Europe Part 5: Pisa and Cinque Terre, Italy

Day 12 - Travel to Pisa and Cinque Terre

We woke up early with little sleep from staying up to finish our laundry. Again it was sad to leave another city behind but we were very excited to get to Pisa and Cinque Terre. We hadn't completely finished packing the night before and were running late to catch our train. Once at the train station, we realized the strike from the night before was actually affecting the trains leaving this morning. We were unsure if the train we wanted to take was still there or if was even going to leave. We rushed to find our track and luck was on our side because our train was late departing and we were able to make it before it left. Thank goodness becasue the next train was not for several hours if it was even going to make it at all.

We got to Pisa by 10:30am, found the bag check station (because there was no way we were carrying our heavy bags any longer than we had to) and took a bus to the Leaning Tower thanks to unsolicited help from a somewhat scary old man. We took the typical touristy pictures of us holding us the tower and headed back to the train station. We got so lucky because as we were waiting for our bus to come a BNP (the European arm of Bank of America) was right next to us. This meant no ATM fees or currency exchange fees!! Once back at the station we picked up our bags and grabbed some pizza to eat on the train just before the train pulled out. We were barely making it onto several of the last few trains and during the strike you don't want to miss one that is actually leaving.

Bentley and the Leaning Tower

Lisette and the tower

The train ride was only about one hour to La Spezia and then we changed to a regional train that travels between the 5 villages. We wanted to stay in Vernazza but did not have reservations and were hoping to find a good deal with a sea view and balcony. This was part of our reason for getting an early start so we could make it before with time to search for a place to stay in the daylight. We walked around Vernazza for a while with no luck finding a room after asking 5 or 6 places. Starting to get a little worried, we resorted to a tactic Rick Steve's mentions in his guide book. He said to start going to various cafes and bars and asking about vacant rooms because they either have rooms or know people who do and can call for you. Lisette was in a cafe called The Blue Marlin when a guy approached Bentley and asked if he was looking for a room. Of course we were and having no other options we let him take us up to his home where we were able to check out the room (normally this would be scary but he seemed harmless). It was not on the sea like we had hoped but had a wonderful balcony and overlooked a small creek were some cute ducks and geese were swimming. After a little negotiating we settled on a price. The place was called Egi's Rooms and was mentioned in the Rick Steve's guide book (although we didn't know it at the time).

Our adorable room and its balcony (green building, second floor). You had to walk across a bridge, over the creek, to get to the building.

At this time it was about 2 in the afternoon so we changed into our bathing suits and headed to the beach in Montorosso (one town over). We found a place to put our towel and hung out for an hour or so then walked around the town a bit and got gelato. The spot we found on the beach was not sand but rocks. We scouted out a better section of the beach for the next two days of our trip. We headed back to Vernazza at about 6:00 and got ready for dinner. Most of the cafes and restaurants really got going at about 8:00 so we enjoyed our balcony for a while and relaxed in the great weather. We had also heard that there was an arts festival in town where people would be dancing, singing, bands playing and various other acts. From our balcony we could see a band warming up and getting ready to perform.

The band getting ready to perform. They were a marching/dancing band

The band dancing in the harbour/town square

Sunset #1

The harbour at night


The square at night

We had been reading about different restaurants to try and since Bentley had gotten is new job we wanted to celebrate somewhere really nice (plus his boss told us to have a nice dinner on him!!). We tried to go to the al Castello Ristorante Bar Camere Con Vista but there were no tables with a view so we made reservations for our last night around sunset so we could enjoy the amazing views the restaurant had.

For this night we decided to eat at a cafe right on the harbor. There were several restaurants all with outdoor dining and the atmosphere was great. We sat next to a couple from Tennessee and the four of us had a wonderful conversation. As with most of our other meals, we wanted to try something different so we tried their seafood spaghetti which came with clams and mussels. For our main course, Lisette had stuffed mussels which were breaded on the inside with a tomato type sauce and I had grilled swordfish and shrimp. All of the food was excellent.

We knew the next day would be tiring since we were going to hike between the 5 villages so we did the usual, got gelato, and headed to our room. We left the doors to our balcony open because the weather was great and so we could hear the stream. Little did we know the ducks and geese that we thought were so cute would be extremely loud all night. At about 1am I heard lots of loud noises outside and in my sleepy confusion I looked out the window and thought they men across the street might be robbing the bank because they had a huge ladder against the second floor of the bank. I didn't have my glasses on, could not see well and was much too tired to care. I crawled back into bed a crashed. Bentley never even heard to comotion!


Day 13 - Hike Cinque Terre


Today was the big day - a strenious hike between 5 villages with amazing views. I had been telling Bentley about this and he could sense my excitement but nothing can explain it until you actually do the hike. We got up at 7:30am so that we could do the hardest part of he hike before it got too hot. We went from Monterosso to Riomaggiore because the first two hikes starting from Monterosso are the hardest. We took the camera and a couple of water bottles with us.

The undisturbed beach in Monterosso before our hike began

The first leg of the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza was extremely difficult. There were very steep climbs with narrow passages and lots of stairs the whole way. There is not a path along the coast line so you have to climb high into the mountains. It took us about two hours to reach Vernazza. Good thing we started early because it was hot by then!

