Cinque Terre, Italy with Courtenay
Courtenay got on her flight back to Canada last night. Feels lonely here now.
Thursday, June 9: Court landed in Basel, and I picked her up in Basel and brought her back to my place. We hung out at my place and rested all day, and she was pretty excited about getting to meet Simon, who was due back from Croatia. Too bad Simon never came home. I got kind of worried, and made some phone calls and eventually found out that Ula had lost her passport in Zagreb, and Simon had stayed to help sort it out. So I just made some pasta for dinner, and we went to sleep, because our train was early the next morning.
Friday, June 10: The train trip was pretty uneventful, other than missing one connection and losing my SIGG bottle on the train. The Cinque Terre are five small towns on the western coast of Italy. We arrived in Riomaggiore, the first town at around 5 o’clock, and found a phone to call Edi, the guy we were renting the room from. Edi was quite the character; he wore wooden sandals and baggy clothes, and was so laid back and chilled out, it was great. He showed us to our room, which had a big bed, its own bathroom with a shower, and a patio. Didn’t have a view of the sea, but its view was still nice.
We decided to stick to Riomaggiore and leave the rest for Saturday. The atmosphere in Rio was really nice, the locals were just wandering up and down the main street, hanging out and eating and drinking. We found a restaurant with a patio extending out into the street, and Courtenay treated me to dinner. We ordered up some bruschetta for our first real Italian food. Totally worth the trip right there. To make it more interesting, we noticed after ordering pizza that we weren’t being served by employees of the restaurant. Some locals were serving us. This guy would get up from his meal and take our order, then he went back to the kitchen and got our food. At first we thought he might just be on his break or something, but no, he was definitely just a local hanging out. After the meal, to clean our table he scrunched up the tablecloth and threw it into the street. All his friends started laughing like crazy and ran across the street to buy some liquor. We got up and found some gelato, which was also worth the trip, and then headed back home to rest for a big day of town hopping.
Saturday, June 11: In the morning we got up relatively early and started touring. We didn’t look around Riomaggiore too much, because we figured we’d see it a lot over the weekend, staying there and all. We started by walking the Via dell’ Amore, the road of love, which was funny because everyone else all romantic and holding hands and taking their time, and we were just bustling along taking pictures and looking at postcards.
The walk was really nice though, and eventually we got to Manarola, the second town. It was pretty small, with basically one small street, and we walked up and down it, then found a little place to grab some lunch, and I got some pasta with scampi, which I didn’t know were huge shrimp until they came out. Courtenay got her favorite, lasagna. After filling up on food and my first Italian beer, we headed down to the beach, or lack thereof. In Manarola, instead of a beach, they have rocks. It’s actually much better than it sounds though, you can sun on the rocks, swim in between them, and go stand right next to crashing waves. It was pretty wavy, so we did the latter.
Next stop was Corniglia, the only town in the Cinque Terre that isn’t on the water. This involved catching a bus ride from the craziest driver I’ve ever seen, which was cool and scary at the same time. The town felt really cramped, the streets were really tiny, and it looked like the only thing to do was shop.
The view was really good though, and there was apparently a nude beach that we didn’t make it to. Overall though, I have to say it was the least exciting town. I guess I’m a water person.
So we hiked down the hill instead of using the bus, and caught the next train to Vernazza, the town I was looking forward to the most. It lived up to the expectations. Vernazza felt like real small town Italy, but it also had a heartbeat. The streets were crowded, and we walked around and took it all in. Then we got down to the beach, which had nice sand and calm water. Vernazza is a natural harbor, so rocks break all the waves before they get to the beach.
We went and sat on the rocks between the harbor side and the seaside, and relaxed until it was time to find food for dinner. We tried the restaurant that climbed the cliff face right behind us, but it was all reserved, and it was siesta time anyway, so we bought some chips and relaxed on the beach until around 8 o’clock, when the places reopened for dinner.
We found a place near the beach in a kind of open square. The place felt like an expensive restaurant, but the prices were good. I got some pesto, and Court got a pizza. The food was excellent, and we were tired after a long day of sightseeing, so we headed back to Riomaggiore.
