Well today was a most interesting and challenging day. The scheduled itinerary involved a lot of free time so I decided to strike out on my own. Lerici is a lovely town but there is not a lot to do other than eat, sleep and stroll along the water.
I decided to head back to Cinque Terre as I'm sure I won't be back any time soon, if ever. There are a lot more places on my 'bucket list' without going to the same place twice. I caught the 9:30 AM ferry over to Riamaggiore with a stop to change boats in Porto Venere.
It was clearer than the trip on Friday, but the atmosphere is different here by the water it seems. I was nervous when it looked like the ferry was going to bypass the town completely, but it just had to go around a yellow buoy before it could turn into the harbour.
It seemed like we didn't have much time in Riomaggiore yesterday so I wanted to go back. It turns out that the town really is that small. Instead of following the large crowd off the boat, I went in the opposite direction as I spied a beach of sorts.
There isn't much sand on the beaches in this part of Italy, they are quite rocky. A very few people were sunning themselves on the rocks (which seems weird to me) and there were 2 or 3 people swimming in the water. I enjoyed the small area, picking a few rocks and taking some great photos.
I headed down the main street and bought a few postcards for Amy. The scenery in each of the Cinque Terre towns is truly beautiful. I stopped in at the church for a rest. They are quiet, cool peaceful places to sit for a while and recoup.
I decided to head outta there and catch the train to the next town. The train platform was crowded and I found it hard to understand where to buy the 6 hour train ticket. I had hoped to buy it in Lerici at the tobacco shop but they didn't sell them. By the time I figured out where to buy the pass, the train had left. I was surprised that the trains didn't run every few minutes. I had over an hour to kill so I went back to town and had lunch there.
I had originally planned to visit each town but the logistics of getting from place to place were more than I bargained on. Ahh, the joys of travelling! I decided to skip town 2, Manarola and go to town 3, Corneglia. This is the one place we didn't visit and I wanted to see what I was missing. As it turned out, not much!
Having learned my lesson in the last town, I checked at the office for the time of the next train north. It was about an hour from then, so I thought that would be plenty of time to explore. Well, I didn't realize how far away the town was. Corneglia is high up on a hill. A really big hill. There is a shuttle bus but it doesn't run often or coincide with the train schedule. The walk from the train platform is a long one. And THEN you have to climb stairs, many, many of them!
This set of stairs is called the “Lardarina”, and is composed of 33 flights with 382 steps! To make matters more of a challenge, it was a hot day - very, very hot. Long story short, I climbed the stairs, did a short walk around, then headed back down so as not to miss the train.
Onward to Vernazza. By then I was parched and felt I deserved a bottle of water and a gelato. Chocolate and lemon are soooo good together.
I wandered down the main street towards the water. Up there was no accessible beach. When heading back I noticed a sign that said "Castle - this way". I wasn't sure where I was going but the path was away fro the crowds into the little alleys and pathways above the beaten path. More stairs!
But my curiosity got the better of me. The castle was pretty tiny - only a tower really.
But the views were fabulous. I could see the previous village as well as the next one. I could also see a beach!
Walking back along the main street, I saw a natural (?) tunnel I hadn't noticed before.
It led to a small rocky beach. It really amazes me how people can sun themselves on the rocks. They were gorgeous rocks!
The colors were unique and varied, and I came upon a little bit of beach glass too. The patterns in some of the stones were really cool and I found myself completely engrossed in 'rock-picking'. The waves splashed my feet and that helped me cool off a bit. Beach-combing is so good for the soul and I almost lost track of time!
The train to La Spezia was due to leave at 5:35 and it was actually on time, and crowded. At the end of the line I asked for and got a bit of help from some non-English speaking Italian older ladies. It's really amazing how you can communicate in a language you don't know.
The bus ride back to the hotel was about 40 minutes long but I was dropped off almost on my front doorstep. The rest of the group had already gone for supper in the next town and I could have joined them. I just didn't feel like rushing around so I enjoyed a pizza and a glass of wine at an outdoor restaurant in the main square.
I'm proud of myself for navigating on my own today. It was a challenge and I survived!!
What a wonderful day it was, weather wise and
activity wise! We started out on the coach, through La Spezia, then onto a tiny
village called Groppo which is along the Cinque Terre coast.
After a rest stop, we walked a little ways along
the path towards Manarola.
The views were incredible. It was interesting to see
the vineyards up close and the farming they do. There isn't much flat area and
the amount of terracing is unbelievable!
