iDrawing: Cinque Terre, Part 1: Streets of Riomaggiore

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Cinque Terre, Part 1: Streets of Riomaggiore

Views from the train window, en route to Cinque Terre

I guess I'll start somewhere in the middle...During my 2-week summer vacation in Europe, I took a 3-hour train-hopping ride from Florence to Cinque Terre.

Views from the train window, en route to Cinque Terre

The hotel was in the village of Riomaggiore. Every which way I turned, I saw expanses of green mountainous ranges cradling tiny colorful houses. And somewhere down there - the sea.

View of Riomaggiore from the balcony of the hotel

The main street on a steep slope connects the train station and the beach at its heel to the tip of a mountain, overlooking the entire village and the sea. These views are breathtaking.

Looking down the main street of Riomaggiore that leads to the train station and the beach, all the way down there.

Kids playing soccer in front of the church.

View of Riomaggiore from the highest point in the village

Sheets swirling off the never-ending clothes lines in the salty breeze. Swallows chirping, church bells counting the hours, one bell tower after another, asynchronously, as if time is approximate in these lands. Only sunsets and sunrises are definite. Hours in between are not, and that's the way of life.

Old ladies, gossiping on the stoop in the cool of the evening, fanning themselves and greeting neighbors returning from work. As I draw, I get nostalgic for my own childhood, when my grandmother would sit with her friends outside our building in Moscow, just like this, waiting for my parents to come home from work.