March 3- 5, 2009
CINQUE TERRE, FLORENCE, SIENA
We left the hostel at 9am today to catch a 9:30 train to Pisa. From Pisa we got a train to La Spezia, then from there we got a train to the first of the 5 towns: Riomaggiore. Of course, it was pouring the whole way so we didn’t get to see very much of the countryside. It was rather unfortunate because all the trails we closed. The path from Riomaggiore to Manarola was open because it’s paved. So we paid our €8.50 to walk the trails and take the trains. We walked the Via dell’ Amore which is the path between the first and second towns. There were cacti and flowers lining the walk and the path is built on the side of the cliff overlooking the water. Had it been sunny it would’ve been beautiful. It was about 20 minutes to the train station in Manarola. While we were waiting for the train the clouds opened up and the sun came out with some blue sky!!! For the rest of our time in Cinque Terre it was sunny!!! How lucky are we? So we were so happy. We decided to go to the last town and work our way backwards. We arrived in Monterossa and I decided I had to buy flip-flops to honour the sunny weather. So we headed straight for the beach.
I realized how much I miss the ocean. It sure calms me, I’m a pisces so maybe that’s why? I don’t know but whatever it is I felt rather blissful sitting on this beach in a small Italian seaside town. Heather gets anxious so we wandered around the town and found tons of B&Bs and lemon and orange trees!! I can tell that these towns are very busy in the summer. They probably make enough money in the summer to last them the year.
We walked along the beach trying to find some gelato. There was a small shop with a kind man and a patio. We sat staring at the waves and feeling that Italian breeze that is never too cold…
We then decided we better head to the next town: Vernazza. It was gorgeous too but much smaller with only one big street. Like a magnet we went to the ocean. There were some old men fishing on the breakwater and we sat behind them on a little outcropping of rock. All of a sudden a HUGE wave crashed over the six foot breakwater! All the men went scrambling out of the way faster than I would’ve thought possible; then they started laughing and joking about it. I made sure to take a mental picture of the situation.
Me soon moved onto Corniglia. This town is built on the top of a cliff so its quite the walk up. We didn’t realize that from the train station and tried to walk up; we gave up for a lack of time and headed back to the train station. While there we realized there was a free bus that could take us. We were only in the town long enough to see the church, the view and take some photos before we had to head back down to catch the train. On the bus we met a nice American couple who had met on a university exchange in Rome four years ago. They are still together and came back to relive that time. They said if we wanted to skip Manarola it wasn’t a huge loss.
So we got into Riomaggiore with just enough time to catch the sunset. Exquisite. We were starving by this time though so we went to search for food. There wasn’t anything that looked cheap and appealing so we decided to splurge on a nice Italian sit-down dinner. We went into an otherwise empty restaurant and decided to share stuffed mussels with cheese and green vegetables and pesto spaghetti. We also each had a glass of wine right from the small town of Riomaggiore. The food was AMAZING!! Although our server stood 8 feet from the table and watched us the whole time; I suppose this is being attentive to our needs but it was weird. So after our lovely dinner we decided to get some wine, fruit and chocolate to enjoy on the train. So we headed back to the train station and bought our tickets back to Florence. For some reason they were half the price they were on the way TO Cinque Terre so that was good! So we cracked the wine while we were waiting.
We got on the train to La Spezia (about 8 minutes away) where we had to transfer onto a train to Pisa. So we got off in La Spezia and looked for the right platform to Pisa- the sign says platform 1. So we go to the platform and hop on the train. Once the train starts to move we realize it is going in the direction we just came from… hmmmm. So Heather asked some teenage boy where the train was going. Sure enough he tells us its going to Riomaggiore, this is when we realize why people don’t usually drink while trying to catch connecting trains. The boy and his friend then begin laughing loudly at us. But hey, I’ve had a couple glasses of wine so I laughed with them. Heather was freaking out because now we were going to miss our train to Pisa and consequently to Florence. I wasn’t the least bit worried and told her it was an adventure haha, again might have been the wine talking. When we get to Riomaggiore we had to go back to the ticket booth where the guy whom we bought our tickets from thought we were big idiots. Nonetheless, we decide we should get some more chocolate. Finally we get on all the right trains and get back to our hostel at 11.
I wasn’t paying attention to the time at all though. Heather and I thought it would be fun to go out on the town. So I was getting myself all ready after a day of traveling whilst talking to our roommate: a 50 yr old Greek man from Athens. He separated from his wife and has been living in the hostel since November. He has lots of good stories to tell because he has been all over the world: he owns his own shipping business.
We are eventually all ready and head out. Like I said, I wasn’t paying attention to the time and when we discovered all the bars were closed we were very confused so Heather checks the time. Turns out it 2 am. Huh. So we ended up just going back and going to bed. Haha rather anticlimactic.
EMBLEM OF THE DAY
Being on the beach in these beautiful and unique Italian towns
and drinking wine at sunset.
The next day I was feeling very green around the gills. We had planned to visit San Gimigniano but I could barely get out of bed. So Heather went without me. I slept the whole day and woke up only shortly before she returned at 3pm. Apparently its good I didn’t go. It was pouring rain and miserable and none of the shops were open because of the siesta. We relaxed and had a somewhat early night. And there is no emblem to this day…
We woke up and checked out before heading to the train station to head to check out Siena. Unfortunately another rainy day was upon us and when we arrived to Siena my feet were soaked which never fails to make me grumpy. We also realized Siena was a lot bigger than we thought and was therefore not that easy to walk around and see everything. So we just checked out the main historical Piazza before getting a bus then a train back to Roma. Oh and of course when we got into Rome it was all gorgeous sunshine.
EMBLEM OF THE DAY
Coming back to Rome and it feeling like home
No comments:
Post a Comment