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France, Italy and Switzerland, August 2002
Day
11 On
Monday we woke up at 6:10 am, closed up the studio, caught a cab that we
prearranged the day before at 6:30 am and were at the train station 10
minutes later. During the ride we asked the driver about the rain
of the previous night and he said that rain like that happens only
during three months of the year and usually not during this month.
To
our surprise there was a ticket agent on hand so we didn't have to
struggle with the 'billeteria automatique'. We bought tickets from
Cassis to Toulon to Nice to Genova for only 39.60 euros for both of us.
Hooray for French and Italian trains. While waiting we had Banania.
The train from Cassis to Toulon was very nice, clean and empty except
for commuters. Going from Toulon to Nice rode in an older train
but had a compartment all to our selves so we closed the window, napped
and ate soft boiled eggs, thick yogurt and sandwiches with chicken that
we had bought yesterday. As expected, once we hit Nice the train
was super crowded. Your mom got a seat almost right away but I had
to spend the next half hour sitting on her armrest, blocking the aisle.
Only in Monte Carlo did I finally get a seat. During
our trip in 1998 we also rode the train through this part of the Riviera
en route to Bologna were we stayed with Genevieve, a friend from Cloyne.
During that time we desperately wanted to get off but couldn't because
we had to meet Big G and we were already going to be late. This
time, after six glorious days in Cassis, we just wanted to get through
the region and away from the crowds. Back then, we traveled in the
first class compartments because we had Eurorail Passes but this time we
were stuck in second class, with the windows all closed, and the train
not moving. It was stuffy and your mom claims to have nearly died
until the conductors came around and opened the windows with special
keys. Once
in Genova we bought tickets to Monterosso, the first (or fifth) of the
towns making up an area in Italy called Cinque Terra or Five Lands.
Ever since our first trip I had wanted to go here and indeed, this was
the only fixed stop on our itinerary for this trip. The distance
to go was only 74 kilometers and they cost only 4 euros each so we were
very excited. But it turns out that traveling that short distance
took forever as the train stopped at all stations. We later
discovered that it would have been much more efficient to take the train
from Genova to La Spezia and then back to Monterosso.
I'm not sure what time we arrived in Monterosso but we were both tired and felt a bit grungy, after all, we had been up since 6:10 am and riding trains all day. To wake up we went in the ocean via a cobbled beach. Your mom held her sarong for me so I didn't flash everyone changing. We felt much refreshed after just a quick dip and quickly changed back into our other clothes and began exploring the town. Actually, I was very anxious to get to the next town so after about five minutes of meandering we bought a spinach torte and hit the trail.
And
the trail was the reason I wanted to come here in the first place.
You see, the five towns are very old fishing villages (We call them
villages, THEY used to call them kingdoms) built into the cliffs and
connected by walking trails. (OK, these villages have been
around since the Romans! There were wine vessels recovered from
some anthropological site that came from this area.) Due to
the rugged nature of the area, it was never developed like most of the
Riviera and as such, has maintained most of its charm. At least
that is what I read back in 1998 and I am happy to report that it is
true today. Indeed, the area is now part of an official National
Park. This first trail, between Monterosso and Vernazza, exceeded my expectations and then some. It was very well marked but at the same time very rugged. At times we were walking right next to a locals front door and at other times the trail left you with only spectacular ocean views. Your mom might want me to say something about the trail only being 14 inches wide in areas, consisting only of steep uphill and downhill segments and the sticky heat but I won't do it, I won't. Hey I just did. How does she get away with that? Yeah, besides the fact that some of them are really only about 12 inches wide...
After
walking for about 1-1/2 hours we reached Vernazza, the second town and
promptly rented a room from a man on the street. We paid 60 euros
and I'm sure we could have bargained but we were tired, hot and sticky.
All we wanted to do was shower and change into our clean clothes.
At this point I might say that on this trip we only brought two sets of
clothes and generally washed out the dirty clothes at night. The
system worked well because we never had to carry dirty clothes, and
always had clean clothes to change into at the end of a hard day, such
as today. It also worked because we
brought our own stretchy non-clothespin needing clothesline. Oh,
and there was a really good clothesline attached to the room, stretching
over the alley. After cleaning up we explored the town and ended up watching kids play soccer on the beach while I ate pre-dinner pistachio and chocolate gelato and your mom had blueberry juice. One of the kids was the spitting image of myself at that age! A bit later we climbed up many sets of stairs to a cliff top restaurant overlooking the bay were we had a dinner of excellent fritto misto (calamari and shrimp done to perfection) (and when I ordered it, I was asked, "WHY do you want to get that?!?) and too tasty risotto alla pescatore! It was followed by a knock out strawberry-cheese tart (dolci alla nona or grandma's sweets) and formaggio misto. Hey! I like cheese, OK?!? The pitcher of white wine (we are assuming it was a local vintage) was a great accompaniment to our outstanding dinner. Before leaving we stepped outside and took in the view of the lightning storm in the distance. Then there was the incident with the most enormous hard salami ever.
Then we went to sleep.
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