Only problem was the train we were waiting for was really late. There was one that went from the last town, Monterosso that skipped over all the towns except Riomaggiore. I figured we would take a train to Monterosso and then catch the one to Riomaggiore. It didn’t work though because we went the wrong way once we got to Monterosso and we missed the train. We ended up catching the same one we were originally waiting for the Vernazza. By this time we were exhausted, so we went straight back to our place.
Sunday, June 12: We decided to start in Monterosso, as it was the only town we hadn’t really seen. It’s the resort town of the Cinque Terre, with a massive beach complete with umbrellas to rent. There is a big statue called Il Gigante of a man holding up a cliff that looks as if it were carved out of the cliff ages ago. It’s actually made of concrete and is about a hundred years old.
We walked past that and along a path past some pretty nice looking estates in the new town. Before we got too far, we stopped and headed back to the beach and grabbed some fast food and gelato on the way. We found some open space on the beach, which was scarce, and threw our towels down. The sun was perfect, so we lay there and soaked up the sun for a few hours. I went swimming in the sea, which was great, I miss being in the water so much.
The waves were big enough to body surf, but the bottom was too rocky for it to be worth it. I convinced Court to come in the water too for a bit. Later on we started working our way towards the old town to find some food. We took a detour and climbed a random path up the hill and ended up at a church that seemed deserted and later on a cemetery.
Then we made our way down over the other side of the hill into the old town, and walked around. This town seemed the biggest and most spread out, and didn’t center on one main street.
We wandered around on a mission to find some bruschetta, but when we finally found some it wasn’t comparable to the stuff from the first night. After wandering around the streets some more, we decided to grab a train back to Riomaggiore for the night.
Monday, June 13: We got up, packed, and walked along the seaside path to get to Edi’s office on the main street in Riomaggiore. Edi let us store our bags in his place until we were ready to leave, so we walked around, found a post office to get stamps, and I went shopping. I got some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grappa, which is distilled wine, and some limoncino, which is sweet liquor used as a digestive after dinner. Then we went back to the restaurant from the first night for some more of that excellent bruschetta. Like I said, totally worth it. To kill time before the train, we went down to the water and sat on the rocks and watched the water. There were even some crabs scuttling around. It was a nice relaxing end to our vacation in Italy.
We caught our train out of Riomaggiore, and it wasn’t too late by Italian standards. I got to use my French talking to a guy from Morocco that had been working in Italy for five years, which was cool. Our train arrived in Milan pretty late, but it didn’t matter, because the connection was 30 minutes late. We had some time, so we walked out of the train station and took a look around. Milan seems like a cold industrial place, which is pretty much what I’ve heard. I grabbed a beer at the station, and the guy at the restaurant let Courtenay use their bathroom, which they couldn’t even find at first, because it was a maze to find. We got on our train, and as soon as we hit the Swiss border, a conductor came around and apologized sincerely for the delay, and told us the SBB would refund our seat reservations, so that wasn’t too bad. What was bad was that the train was one of these Swiss high-speed mountain trains, so it could take inclined turns at high speeds. It made both Court and I feel sick. At the stop in Locarno, Chris got on the train, who had been visiting his girlfriend in Locarno. We ended up getting back to Baden late, and Courtenay met Simon and Jay and we went to bed.
For the rest of her trip, we just relaxed and spent time together. We shopped, walked around the town, ate next to the river and met Jay, Simon, Travis and Nate for lunch. I bought myself a bunch of new clothes at H&M, I think they look pretty good. The most active sightseeing we did was climbing up to Baden’s castle. Last night we grabbed the train to Basel, and I saw her off at the airport. I’m pretty upset she’s gone now, but we did have a wonderful week.
Thursday, June 9: Court landed in Basel, and I picked her up in Basel and brought her back to my place. We hung out at my place and rested all day, and she was pretty excited about getting to meet Simon, who was due back from Croatia. Too bad Simon never came home. I got kind of worried, and made some phone calls and eventually found out that Ula had lost her passport in Zagreb, and Simon had stayed to help sort it out. So I just made some pasta for dinner, and we went to sleep, because our train was early the next morning.
Friday, June 10: The train trip was pretty uneventful, other than missing one connection and losing my SIGG bottle on the train. The Cinque Terre are five small towns on the western coast of Italy. We arrived in Riomaggiore, the first town at around 5 o’clock, and found a phone to call Edi, the guy we were renting the room from. Edi was quite the character; he wore wooden sandals and baggy clothes, and was so laid back and chilled out, it was great. He showed us to our room, which had a big bed, its own bathroom with a shower, and a patio. Didn’t have a view of the sea, but its view was still nice.
Our messy room
View from our patio
We decided to stick to Riomaggiore and leave the rest for Saturday. The atmosphere in Rio was really nice, the locals were just wandering up and down the main street, hanging out and eating and drinking. We found a restaurant with a patio extending out into the street, and Courtenay treated me to dinner. We ordered up some bruschetta for our first real Italian food. Totally worth the trip right there. To make it more interesting, we noticed after ordering pizza that we weren’t being served by employees of the restaurant. Some locals were serving us. This guy would get up from his meal and take our order, then he went back to the kitchen and got our food. At first we thought he might just be on his break or something, but no, he was definitely just a local hanging out. After the meal, to clean our table he scrunched up the tablecloth and threw it into the street. All his friends started laughing like crazy and ran across the street to buy some liquor. We got up and found some gelato, which was also worth the trip, and then headed back home to rest for a big day of town hopping.
Saturday, June 11: In the morning we got up relatively early and started touring. We didn’t look around Riomaggiore too much, because we figured we’d see it a lot over the weekend, staying there and all. We started by walking the Via dell’ Amore, the road of love, which was funny because everyone else all romantic and holding hands and taking their time, and we were just bustling along taking pictures and looking at postcards.
Looking at the coastline
Further South
Via dell' Amore
Up the coast
Looking out
The walk was really nice though, and eventually we got to Manarola, the second town. It was pretty small, with basically one small street, and we walked up and down it, then found a little place to grab some lunch, and I got some pasta with scampi, which I didn’t know were huge shrimp until they came out. Courtenay got her favorite, lasagna. After filling up on food and my first Italian beer, we headed down to the beach, or lack thereof. In Manarola, instead of a beach, they have rocks. It’s actually much better than it sounds though, you can sun on the rocks, swim in between them, and go stand right next to crashing waves. It was pretty wavy, so we did the latter.
Manarola
Some boats in the street
Sunbathing rocks
On the rocks
Crashing waves
Hey you
Next stop was Corniglia, the only town in the Cinque Terre that isn’t on the water. This involved catching a bus ride from the craziest driver I’ve ever seen, which was cool and scary at the same time. The town felt really cramped, the streets were really tiny, and it looked like the only thing to do was shop.
Shopping in Corniglia
Vineyards
The view was really good though, and there was apparently a nude beach that we didn’t make it to. Overall though, I have to say it was the least exciting town. I guess I’m a water person.
Marilyn Monroe
Down onto the rocks
Awww cute
So we hiked down the hill instead of using the bus, and caught the next train to Vernazza, the town I was looking forward to the most. It lived up to the expectations. Vernazza felt like real small town Italy, but it also had a heartbeat. The streets were crowded, and we walked around and took it all in. Then we got down to the beach, which had nice sand and calm water. Vernazza is a natural harbor, so rocks break all the waves before they get to the beach.
Vernazza
Open square
Natural port and beach
We went and sat on the rocks between the harbor side and the seaside, and relaxed until it was time to find food for dinner. We tried the restaurant that climbed the cliff face right behind us, but it was all reserved, and it was siesta time anyway, so we bought some chips and relaxed on the beach until around 8 o’clock, when the places reopened for dinner.
Waves hitting the breakwater
More waves
Sun behind the clouds
Suntanning
We found a place near the beach in a kind of open square. The place felt like an expensive restaurant, but the prices were good. I got some pesto, and Court got a pizza. The food was excellent, and we were tired after a long day of sightseeing, so we headed back to Riomaggiore.