And so it begins, first of many stairs!

Narrow paths without any railing, better hope you have good balance. We saw some people doing this hike with their big bags like we have all of our stuff in. No thank you!

One of the many vineyards along our hike. They harvest the grapes and have a trolly type vehicle that goes up the steep hills on a track to collect the grapes from the workers.

Looking back to Monterosso, where the hike started and about 2 hours in

Looking down from the trail

Little bridge on the hike

Looking down from the trail onto Vernazza - spectular view

I took a picture in this exact same spot when I was here in 2002!

The harbor and fishing boats in Vernazza

Another view of Vernazza as we get closer to the end of the first trail. We bought a painting that looks very similar to this.

Almost done with leg 1

We got a banana in Vernazza and continued the hike to Corniglia. This hike was equally as hard partly because we were already fairly fatigued. This part of the hike took about 1.5 hours.

Corniglia sits up off the water and is the only town without a direct beach

STAIRS!! Since Corniglia sets up higher, the stairs connect you with the trail to go to the next town. Let me just say I am so glad we had to go down and not up!

Looking back at the massive amount of stairs

Corniglia was smaller so we simply passed through this town and headed for Monorola. This was about an hour hike to Manarola and not as difficult as the previous two. We stopped for lunch here and got some foccacia bread and pizza to eat on the boat ramp at the harbor. We contemplated on going for a swim but we didn't want to be wet and risk getting blisters for the remainder of our trip.

We ate lunch at the top of the steps heading down to the water. Great view for lunch.

The last leg was the hike to Riomaggiore. This was the shortest and easiest hike. You could have pushed a stroller the whole way it was so flat and just like a sidewalk. There were also locks all along the pathway called "Locks of Love". It is supposed to symbolize your love for someone by placing a lock on the rail and throwing the key into the water. Apparently the modern lock is the combination lock so it can be undone but we decided the only kind of lock for us was the kind with a key. Once we got to Riomaggiore it started to rain so we got on the train back to Vernazza. The whole hike took us 5 hours, 41 minutes and 51 seconds to be exact. This included stopping for lots of pictures, lunch and breaks.

Last leg to Riomaggiore

Locks of Love

The official time

Since we were so tired we decided to head to the room and take a nap. It was so peaceful with the stream minus the ducks and geese. The sunsets are beautiful over the water so we climbed up some rocks and enjoyed people watching and the gorgeous sunset. It was fairly windy by the harbour so we found a little cove in the corner with a great view (out of the wind) and bought some pizza and pasta to have our own picnic.

Sunet #2

Day 14 - Cinque Terre Relaxation

This was out last day in Cinque Terre so we wanted to spend it relaxing and not rushed, we slept in until about 9:30 and headed to the main part of town to get some coffee, juice and pastry. We ate our breakfast just beside the harbor and enjoyed the view once again. After breakfast we went back to our room and got ready for our day at the beach. We rode the train to Montorosso since they have a better beach than Vernazza including chairs and umbrellas. When we arrived in Monterosso we bought train tickets for our next leg of the journey from Vernazza to La Spezia then La spezia to Rome and finally Rome to Rome Airport.


At the beach in Monterosso we found a much sandier section and rented two beach chairs and an umbrella for the day. We were glad we did this because it was nice to have a place to lay, put our stuff and nap. Bentley really wanted to get in the water but it was so cold. It took some convincing but we both made it in and out - quickly! We laid on our chairs, read, napped and enjoyed the sounds and view. Around lunch time we decided to find something to eat and although we have had a ton of pizza, we decided once more wasn't out of the question. We just could not get enough of this Italian masterpiece! I think I want a woodfired pizza oven in my next house. All that we had planned for the afternoon was more of the same from the morning.

The afternoon flew by and it was time for us to make our way back to Vernazza. The trains in Cinque Terre are known for being very late and not sticking to their schedule at all. This was the case today and it took us a least an hour to catch the next available train. When I say this train was packed that would be an understatement. It was honestly scary how many people were on this train. We were the next stop after getting on the train and getting off proved to be an act of shere determination pushing through the crowds and making it to the door before the train left the station. Luckly, we made it off the train together and in one piece.

Tonight was our celebration dinner at al Castello Ristorante Bar Camere Con Vista for Bentley's promotion (which Ed was paying for) so we were very excited. Before the dinner we again enjoyed the sun beginning to set from the high point in the harbor and watched a guy catch fish without a fishing pole. The restaurant was high on top of the city and was known for having unique foods. We made reservations for a table with a great view and knew it would be a great night. We put on our "dressy" clothes again but luckily they weren't worried about our attire. We had a wonderful dinner with a variety of unique seafood including anchovies, ceviche, crayfish, and prawns.

Sunet #3

Fishing without a pole (or clothes!)

The restaurant for Bentley's celebration!

Although we liked the beaches in Monterosso we both decided that Vernazza is our favorite of the 5 towns and has the best square. We also talked about buying a bed and breakfast then moving here to run it. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can make this happen someday!

Next and last stop - Barcelona, the only place neither of us had ever been.