Of all the places I have visited the Cinque Terre stands out for its multiple attractions.  Five villages, all exquisitely beautiful and yet different.  Three ways of seeing the villages without a car: walking, catching a train, catching a ferry. Plenty of places to eat delicious locally produced food.  In May, 2011 it wasn’t too crowded.  This was before massive floods in October of that year washed away many houses in Vernazza. Three residents were killed and the town was buried under four metres of mud and debris. There was over one hundred million euro worth of damage. Below are extracts from the diary I kept on the five days we spent in this beautiful area.

We are in the train to Torino following the coast up as far as La Spezia.  It is 1.15pm and we were one and a half hours late leaving Roma as the train didn’t arrive on time.    There are people in all the seats so its rather squeezy.  We also have a rabbit in the compartment and a dog in the corridor. The scenery is interesting with coastal views and productive farmland.  One of our stops was Civitavecchia where we will travel in a week’s time to board the ship.  The train gets close to the water’s edge in some places and then veers inland again.

I’m going to read my information on things to do in Cinque Terre.  We still have about one and a half hours to go and of course no internet.  John has reported that the toilet is blocked so I plan to hang on until I get to the destination.

 We arrived eventually after some confusion at La Spezia.  There was no sign to say where to catch the train and people were wandering around looking confused.  Eventually we were on what we hoped was the right train and after waiting for a while it eventually moved.  The eight-minute trip, mainly through tunnels, stopped at Riomaggiore to let us off.  We walked up a steep hill for 300 metres and rang the doorbell but no-one appeared. A passing woman stopped to help and rang someone on her mobile.  Then Emiliano turned up with two other guests who must have arrived when we did.  He showed us to our room which is small but pleasantly airy with blue and white curtains and white walls.  The bathroom is new looking and clean although it had one of those annoying semicircular showers where the door is hard to shut.  There is a brand-new TV which should keep John happy.  The balcony looks across at the village and the grape vine covered hillside but at one end it gets larger and you can see the sea.

We had had lunch on the train but decided to buy some food and wine for happy hour.  Emiliano suggested we walk along the Via dell’Amore to Manarola and have dinner at one of three restaurants he recommended.  After a shower and a drink on the balcony we walked along the Via dell’Amore, translated to “The Way of Love.”  which follows the edge of the ocean, through tunnels, finally emerging at Manarola. 

Then it was a steep climb up a series of steps and roads to Billy’s, a restaurant recommended by both Emiliano and Trip Adviser.  We had to wait twenty minutes to get a table but they gave us some Prosecco to keep us going and we sat on the steps looking out to sea.  Our table was beside the kitchen on the outside, with a view of the setting sun over the ocean.  The food was good.  I had mussels in garlic and tomato followed by a grilled fish and John had butterflied raw anchovies soaked in lemon juice followed by stuffed mussels.  We shared two half bottles of white and red and were given complimentary glasses of lemoncino and a purplish liqueur that tasted like cough medicine.  It must have had some kick because I walked home, fell into bed and was asleep within minutes.

 Tuesday, May 31, 2011

 I felt below par today.  I don’t know if it was jet lag, the limoncino or what but I felt decidedly queasy as we walked to the harbour this morning.  We had a latte and John had a croissant but, in the end, decided to have an easy day and do the boat trip tomorrow.

 We bought some tasty food to keep us going and had lunch on our balcony overlooking the town and the sea.  We had fresh bread, delicious tomatoes, olives, cheese, salad mix and the remains of some Balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  No wine but healthy juice with orange, carrot and apple.  I wrote six postcards.  The PO was closed when we walked past so will have to try and post them tomorrow.

 We booked dinner at La Laterna for 8 but decided to have the first course at home on the balcony.  Ricotta cheese, olives, tomatoes, bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and the local dry white wine.  What a way to start the evening!  At La Laterna we had a main each and a glass of house red.  I had spaghetti with seafood in foil and John had a fried fritto misto.  We shared a tiramasu.  

