Travel-Journal : Monterosso (Italy)

Now for more of the old travel journal! Italy is next.

This is Monterosso (of Cinque Terre), it's on the northwest coast of Italy just past the border with France. Literally (maybe) it's the five towns, and this is the first of them! The standard thing is to walk between the towns, so I had this plan to hike between all the towns and paint each one. Tragically, the lower path was out between the third and fourth towns, so I had to go twice the normal distance and take the upper path. This is the only one I finished painting, but I have sketches of two of the others.

We stayed in a little villa in this town called A Vigna Du Raffa - which was named after the grapes vines hanging down from the lattice work over the courtyard. (We were told that we could eat the grapes, but wouldn't like them because they were wine grapes. This was a LIE - they tasted fantastic.) Most expensive place we stayed, but totally worth it, absolutely amazing.

When I was working on this one (again perched on a ledge), this elderly Italian woman approached me (twice) and we talked for a bit. I say talked, but I didn't speak Italian and she didn't speak English - so we basically had a 20 minute conversation through gesticulations. From what I gather, she is an artist too and thought it was wonderful to see someone appreciating the landscape - especially a foreigner of my age. She was very supportive and the interaction went on my list of reasons-why-I-keep-trying.

If you ever make it to Italy GO TO CINQUE TERRE. People honestly say it is one of the most beautiful places in the country, I believe them. And everyone was so friendly. And the food was amazing. However, do not trust Italian trains - everywhere else the trains are on time (except in London, but they are very quaintly apologetic about this), but in Italy it's madness. Missed three trains in a row and slept in the station in Milan (which coincidentally has gorgeous ceilings and very nice guards).

Location : [Google Maps]

Tools :
1. Moleskine Watercolor Book (5.25 × 8.25)
2. 0.3 mech pencil [HB]
3. Winsor & Newton 12 Color Watercolor Kit (Travel)

Time : 1.5 hours approx.