Dinner
Only problem was the train we were waiting for was really late. There was one that went from the last town, Monterosso that skipped over all the towns except Riomaggiore. I figured we would take a train to Monterosso and then catch the one to Riomaggiore. It didn’t work though because we went the wrong way once we got to Monterosso and we missed the train. We ended up catching the same one we were originally waiting for the Vernazza. By this time we were exhausted, so we went straight back to our place.
Night shot
Sunday, June 12: We decided to start in Monterosso, as it was the only town we hadn’t really seen. It’s the resort town of the Cinque Terre, with a massive beach complete with umbrellas to rent. There is a big statue called Il Gigante of a man holding up a cliff that looks as if it were carved out of the cliff ages ago. It’s actually made of concrete and is about a hundred years old.
Il Gigante
Coastline of Monterosso
Sitting around
We walked past that and along a path past some pretty nice looking estates in the new town. Before we got too far, we stopped and headed back to the beach and grabbed some fast food and gelato on the way. We found some open space on the beach, which was scarce, and threw our towels down. The sun was perfect, so we lay there and soaked up the sun for a few hours. I went swimming in the sea, which was great, I miss being in the water so much.
Big rock on the beach
The waves were big enough to body surf, but the bottom was too rocky for it to be worth it. I convinced Court to come in the water too for a bit. Later on we started working our way towards the old town to find some food. We took a detour and climbed a random path up the hill and ended up at a church that seemed deserted and later on a cemetery.
WWII Bunker
San Francesco D'Assisi
Then we made our way down over the other side of the hill into the old town, and walked around. This town seemed the biggest and most spread out, and didn’t center on one main street.
Second beach
Back to the other towns
Old ruined stairs
Monterosso
We wandered around on a mission to find some bruschetta, but when we finally found some it wasn’t comparable to the stuff from the first night. After wandering around the streets some more, we decided to grab a train back to Riomaggiore for the night.
Side street
Monday, June 13: We got up, packed, and walked along the seaside path to get to Edi’s office on the main street in Riomaggiore. Edi let us store our bags in his place until we were ready to leave, so we walked around, found a post office to get stamps, and I went shopping. I got some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grappa, which is distilled wine, and some limoncino, which is sweet liquor used as a digestive after dinner. Then we went back to the restaurant from the first night for some more of that excellent bruschetta. Like I said, totally worth it. To kill time before the train, we went down to the water and sat on the rocks and watched the water. There were even some crabs scuttling around. It was a nice relaxing end to our vacation in Italy.
Riomaggiore
Ready to go home
We caught our train out of Riomaggiore, and it wasn’t too late by Italian standards. I got to use my French talking to a guy from Morocco that had been working in Italy for five years, which was cool. Our train arrived in Milan pretty late, but it didn’t matter, because the connection was 30 minutes late. We had some time, so we walked out of the train station and took a look around. Milan seems like a cold industrial place, which is pretty much what I’ve heard. I grabbed a beer at the station, and the guy at the restaurant let Courtenay use their bathroom, which they couldn’t even find at first, because it was a maze to find. We got on our train, and as soon as we hit the Swiss border, a conductor came around and apologized sincerely for the delay, and told us the SBB would refund our seat reservations, so that wasn’t too bad. What was bad was that the train was one of these Swiss high-speed mountain trains, so it could take inclined turns at high speeds. It made both Court and I feel sick. At the stop in Locarno, Chris got on the train, who had been visiting his girlfriend in Locarno. We ended up getting back to Baden late, and Courtenay met Simon and Jay and we went to bed.
For the rest of her trip, we just relaxed and spent time together. We shopped, walked around the town, ate next to the river and met Jay, Simon, Travis and Nate for lunch. I bought myself a bunch of new clothes at H&M, I think they look pretty good. The most active sightseeing we did was climbing up to Baden’s castle. Last night we grabbed the train to Basel, and I saw her off at the airport. I’m pretty upset she’s gone now, but we did have a wonderful week.
posted by Devon at 14:57
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