Soviore

We were up and out of the hotel by 6.30 with a schedule to get us to Cinque Terra by 1045 (or rather La Spezzia which is the nearest station). Well it started out ok…. But as they say the best laid plans of mice and men…… We took the first train to Empoli (1 hour 20), had a coffee and then got on the Pisa train… got off there found our next train… first hitch.. 20 minute delay….30 minute delay….40 minute delay…. Finally arrived, settled into our first-class seats and then were kicked off at the next station as we apparently have to “reserve” on the intercity trains or we can’t go on them at all (even with the Eurail pass) … sigh! Waited another 25 minutes at some out of the way place called Viareggio and then got on to the regional train to La Spezia – anticipated arrival 12.04hrs! Of course it was running late and then there was a great queue of really stupid people asking daft questions and not listening to the answers to purchase the Cinque Terra card (16euro) By the time I got to the counter to discover the hiking trails were all closed due to yesterday’s rain we had missed the 12.25 train and would have to wait until 12.55 – clearly the day was not going to plan.
Finally we were packed on board the Cinque terra train in a vile tourist crush, the first 9 minutes of the trip was largely through a tunnel to the first village but we decided to start and the furthest village and work back on the assumption that most people would do the opposite and this proved to be the case as the train emptied out after the first of the 5 villages. We continued on until Monterosso which is the biggest of the five towns and has the most amenities including many hotel and bars – it had a more Mediterranean feel with a long pebble and sand beach in where you can rent chairs and umbrellas and many people had done this and were also swimming as the day had become very warm and sunny.
Cognisant of the time and the potentially longer time it would take us to get back home given that we were banned from the intercity express trains, we moved on after about 30 minutes taking the approx. 5 minute train trip to the next village; Vernazza which has a natural pier with an amphitheatre shape apparently making it the most photographed village of the Cinque Terre. The tiny port is surrounded by colourful typical Ligurian houses and the charming piazza is lined with good restaurants and bars. However it was also heaving with tourists so we just had a quick snack in the sun by the pier and then it was back to the train. On the station it was clear that the train timetable was starting to clog up with mounting delays. We pressed on to the next village however.
Corniglia is the middle village and is the only one which is not built directly on the sea but on a cliff 100 metres above sea level. Corniglia is purported to be the most genuine town of the five and with the least amount of tourists. This may be because you have to walk quite a way and then climb a massive set of stairs to get there. The street down to the water is barely a metre wide but was still packed with tourists and lined with shops and restaurants – lemons seemed a common product and the smell pervaded the town. I made a quick trip up while Kirstin explored the area nearer to the station
We rendezvoused at the station and then had to wait for over 15 minutes for the train as the delays were seriously mounting. Getting to the next village Manarola I climbed the hill for a look around while Kirstin explored the shops, this village has a tiny harbor with a boat ramp, picturesque multicoloured houses facing the sea and a tiny piazza. Meeting up at the station we connected to the free wi-fi to try to work out how we could get home and discovered the only eurail pass “free” options involved leaving La Spezia at 630 but not getting back to Siena until 9.45 (and even later at the hotel – hence missing dinner. As it was about 4.30, we decided to press on to the final village, have something to eat and then go to La Spezia and negotiate the trip home.
Although Riomaggiore is apparently considered to be one of the most peaceful and quite villages of the Cinque Terre it was packed with tourists at the end of a sunny day . Although it is basically a cascade of multi-coloured houses in the typical Ligurian style, all tightly clustered around a tiny natural harbour carved out in between the rocks we couldn’t actually find the harbour (did stumble across it just as we were leaving it is via a tunnel under a square and a restaurant – but also we were out of time by then). The main industry of Riomaggiore seems to be “fish and chip” shops – however they are local Cinque Terra style and this seems to involve a large place of variously fried sea food items (I have squid and calamri and I think maybe sardines or anchovies, Kirstin had prawns, sardines and calamari). The “chips” were large wedge like items done with rosemary. Very nice as we had barely eaten all day.
Once again it was off to the station and of course the train was late …. Finally, into La Spezia and then following our online instructions it was onto the local train to Sarzana (17 minutes) where we changed with a nice tight connection to the regional Florence train which was 1 hour, 32 minutes to Empoli. Of course, we were late in to Empoli also and then there was a mad dash to the connection to Sienna – I jumped on but the door slammed shut just as Kirstin arrived – I couldn’t get off … she couldn’t get on… thank heavens I had happened to get on with in the carriage with the conductor – I begged him to open the door – the train started going but he stopped it and let poor Kirstin on…. Phew! We finally got back to the hotel at just after 10pm… no dinner … but the bar was still open and those complimentary wines went down a treat!Read more