The Beach in Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy.

It's crazy to me, but after such an epic 10 day trip to Italy you'd think I would want to stay home for awhile. That's at least what I thought until this morning. February, a month I typically dislike, is shaping up to be an awesome month of epic travel, with some very good friends of ours coming out to see us in good 'ole SwitzerFrance. With that in mind I'm very excited to continue to show you the pictures from our January trip, and continue where we left off, at the beach in Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy...

The recovery efforts are in full effect in Vernazza, where flash flooding and landslides that took place in October of this past year devastated the city with over 4 meters of water and mud...

In case you were wondering, that is indeed a really messed up car on the beach and children playing soccer right next to it...

In Piazza Marconi, the main square in Vernazza, there were tents set up with a community kitchen, which I imagine was for relief workers...

The sign for Taverna del Capitano has been virtually wiped away...

...and there were people outside in the piazza working on the furniture for this bar/restaurant, which I took as a good sign...

Destroyed car and a burnt tree trunk...

 

Part of a chimney on the beach...

More debris on the beach...

I think that is another piece of the chimney in the water...

Big rocks knocked into the laps of benches...

Want to help Vernazza? Go there in 2012. Can't get there this year and want to donate? Go here to the Save Vernazza website! Want to help Monterosso too? Go here to help Rebuild Monterosso! You can also keep up with them on twitter at @cinque_terre, @savevernazza and @rebuildmonterosso.

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

Vernazza, Via Roma Part 2, Cinque Terre, Italy.

I mentioned in yesterday's post about Vernazza that during our visit on Sunday, 22 January, we noticed that all of the doors on the street level were gone. Many of the doorways had temporary doors in what was once an empty space, and over the last few weeks artists have been flocking to Vernazza to paint murals on the doors themselves, and they really are beautiful.

I want to paint a mural on that door!

Looking up Via Roma towards the train station...

There used to be a large stone structure here that formed a barrier between this hole in the cliff that leads to the sea and the street...

I think the door above was my favorite...

Oh I really like the above one too!

Support structures across Via Roma...

Aren't the new doors of Vernazza wonderful? Yesterday I was sent a tweet by @cinque_terre that sent me a link to more beautiful pictures of the new doors of Vernazza, and I figured I'd pass on that link action to all of you.

As I mentioned before it was very difficult to see Vernazza in such a state post flash flooding/landslides from the storm in October of this past year, but I felt very special to be able to be in Vernazza during this time and to be able to document what it looks like now. My hope is that others who love the Cinque Terre and Vernazza as much as we do can see how much they need our help right now to get back to their former glory. If you can, go visit in 2012! And again, if you'd like to donate to help Save Vernazza, click here! And to donate to Rebuild Monterosso, click here!

Look out tomorrow for pictures from the beach and Piazza Marconi in Vernazza.

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

Vernazza, Via Roma Part 1, Cinque Terre, Italy.

After leaving Monterosso on Sunday, 22 January, we hopped on the train to see the state of Vernazza, the town of the Cinque Terre that was also hit during the flash flooding and landslides that devastated the area this past October.

This is the view from the under the train platform on Via Roma. During the storm the water and soil went to the height of the platform/2nd floor of many buildings...

It was obvious from seeing the work being done, and the work that has already been completed, that the people working have been doing so diligently to get the town back...

Half of the street is closed almost all the way down to the beach on Via Roma...

...and all of the original doors on the street level are gone.

Over the past few weeks however, artists have been coming to Vernazza to paint murals on the temporary doors that are covering entrances and some windows...

A lot of the doorways were using additional support structures like the ones above...

Doc outside of the Blue Marlin...

Damage to the back of the grotto and some missing stone stairs...

As hard as it was to see Vernazza in such a state, I felt it was important to go there to be able to document it, and I felt very special to be able to do so. I hope that the pictures that I'll be posting on Vernazza (because there are many more to be posted), as well as the pictures that I've already posted on Monterosso, will raise awareness and hopefully funds to help rebuild these two cities. If you'd like to contribute to the save Vernazza fund, click here. And if you'd like to contribute to the Rebuild Monterosso fund, click here. More on Via Roma and the doors of Vernazza tomorrow...

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey