Judy and Liz got up early and headed to town with a bag of laundry… and again the laundry place wasn’t open. Aaron and I met them down there and when I swung by the laundry a woman was heading out on a bike with laundry deliveries to the local hotels. She said she’d be back in 10 minutes and I waited for her return. Meanwhile, Judy and Liz had loaded up with groceries for the house.
A local train connects the five villages of Cinqua Terre: Monterosso the furthest west, followed by Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. They are also connected by coastal and mountain trails, but we were told that the one from Monterosso to Vernazza had been washed out in the flood that decimated the town. Finally, you can go from town to town by boat. Tickets are required for all three methods. We opted for a day pass that would let us ride trains and hike any trails all day.
We took the train to the furthest village, Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is way more Anglicized than Monterosso: signs on virtually all restaurants and shops have English, and you hear a lot more American tourists. The village rises vertically from the coast and there is no beach, just a very small harbor that serves very small boats. I personally didn’t find it nearly as charming as Monterosso, but we did pick up some pasta spices that came in handy a couple of days later. We sat on the harbor rocks and feasted on cheese and coldcut sandwiches made with fresh local bread.
Connecting Riomaggiore to Manarola is the Via dell’Amore (way of love), a well-paved, 1 km path dug into the rocky coast. And a much easier hike than our daily trips to and from Monterosso from our little villa. I don’t know geology but the whole coastline looks to me like volcanic rock that got turned sideways in a geologic uplift. Really spectacular, and really rocky, with lots of succulent plants (cacti, yucca or whatever the European variant is) which kind of surprised me because they seem to get plenty of rain. Liz and Aaron went bouldering on the rocks below the path. Judy and I found the Bar dell’ Amore along the path and had a glass of local wine (gotta love Italy).
After a warm, sunny day wandering, we took the train back to Monterosso and got off in a downpour. We raced to the little visitor center to ask about a bus that we’d heard went up the hill to near our little villa. And as it turned out, it was pulling up as we asked. Judy, Liz and Aaron hopped on and I promised to follow them after I got the laundry. They explained that they were staying at B&B Ulivo, and after a few perplexed moments the driver brightened and indicated he knew where to drop them. Meanwhile, I headed down the road for the laundry. This time, the lady was there, so I grabbed the duffle and headed back to the bus stop. After looking at the schedule, however, it became clear that (1) another bus wouldn’t be along for a good, long while, and (2) it wasn’t clear that it was going as far as our road (nothing on the bus route corresponded to anything on the town map we were given). The rain had slackened a little, so I decided to hoof it back up the trail. I arrived home soaked and wheezing, only to find 3 other people who were also soaked and just starting to catch their breath. It turned out that the bus driver had taken them a couple of blocks, told them they’d arrived, they got off, and found that they had far from arrived. We learned later that B&B Ulivo actually comprises several properties. He had taken them to one of them… but not the right one. So they hiked up the road to our place, arriving only shortly before me.
After the rain let up, we went back to Old Monterosso for another really nice Italian dinner. Judy got what was supposed to be shrimp scampi but whatever the crustacean was that was in there was not shrimp – it kind of looked like a really skinny crawfish, with no meat in the tail. And included whole. I had one in my seafood spaghetti mix too, and if there was any meat on that thing I couldn’t find it. But I also had a nice big prawn and a bunch of mussels and other shellfish, so I definitely got a better deal.
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| Riomaggiore |
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