We had set the alarm for 9am thinking we would wake up before, but the long travels caught up with us and we barely got out of the room before noon. Instead of the boat to Portifino, we decided to take the train down to Cinque Terre, a series of five towns along the Italian Riviera. We got off at the middle town of Varezza, based on a recommendation from the Rick Steve's uTube videos.
We walked around to get oriented, then stopped at one of the restaurants right by the water. I had an insalade de mare (fish salad) that was delightful. It was so wonderful to sit and watch the people and the majestic views of the water, the buildings, and the cliffs all around us. I practiced a couple times, the asked for the check in Italian. The cute guy waiting us us smiled and said "perfecto!" and made my day.
The exploring about was interesting. There were these incredibly skinny steps that would lead up to narrow walkways along the ocean side. They wormed between the buildings then became the entrances to people's apartments.
We stopped at one store that sold shoes and each bought a pair of wonderful wedged sandals at half price, then we stopped at Storie in Italy, Bottega d'Arte. We met Michelle, a transplant from California, who entertained and educated us with stories of the locales and what life is like there in the small towns. She has been here for 11 years after visiting for several years, then meeting the man who became her husband. He is a photographer and she creates jewelry that incorporates his pictures. She specifically put together some items in a way that we wanted. It was a wonderful part of the day.
After our shopping tour, we had to freshen up with a gelato that was so refreshing and just slid down our throats. Then we did some hiking, although we baled on the planned walk to Monterosso, it was cobbled, and lots of ups and downs on a very narrow path. Once the parks guide stopped us and asked for 7euros each, seemed better to just go back and then take the trains.
The trains are interesting. We took the R trains which are considered slow because then stop at every little burg along the way, but we loved it because we could really see the sites better, and take time to write in our journals, and Lauren prepare her latest blog post. Also, you buy a pass and validate for the day, then you can get on and off as many times as you want, so it fit well with our travels at only 11 euros each.
Monterosso was interesting, but a bit more commercial and different type of crowds. We were getting tired, so decided to skip the planned stop at Rapallo and just head back to S. Marguerita, freshen up at the hotel and have a nice dinner by the water close by us.
Dinner was exquisite with an appetiser of mussels cooked in white wine followed by a shared lobster dinner (that they catch right in the water nearby) with spaghetti that had the most wonderful tomatoes and fresh herbs. We had a bottle of the local ligure regional bianca wine to cap off the dinner. Loved our waitress who spoke only Italian, but was so sweet and praised our weak attempts at the language.
Lauren and I tried to do some planning for Florence but were just too exhausted to work it out so it will be whatever it is.
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