Rain drops in the garden

You don't need to travel to a far away country to take photos like these. A stroll around your garden or a nearby park will do just fine.


You will have the best chance of taking nice photos if you catch the morning dew, before it vanishes back into the air. Usually also the light is just right at that time of day.

If you are not one of those early birds and have never seen the morning dew before, you might also wait for some rain.
That is just what I did. I waited inside until it stopped raining and then went photo-hunting in the garden. Sun came out from behind a cloud just at the right time.

If you live in a place where you could get really old waiting for rain, you can also use some water to create your own rain. All you have to do is sprinkle it on a leaf and create a perfect composition. I know some photographers do it with spiderwebs and get stunning results. I have to try that someday.


When you find a proper motive, you just need a photo camera with a macro mode (usually marked with a flower) and some patience. I believe anyone can do it.

For the best result I suggest that you take some extra photos. Usually it is hard to see if everything is the way you wanted from your camera display. I suggest you pick out the really sharp photos later on your computer.

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Cinque Terre trail times information

When planning a hiking trip it is crucial to know how long will it take to reach your destination. That is why hiking distances are usually measured in hours.

Last week I came across a table including most of the paths in the Cinque Terre National Park. Walking times are a big part of it.


Unfortunately this was a bit late for me, because I just got back from the area. Here it is anyway - only for you.

Cinque Terre Hiking Trails

Route#	Start	Destination	Walking Time
The Cinque Terre Lower Trail from Monterosso to Riomaggiore
2	Monterosso	Riomaggiore	5 hr
The Cinque Terre Lower Trail from Monterosso to Riomaggiore
2	Monterosso	Vernazza	1 hr 45 min
2	Vernazza	Corniglia	1 hr 45 min
2	Corniglia	Riomaggiore	1 hr 30 min
The High Trail from Levanto to Portovenere
1	Levanto	Portovenere	12 hr
The High Trail from Levanto to Portovenere (part by part)
1	Levanto	Colla di Gritta	2 hr 30 min
1	Colla di Gritta	Drignana	1 hr 30 min
1	Drignana	Cigoletta	2 hr
1	Cigoletta	La Croce	1 hr 45 min
1	La Croce	Telegrafo	1 hr 15 min
1	Telegrafo	Portovenere	3 hr
Trails Up from the Cinque Terre Towns
9	Monterosso	Soviore	1 hr 30 min
17	Soviore	P.So Bardelone	2 hr
7	Vernazza	Ricco D. Golfo	3 hr 30 min
8	Vernazza	Drignana	1 hr 30 min
Trails from Levanto
1 and 10	Levanto	Monterosso	2 hr
14	Levanto	Colla D. Bagari	1 hr 30 min
19	Levanto	Foce di Lavaggio	2 hr
21	Levanto	Foce di Montale	2 hr 15 min
18	Levanto	P.So Bardelone	2 hr
12	Levanto	Colla di Gritta	1 hr 15 min

You can find the original table on the Slow Travel web page.

We were sad to leave the place without trying out at least a couple more of the tempting paths. We had to head back home at least a few days too early. Maybe next time...

If you liked this post and are interested in more information on our trip, please click on this link or on the Cinque Terre label in the right frame.

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What food to try when in Cinque Terre?

When in Italy you most definitely have to try the local cuisine as often as possible. I suggest you stay away from hamburgers and French fries while around. If you just can't get along without at least some kind of junk food, I'm pretty sure you can find some local supplement.

Pizza and various pasta dishes can be found all over Italy, but every region has also something special to offer. Liguria is no different (Cinque Terre National Park is situated in the Liguria region).


Best known dishes throughout the region of Liguria are pansoti, trofie, pesto, frisceu, focaccia with cheese and farinata.
Considering the region has lots of coast, sea-food is also very popular. One can find almost any kind of sea dish here: mussels, crab and lobster, tuna, anchovies and many other sorts of fish.
There is also a variety of wine produced there (mostly various dry whites).

M. and I both love Italian food, but this time we were not very successful in finding and tasting many of the dishes mentioned above. There are just so many things to do and always so little time. Budget can also be an important issue - good food is never cheap.

Despite all that, we did try some of the local specialties. One of those is (as I already mentioned in one of my earlier posts) freshly made pesto sauce.


Another simple dish also caught our attention. It was Focaccia con le olive - delicious salty bread with olives (you can see some leftovers on the first photo). We also stopped at a local enoteca for a couple glasses of local wine. It wasn't cheap, but we really enjoyed the wine and relaxed atmosphere. We sat there for quite a while and watched people walking by.

If you liked this post and are interested in more information on our trip, please click on this link or on the Cinque Terre label in the right frame.

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