Cinque Terre, Monsummano Terme

Check out times at hotels and Air B N b’s are super early. 10am. So we had to get the car packed before we got on the train. We are going to take the train to a couple of the 5 towns today to explore the ones we didn’t get to see. We boarded the train at 9:55am and rode the train about 13 minutes to Cornelia. It’s the smallest of the 5 towns. The train station is over 220+ steps below the town. We walked all the way up to the town. It was very small and very empty. We found lots to eat. I had a delicious piece of Formagio Focaccia. It was delicious. There are actual Focaccirea’s. Renee got a pizza version. Gabe got the pesto and cheese. They were all excellent. Then we got gelato from the place that Renee found in a Cinque Terre video. Also excellent! I had basil lemon. Soo good. The plan was to walk from there to Monterosso. But we realized that would take an hour so we decided not to. It was also raining. We rode the bus back to the train and took the train to Monterosso. It’s the largest of the 5 towns. They have some really cute beach clubs that I’m sure are fun in the summer. The weather was not good so we decided to go back to the car and drive to our next place.
We drove about an hour and a half to Monsummano Terme. It’s a smaller town in Tuscany that’s know for their Thermal Bath / natural underground grotto. We are staying at the Marriott property that used to be Giuseppe Gusti’s palace. It sits on top of the grotto. The hotel has turned the grotto and its water into a day spa. The pool is filled and heated from the natural water coming from the ground. We brought the kids with us to the grotto. They didn’t mind the heat but they had no patience for relaxing and sitting, We went to the sauna and pools and then got dressed for dinner. We are sleeping here for 2 nights. Gabe and I are getting massages tomorrow. Yay!Read more