 Wednesday, June 1, 2011

 First day of winter at home and here didn’t look much better.  It was cloudy and windy and rained through the night.  We wondered if the ferries would still be running.  I felt much better than yesterday and think I am finally recovering from jet lag.  We had breakfast in the room before heading off down to the jetty.  At nine o’clock the ticket office was still shut but it opened just before the ferry arrived.   I bought two E20 all day tickets even though the ticket seller gloomily forecast the ferries might not run because of the swell.  We saw what she meant as the ferry came in.  The landing spot was just a piece of rock and people had to run along a gangplank over the bow that swung around in the waves.

 The boat set off in the swell and we filmed and photographed the scenic villages under a cloudy sky. First we passed Manarola, the most spectacular from the sea I think. 

The next town is Corniglia which has no jetty and is perched on a hilltop. 

Vernazza was next but our ferry went straight to Monterosso al Mare.  Here we were able to get off fairly easily as it was a large jetty.  The town seems much bigger than Riomaggiore and has an interesting medieval centre.  We stopped for capucchino and cake in a bar which was very busy.  We were astonished at pictures on the wall of the bar of huge waves roaring up Monterosso’s main street.

 As we passed a Post Office I thought I would go in and buy some stamps for the post cards.  The man behind the counter waved me away and said “Go to the shop at the back” or so I thought.  I went outside and looked around but could see no shop at the back.  I went in and this time he said, “Go to the tobacco shop”.  We walked down the road and into the tobacco shop but they said they don’t sell stamps anymore and to go to the Post Office.  One more try at the PO and I were sent angrily away, I suppose because there was a huge queue waiting and only one man serving.  I don’t know when I’ll be able to send those post cards.

 At 11.30 we caught a ferry to Vernazza.  It was smaller than Riomaggiore and seemed more touristy if that is possible.  We only had 40 minutes there but wandered around the streets.  It has a stream running through the middle of the town.  Small bridges cross the river from the road to the houses. There were lots of people waiting for the train.  Maybe they were tired after doing the first 90 minute walk from Monterosso.

 The next ferry at 12.20pm was supposed to stop at Manarola but they must have decided it was too rough and kept on going.  It did stop at Riomaggiore but we stayed on because we were going to Portovenere.  We kept saying we could see a patch of blue or the sky was getting lighter and I think that was actually the case.  There were a few clusters of houses on impossibly steep hillsides but from Riomaggiore to Portovenere was mainly unpopulated.  As we approached Portovenere we saw a pointed rock with a cross on it, a massive castle on the left hand side of the entrance to the harbour and a church on top of a rock, also at the entrance.  Once inside the heads it was calm and peaceful so getting ashore was no chore this time.  We walked off the ship on the side, not over the bow.

 Portovenere was such a pretty town with its castle and row of pastel houses along the waterfront.  We spotted Tri Torri right away at the back of a square near the marina.  John was hungry so we headed there first.  The ferry captain told us the 3.00pm ferry would be the last one as the last two were cancelled.  The restaurant was lovely.  It was all beige and white with a view of the water and the castle.  We both ordered a E25 main course of mixed grilled seafood plus a salad and two small carafes of house white and red plus a bottle of water.  The food was delicious.  We had scampi, prawns (huge), calamari (tender, grilled on charcoal) and fish.  The waiter cleaned up the fish for us, removing bones and fins and opening it up to make it easier to eat.  

 We had time to buy a gelato each and eat it before our ferry came in.  The trip home was rough but the sun had come out and everything looked bright and clean.  I filmed the arrival of our boat at the landing spot in Riomaggiore and people getting off and on.  It was quite scary at times as the boat swung around.

 We bought some food for dinner, bread, tomatoes, cheese, salad, onion, prosciutto and a cake.  John made coffee when we got back to our room and now we are resting on the bed with the windows open, the cool breeze blowing in and the sound of birds and children’s voices coming from outside.

 Thursday, June 2, 2011

 We have completed all we could do of the Cinque Terre walks as the track from Corniglia to Manarola is closed.  When we arrived at the station this morning we saw that we had a 40 minute wait for a train so we purchased our train/walk pass and started the walk to Manarola.  Once there we had cappucchinos and waited for the train.  Funnily enough the train we would have caught at Riomaggiore went straight past but there was another one soon after.  Today is a public holiday so there were plenty of people out and about.  We took the train all the way to Monterosso al Mare and felt as if we were in a different town to yesterday.  The sun was shining, the umbrellas were up and people sunbaked or swam in the sea.  What confused us most was where the train station is situated is in a part of town we hadn’t seen yesterday when we got off the boat.  It was very impressive and had a lovely resort feel about it.  I was tempted to pay for a little change room and sunbed on the beach with its own umbrella.  The umbrellas all looked brand new for the new season.

