and spent two nights in the Eternal City, visiting favorite haunts about town while waiting for my body to adjust to a new time zone. On Saturday, I departed by train to Levanto on one of Italy's excellent high speed trains. As planned, I then spent the next six nights in Levanto, which served as my base for exploring the Cinque Terre (which the Italians sometimes call the "5-T').
Levanto is a pleasant small beach town, stretched out between two headlands along the Ligurian coast. I stayed in an excellent B&B -- free plug: Villa La Marguerita -- located some distance from the center of town where most other hotels can be found. But distances are small in Levanto, and the B&B was within easy walking distance of both the train station and the beach/"downtown" area. Only eleven units, nice garden, quirky architecture, friendly staff, and good breakfasts.
My first full day, as predicted, it rained. Hiking guides I read in advance had warned against hiking into the hills when the ground was wet, because of the danger of slipping on the smooth wet rocks. I exercised at least adequate caution, and decided to make an "urban" visit to the first Cinque Terre town south of Levanto -- Monterossa. Monterossa is a fairly long town, squeezed between the sea and the hills, and divided by a headland into a "new town" and an "old town." I hiked around the headland, visited the old town, and returned over the top of the headland. This hiking/walking was all rather tame, but interesting. It rained lightly most of the day, but I had a light rain jacket, and I'm from a state where hiking in the rain is not considered bizarre. The town had an interesting history, and, in good weather, good beaches -- but was not particularly scenic.
The next day dawned bright and sunny, and I was eager to hike. I chose the trail from Levanto itself back to Monterossa, climbing up and over a large headland separating the two. The hike took about three hours, and was rated as moderately difficult by the guidebook I was using. It was quite steep climbing to the top of the headland, and steep descending into Monterossa, but was hardly a difficult walk for anyone used to hiking.
The third day, rain was threatened but never arrived. More critically, there were major disruptions to the train service. I chose to visit Vernazza, the next town south after Monterossa. A small town, with brightly painted buildings clustered around a boat harbor. Highly scenic, a great place to have lunch and interesting narrow streets to explore. But after eating, walking, and people-watching, not much to occupy me except wait for the next train.
The fourth day, I had hoped to visit both Manarola and Corniglia, but the train problems didn't allow enough service to reach both towns. But Manarola met all my expectations of what a Cinque Terre town should be like. The town is built around a main avenue that winds from the train station down to the harbor. You learn that this main avenue is actually a concrete cover over the creek that has formed the deep valley in which the town is located, a creek that was open and crossed by small bridges until after World War II. Many good restaurants, at one of which, at the harbor, I had lunch. The sides of the canyon are very steep, and the houses appear stacked one on top of another. From below, or from the opposite canyon side which I climbed, these houses appear to be a solid mass of construction. It's not until you investigate on foot that you discover that the wall of homes is honeycombed by small, cobblestone streets, often barely wide enough to walk through single file.
I prowled around, and happened on the Church of San Lorenzo near the upper end of the canyon, with its tall, adjacent bell tower.
The fifth day was another beautiful day, and the most enjoyable of my days in the Cinque Terre. The trains were back on schedule -- running about every half hour -- and I took the train from Levanto to Corniglia. The train arrives at a station at sea level, of course, but the town itself is perched 275 feet above, and is reached by a long series of stairs and switchbacks. Once I reached the town, my plan was to hike back into the hills, ending up back at Manarola. This hike was slightly more challenging than the earlier one, with a certain amount of exposure to heights in places as it wound its way through terraced grape fields. The trail continues north, working its way back into the hills until it reaches the town of Volastra. From Volastra, the route is mostly paved -- steep, but easily negotiated until you find yourself at the outskirts of Manarola.
The views from the Corniglia-Manarola trail are magnificent, and it's impressive to look down at both small towns, far down beside the sea, almost as though one were flying overhead.
My five days in the Cinque Terre were completed, although only four of the five "lands" had been visited -- I had to save Riomaggiore for a later trip. The next day, I took the train to Florence, where I had a spacious room in another small hotel, this one in the San Lorenzo area, not far from the Duomo. Florence has a special place in my heart. It was my first experience with Europe when, as a college junior, I spent six months studying (and traveling) at my school's overseas campus. I know the town quite well, but I never grow tired of wandering its streets.
Then a return for a final night in Rome, before flying back to Seattle.
It was the Cinque Terre that was the focus of this trip, of course. Although traveling solo, I wanted to get some idea of what I had missed three years earlier -- I anticipated a form, I suppose, of "past life regression." The weather this time was atypically cool and wet, and I suffered throughout (but not badly) from my "cold." I don't overlook the irony that I tried to duplicate a visit that had been doomed by Covid, but did so while for the first time unknowingly suffering myself from a mild Covid infection.
I'm sure that the 2020 gathering would have been successful, if held, just because of the kind of people who would have been there, and the chatting and catching up we all would have enjoyed. Many, perhaps most, of the participants would have been hikers, and we would have found many enjoyable hikes to pursue. But a large minority were not hikers, and after my visit I'm not sure there would have been enough of interest to absorb those people for an entire week. I note that many or most guides suggest a visit of two or three days to the area. The towns are dazzlingly scenic -- especially Vernazza and Manarola -- but, as noted above, once you've seen them, and had a leisurely meal, there might not be much else for the non-hiking visitors to "do."
But I may be pessimistic. Being bored shows a lack of imagination, and I think most of our guests were sufficiently imaginative to keep themselves amused, and were mature enough not to require being force-fed "fun" as on a cruise or at Disneyland.
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PHOTO -- Manarola. Taken from high up on the opposite side of the harbor.