At one point along the path, we could
see both Manarola as well as Riomaggiore.
We returned along the path we came on and boarded
the bus again for a short ride to a local winery.
Cantina Sociale is a small
establishment where we had a taste of three different white wines. They served
some bread with pesto, olives, and tomatoe sauce as well as some hot vegetable
pie.
I bought another wine glass together with a fabric wine glass holder.
Umberto, our guide for the day, told me it's handy to have at wine tasting
events so as to have hands-free when you are sampling the food. It's like a
cloth 'bib' which holds your wine glass. It might come in useful at parties (or
at art club, haha!)
After the wine tasting, which came far too early
in the day for me, we took the bus for a very short ride to Manarola. It is a
charming village, as they all are, and we entered from on high. What wonderful
views!
We had time to ourselves and I headed towards the water. There is no
beach there per se, and it is quite rocky down by the water. Despite all that,
there were lots of people sunning themselves and even swimming in the ocean.
Some were even snorkelling!
I really enjoyed the architecture, the windows,
doorways, laundry lines, and vibrant colours. I can't believe how these
villages have been built on such steep hills.
I stopped for a bite - a pesto
bun. My are they ever good here. I also had a gelato - number 4.
The shops run
up and down the Main Street in town and I bought some postcards and another
t-shirt. Did I really need one? No, but it matched my new lime green bicycle,
so there!
At the appointed time, we caught the train to
Riomaggiore. It was a very short ride about a minute long, just through a
tunnel.
At that town, some of the group took an elevator up to the top of the
hill instead of a 10 minute walk. My feet were pretty tired and hot by then
after all that walking on cement and stone.
We didn't have much time in Riomaggiore so it
was a quick look around before we had to catch the train again.
We had a ten
minute ride to La Spezia where a bus was waiting for us. On the train I sat
across a Canadian couple. We got to talking and they were from Alberta - Red
Deer in fact! Small world.
Supper was at 7:30, our usual supper time. I
(and others) wish it were earlier, but that is the Italian way. We ate at.
Restaurant above the fish market near the castle. The food was fabulous, the
service excellent, and the wine plentiful. What more could you ask.
We stopped a bank machine on the way back to the
hotel and my friends helped me figure out how to get some cash out. I am
heading out on my own tomorrow as the schedule is pretty open. Lerici is a great
town but I don't want to hang out here all day.
As I was sitting out in my balcony typing this,
I heard a man singing in Italian on the street below. He had a great voice and
it was a lovely way to end this day.
T'is another lovely day on the northwest coast of Italy! I got up early today to do the Lerici 'flea market' in front of our hotel and all the way to the castle. I was hoping to find some unique hand-made crafts but I was disappointed. The merchandise was mainly clothing and housewares, much the same as you could get in any bargain store.
Of interest were the food stalls further on down towards the castle. There was a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and they smelled wonderful!
There were cheeses and meats - sausages as well as cooked meats including something I didn't recognize, which turned out to be rabbit. The food made good subject matter for photos at any rate.
At 10:15 AM we boarded a coach which took us to La Spezia, a city about 20 minutes away without traffic. With traffic, that's another story.
We toured Castello San Giorgio and learned about the Stelae statues and Roman artifacts.
Lunch was on our own and there was nothing else planned for the day. I had hoped to go kayaking in the harbour and went to the rental shop after a bite to eat at the chicken schwarma restaurant. Unfortunately, the proprietor wasn't there so I caught a local bus instead.
My destination was the nearby (6 kilometres) town of Sarzana which had been recommended to us. There was an old castle there and part of a wall you could walk on.
They were preparing for a music festival there and the sound of musicians practicing ricocheted off the castle walls!
It was warm in the sun and I was glad I wore a sleeveless top. The streets seemed too quiet, then I remembered our guide said they close for the afternoon and reopen at 4 PM.
Sure enough, foot traffic really began to increase. I wandered for a bit and met several others from our tour. I found a nice little gelato shop and stopped for a taste. My gelato choice always includes chocolate plus one other flavour, this time 'limon', a delicious combination!
I stopped in at a church to rest my feet and enjoyed the quiet and stillness inside.
There really wasn't a lot else to see and do in town so I made my way back to the bus stop. It was an easy ride back to Lerici.
I had supper with my friends at last night's restaurant. We went earlier and had pizza, salad and wine. The sunset was fabulous, the weather warm, the service great, and the company wonderful!
