We made it to our final joint destination! The journey here was a tad arduous, starting at 8.30 and ending just before dark. It began with the car drive back to Florence, where we dropped R and Bitti off at the tram stop with the bags, then drove around to the car drop off point. A was navigating, and thank goodness! It would have been hard to do both driving the manual on the wrong side of the road plus navigate. We had to take a bus from the car park back to the tram stop because even though it was a mere 500 metres away there is no pedestrian access from car hire to airport. Then on a packed tram into Florence, a short walk to the train station and onto a train for La Spezia. Change to another train for a 7-minute ride to Riomaggiore, our home for the next three days.
When we arrived it was raining a little, but the views of the sea were still impressive. Our little apartment was very central, a short flight of stairs from the main street. We were all relieved not to have to drag our luggage over the rough cobblestones up many levels, as we saw others doing when we went exploring. But our apartment did have two sets of immaculate wooden stairs, which came with a warning not to scratch them or face incurring a 100 Euro fine (a note we were able to read AFTER we had already dragged our bags up the first flight…). Bitti had her own tiny little bedroom on the top floor in a section where the roof sloped away to about 80 cm from the floor. The bathroom was next to that room so none of us could stand in the shower, instead we had to sit in the bath, rather like a Japanese style wet room really! I got my OWN bed, luxury. R and A gamely took the fold out double bed down in the living area.
We didn’t do any cooking here, just relied up on the little cafe downstairs and around a corner for all our needs. They weren’t terribly friendly, but by day 3 they had our breakfast order memorised: 4 plain croissants, 4 chocolate croissants (yes, we have all been eating for two). What was nice about Riomaggiore was it was plainly a functional fishing village, with locals mixed in with tourists and the smell of fishing gear throughout. Although there were really fancy restaurants down by the foreshore, there were also cheaper cafes that locals were eating in.
Our first day A wasn’t feeling well so R, Bitti and I headed off to Manarola on the train, paying the exorbitant fee of 1.50 each for a 2-minute train ride. (We did not make that same mistake on the way home.) The train platform was absolutely packed, even in Japan I never experienced a crush like that on a train. We managed to squeeze on and amused ourselves by watching a man with a large jogging pram try to jam it into the carriage. After a few minutes of wrestling with it and running people over he had the bright idea to fold it up!
We did a bit of huffing up and down stone stairways in Manarola, Bitti getting more and more whiny and bemoaning the lack of friendly black kittens. She did perk up when we happened upon a playground at the peak of a hill, which must the be in the running for playground with best view ever. Lunch and gelato then home again. It is all very beautiful, but hard to get around with a 5-year-old who really doesn’t care for stunning landscapes (seascapes?). I was itching to get out without her and do a proper walk.
I had a chance later that evening when A kindly put Bitti to bed for me so R and I could go out for an adult dinner. We went for a walk up the hill to a church in Riomaggiore, walking past houses full of families getting ready for dinner. We found a small kiosk with a table free to order a drink and watch the sunset. I really enjoyed spending some quality time with R, especially in such a glorious setting. We had talked about coming to Cinque Terre for years, and this was the primary motivation for setting up this trip in the first place. Good friends are really worth so much.
After dark we found a fancy restaurant called Il Grottino and ordered a few courses of seafood. I am on vegetarian hiatus while here if it means tasting local delicacies. We enjoyed a superb seafood meal with wonderful service, polishing off a half-litre of wine along the way. We even lashed out on dessert and I had a fabulous orange and ginger panna cotta, while R had a very fresh tiramisu.
The next day we all got Cinque Terre train and park passes and rode a slightly less crowded train to Monterosso, the furthermost village from ours. From there, after powering up with a second breakfast, we began the walk to Vernazza. I have to admit, we didn’t really do much research about this walk and if we’d known how long it was going to take I’m not sure we would have done it with Bitti. But once begun, it seemed pointless to turn back. She was distracted at first by the enormous peach—think James and Giant Peach—she selected at a small grocery store. It was actually juicy and tasty despite its size. About an hour in we encouraged a huge number of stone steps going up and up and up and up. Bitti nearly lost the plot, but I managed to get away without having to piggy back her. That came later!
It was a beautiful walk, taking us through some fields, always with a view of the sea. Without Bitti it would have been a pretty basic walk, but with her it took about 2.5 hours. The outfits people were wearing on the trail was simply breathtaking, I felt very conservative wearing a t-shirt. Next time I’ll have to pack my athletic underwear I guess? The sun was out so it was quite hot, which as we discovered in Rome, is her Achilles heel. After distracting her with some games, and the lucky discovery of a ‘troll’ bridge and some caves along the way, she actually managed to get most of the way to Vernazza quite well. But the final 20 minutes was too much, with a lot of very steep downhill sections. Her legs are pretty short, so she was working harder than any of us. I gave her a piggy back and we made it to Vernazza quite sweaty, but in good spirits thanks to a grey and white cat who allowed Bitti to pat her extensively.
We dived straight into the nearest shop to buy cold water, then found a fish and chip shop, conveniently located next to a very popular gelato place. We divided up to get both, Bitti and I in the gelato queue. We were just approaching the front of the line when a random older lady suddenly appeared to my left and tried to start ordering what she wanted ahead of us. Not today, Satan! I just talked over the top of her and put in Bitti’s order. She gave me a very dirty look, which I enjoyed immensely.
We have found some tourists to be quite entitled here, pushing to the front of lines to ‘ask a question’ and then ending up taking 10 minutes of the staff’s time. Organised groups are also an annoyance as they steam through, chasing their tour leader. R even had a group of tourists ask her to leave a lookout spot so they could take a series of photos of themselves as if they owned the place.
Vernazza is the most attractive of the towns I think, but Riomaggiore was a good choice for our accommodation. There is a tunnel in the rock leading to a pebbly beach that Bitti absolutely loved. R and A caught the train back early but we stayed to analyse rocks and build a ninja warrior course for pebbles out of pieces of wood she collected. Some people were swimming, it looked a bit rough for me! It was a very peaceful little cove.
That night Bitti went to bed early, I had some time alone to prep for my job interview as R and A had a date night out. They helped me setup the iPad in the best spot before they went to bed and I set my alarm for 4.10 am. I had a crazy night’s sleep, dreaming that I’d overslept and missed the interview and all sorts of anxiety-informed plot lines. But I did wake up in time, put on every ounce of make up I brought with me, which wasn’t much, in an attempt to appear human. I’m of an age now where the face I wake up with is not immediately suitable for public presentation. It was very nerve-wracking waiting for 4.45 am, 12.15 pm Adelaide time, wondering if the video hook up was going to work, wondering what the panel would ask me.
In the end it went reasonably well. I can’t guess what the outcome will be, it was very difficult to get a reading on how they were receiving my answers. The video link failed after about 5 minutes, they could not see me. So we tried just audio over the internet, but then they couldn’t hear me. So they ended up calling my mobile and we had an old-fashioned teleconference. I really don’t recommend this! I could really have done without the stress of having to prepare for a job interview while on holiday. Fingers crossed it results in a job because otherwise what a waste of my time!
Afterwards I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep until about 7 am. Then we were all up and out of the house by 9.15 to start the journey to Como. Another big long day that should wait for my next post. OH, and I just realised that a I forgot about our Pisa stopover!
Two Little Travellers 