After buying a gelato we started the walk.  It was only three kilometers but took an hour and a half.  There were a lot of steep steps going up out of the town and the sun was shining hotly.  We were very pleased to reach Vernazza and sat down in a pleasant little café called Trattoria del Sandro.  I had vegetable pie, a local specialty while John had octopus and potato salad.  He said it was very tender.  We had a can of lemon squash and a salad.  It came to E35.50 so John says no eating out tonight.

We were amazed at the throngs of people flowing through the village, from trains, ferries and walking tracks.

 We headed off again on the Vernazza to Corniglia track.  This was supposed to be longer at 4 kilometres but the time was the same – one and a half hours.  It started to rain at one stage but was a welcome relief from the heat.  We sheltered under a tree until the big drops stopped.  Corniglia had cars, motorbikes and buses parked in a square when we arrived.  The square led to a narrow street where we bought a lemon gelato with honey drizzled over it. The narrow street wound its way to another square where a number of cafes had large umbrellas covering most of the area.  At the back was an ancient church with a paved area beside it where children played a noisy soccer game.  The road continued to a look out over the sea where telescopes could be used to view the other villages in the distance.  This wasn’t the way to the train station so we walked back all the way to the square with cars and bikes and continued to a set of 378 steps which wound all the way down to the train station.  We were glad we were going downhill and that this was almost the end of the journey.  We had a 20 minute wait for our train, eating our rather squashed nectarine, our juice and a mandarin.  We chatted to two Americans from New Jersey until the train arrived.  Back at Riomaggiore we walked up our 300 metre hill and decided it wasn’t so bad.  We have both had showers and are resting our extremely weary bones.  Our clothes were saturated with sweat so we washed them and hung them out.  A heavy downpour of rain has just wet them all again but no matter as they weren’t dry anyway.

 I will have to take this laptop down to the main street to send my emails when we go to get some dinner.  I think we’ll take the long road past the church as the steep way (down the steps) would be too slippery.

 Later:  I couldn’t get the internet to work tonight so will have to send it in Roma.  Tonight we ate at Le Grotto.  Our main course was spaghetti with fresh anchovies and herbs (delicious).  For dessert we had strawberries, something like homemade icecream and cranberry sauce (with a bit of chocolate).  A bottle of red and some sparkling aqua and the bill E50 with tip.  On the way back we passed a brass band warming up outside a church (or was it an oratory?)  We didn’t stop to hear them play but as we lay in bed later we could faintly hear it.  People talked loudly until late in the night and as our room was right beside the footpath it felt like they were in the room with us.

 Friday, June 3, 2010

 We are on the train to Roma so this is a good time to write.  I have just started a spreadsheet of expenditure so I can keep track of the cost of this holiday.

 We were awake early and by the time the 7.00am bell started pealing we had packed and eaten our remaining yoghurt and fruit for breakfast.  We said goodbye to La Baia del Rio, leaving the key on the table.  After checking our train times and remembering this time to date stamp our tickets from the yellow machine we had coffee at the little shop near the station.  The train left Riomaggiore at 8.37am which would get us to La Spezia early but we intended to buy some lunch for the journey.  All went according to plan and we arrived at La Spezia with our next train departing at 10.06 am.  This gave us time to walk down to the main square, check out a market and buy some rolls with ham and salad.  We also bought some little cakes for dessert.  Back to Platform 3 and we had a 20 minute wait for the train.  We are now stationary at Pisa Station but can’t see any Leaning Tower from here.  I’d be frustrated if I hadn’t seen it before.

 Later:  We arrived in Roma and carried our backpacks to the Welrome Hotel where we were taken to our new room by Mary.  It is called Colosseo and is larger than the Trevi and has a small balcony at the back on which we hung some clothes to dry.