Cinque Terre E Monaco

What a day! We've done everything from catch moving trains to walking up and down hundreds of stairs to finding ourselves in probably one of the most wealthy places on Earth.

We started our day in La Spezia, eating a nice little buffet breakfast of croissants, granola, and fruit on the top floor with a lovely view of an Italian hillside scene. We left the hotel around 9:30am (my dad had already gone to buy our Cinque Terre rail passes) and got on our first regional train to Riomaggiore (for those of you who don't know, Cinque Terre is a series of 5 seaside cliff villages in the Northern Mediterranean coast, Riomaggiore being the first on our tour).

We got off the train and saw a mural of the unsung heroes of Cinque Terre (the builders, towns people, etc. who have made this area what it is today). We then went on the only walk that was open to us for this time of year (usually you can hike/walk between all 5). It was a beautiful path along the cactus covered cliffs... we could see breath taking views of caves, waves hitting the rocks, cute pastel colored villas nestled in the cliffs. On this path, called the Via dell'Amore, there were thousands of locks linked to anything that was a permanent fixture of the path. These were put here by lovers who have vowed to stay together, and if not, they unlock their lock and chuck it in the ocean (although hopefully they throw it in a trashcan because this was an eco-tourist area).

After taking several pictures along the trail, we found ourselves in the next town called Manarola. This town had a pretty waterfall flowing into the ocean, boats dry-docked in town, and old Italian woman gossiping loudly from their balconies. We took a minute to take tons of pictures here, buy postcards and other eco-friendly products, and take in the ocean view from a bench at the train station.

We were getting pretty hungry by this point, so our plan was to find the first restaurant in the next of the 5 towns. When we got off the train, we realized that not only did the next train not come for another hour, but in order to even get near what resembled a city with food establishments, we were going to have to climb literally hundreds of stairs, with our coats, backpacks, and purses. So.... we walked up the stairs, huffing and puffing and taking pictures along the way (we had a great view of Manarola at this point).

Finally, we made up the hill, found ourselves a nice little (cramped) restaurant, we ate 3 big bowls of pasta (pesto pasta for me, seafood pasta for my dad, and spaghetti for Stephanie). The next and best train option was to arrive at 1:34.... we finished eating at about 1:17.... we hoped there would be a bus or taxi to take us back in time, but couldn't figure that option out, so we ran down the hundreds of stairs. We saw this train come and go. For some reason, we didn't factor in the second train to arrive ten minutes later and started walking a little slower. On our nice slow part of the walk, an elderly Italian jogger yelled out, "Watch out for the pile of dog shit, Welcome to Italia! Hallelujah!" Steph responded, "Grazie."

Then, we saw the next train, and sprinted for it... miraculously, we made it as the train was moving away (I was last on... very close to toppling over backwards with my heavy backpack). We made it to Vernazza... thinking we had 10 minutes to get on and off, so my dad left Steph and I to run around town with my camera while we recouped from our last jog. He came back and we informed him that we actually 40 minutes until the next train. So we took the camera and walked leisurely around Vernazza while he recouped from his jog around town. This was another beautiful town with a harbor and small beach. We stopped for gelato and brought some back for my dad.

While scarfing down gelato, an announcement came on to tell us our train would be late, so we went exploring a little more.... eventually got on the train, and were able to see the last of the 5 from the train (Monterosso). For the next 4 hours, we trained to Monaco-Monte-Carlo...

Right from the get-go, we knew Monaco would be different... the train station was marble.... we took an elevator to the street... and the perfectly manicured lawns had no dogs allowed signs. We had a quick look at the harbor lights, seeing a ferris wheel, ice hockey game, royal palace, and casino from afar. There are a lot of really nice cars. And our hotel is probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in my life. Steph and I are currently lounging on chaise-lounges near the bar, using free wifi. