Up early today to explore Cinque Terra (thanks for the suggestion Jodie and Tash). This is another World Heritage listed area of Italy. We started by catching the train to Monterosso. The Cinque Terre (5 lands) is composed of 5 small villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola, Corniglia, Riomaggiore. Each with their own personality.
After looking around beautiful Monterosso, we decided to walk the track to Vernazza. During the three hour trek, there was constant written reminders in a number of languages of dangerous walkways and falling rocks yet there was no signs of trying to improve these despite there being a cost to walk the track. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of stairs (really they were rough rocks, bits of wood and simply wet dirt) and past some quite dangerous paths. We finally reached Vernazza each of us requiring arthroscopes after the journey.
K and I are realizing more and more that Italy is a place where there is bugger all maintenance. We awe at the old buildings and their rustic look but their charm is not in the building but in the lack of maintenance. Buildings lie incomplete where they prematurely age before they are even born. An overhead freeway lies abandoned - already turning to rust before it goes anywhere and the average of only a quarter of the electronic timetable boards at railway stations are in service as are the many lifts we saw. Roads are blocked yet no work occurs and the schools we have seen are in a terrible state. Now this might sound all negative but Italy has some beautiful things to offer and we have seen our fair share. But if they are not maintained they will lose valuable tourist dollars. Given the immense number of visitors Venice, Rome, Pompeii, Tuscany - just to name a few places that attract people, basic services such as public toilets need to be offered and at no cost. There are virtually no public WC's and how dare they charge, when one is lucky enough to find one, to engage in a basic human need.
I'll get off my soapbox now.
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