4 am train! All for the love of Cinque Terre

Wednesday July 8

Sum of my day:

Midnight scoot to Catiglion – 4:30 am train to Florence (switch trains) – Train to La Specia (switch trains)- Train to Corniglia (WE ARE HERE!) get our room – hike to Manarola – hike to Riomaggiore (lay on beach) – train back to Corniligia

Good travels getting here…could have used a little more sleep on the way but that’s ok. I'm just so excited to be here! It’s really one of the most gorgeous places in the world (at least from what I have seen)

In Corniglia we meet Cristina to get our rooms for the next two nights. Me and V in one and Arlene and Jeanie in the other. Re-pack our bags with the essentials for doing nothing but enjoying the gorgeousness that is the Cinque Terre (books, towels, ipods, sunscreen…). There are five (cinque) towns that make up the Cinque Terre and Corniglia (our home for 2 nights) is the center town. I would very much recommend staying here upon a visit, its tiny, fairly void of tourist (lacks beach access), quiet, adorable and amazing views.

So today we hike in the direction of Riomaggiore … the easier of the hiking (not much extraneous hiking – even parts are now handicap accessible) though there are 282 steps up to reach Corniglia (we took the bus upon arrival…its vacation!). The other direction is fairly brutal and by all means a huffing and a puffing of a treck.

The yogurt (icecream) we had before leaving must be noted. and praised. It was AMAZING! Just good ole tasty vanilla yogurt but it was topped with lemon and honey. Sounds odd and I'm not so much a honey fan but this was…again…AMAZING. SO, upon travel to Cinque Terre you must visit the Yogurteria in Corniglia and get it with lemon and honey (limone e miele)!

But for today…its easy strolling and beach sunning time. THE PLAN: LAY ON THE BEACH! Vanessa’s “secret” beach to be exact. Looking down at this “secret” beach from the trail…it’s a little Swiss Family Robinson with a shady ass ladder leading down to the water. A rusty old sign claimed “ruined path”… but a determined Mama Duck (Vanessa) leads the way to…INFATTI…a ruined path, totally landslide away. SO we have no choice but to continue on to Riomaggiore and share a not-so-private beach with everyone else (or so we think). We arrive to quite angry waves and QUE PALLE…beach access is behind a locked gate.

One little locked gate nicely situated along a rock wall that four little girls can EASILY scale to our very own almost PRIVATE beach!

Over we go…the appropriate timed pause to run along the path and avoid seaworld shamoo sprays as we pass the large jutting rocks bearing the brunt of the “waves to the angry”…and safely arrive on a fairly flat expanse of tucked away beach in a lovely cove around the corner and out of sight from our illegal entry. PERFECT! Grazie Mille to these angry waves that have resulted in our nearly private beach ( a couple of locals either knew another route or hopped the gate as well).

SO…for a couple of hours we just got some sun, laying Swedish massage style, on our large smooth rock beach. The others of course getting a tan and me…just turning a lovely shade of red that can almost be guaranteed to return right back to my lovely shade of pasty white.

Oh well. It’s gorgeous and our beach did treat us to some lovely and not so lovely people watching.

A little eye candy to our right, “3 o’clock guy” (as such to me and V because he asked the time at 3 o’clock…and humorously referred to as the same by Arlene and Jeanie because he was positioned at their 3 o’clock). Eye Candy was at the beach for most of the afternoon getting sun and showing off by battling the waves and came to ask me what time it was… "he’s coming to profess his love for you – V”…not this time. thas saved for awkward 15 yr olds!

The not so pleasant view would be…while standing at the water’s edge looking back at the oldish dude sprawl legged with little trunks…

DUE PALLE! Literally this time. YIKES!

Eye Candy was photo documented. Due Palle dude was not. He did try to battle the waves as well (less gracefully than eye candy) only to give a repeated view of CRACK! Like I didn’t get enough with the due palle!

My beach time was mainly devoted to a checked out nothingness, some pretty rock searching, the acquisition of a cute little stubble of driftwood (my only souvenir because my purchase in the Cinque Terre were predominately eaten)…and spent some lovely tie gracefully napping in my own drool. No worries, I woke up and turned my head to commence in a new drooling nap position.

photo: lunch before our illegal entry

We trained (not hiked) back for a nap and shower before dinner…except V and I just spent nap time in way too serious of discussion. Dinner scouting actually resulted in the cheapest menu, the best view, and gnocchi on the menu…YUM!

Also menu scouting came across:
I love the funny little translations that sometimes get made from Italian to English. One of the menus had translated spicy pasta as “pasta to the angry”

We family styled dinner with our entres, wine, assorted fried fishes, salad, and French fries. Good food…and the lovely atmosphere of a grouchy waitress…weirdly quiet diners (we kept worrying about being to loud because everyone else seemed to be on awkward wordless first dates)…two starving kitties…and a lovely conversation with two American women who just showed up on a whim to be displeased with what they found. Too quiet. WTF? Did you really just come to one of the most beautiful places in the world to complain? What more do you want? They were not a fan of hiking…and the next day were frequently mocked during our day…”uh, I only walk on my treadmill….uh, this place is just a little too beautiful for me.”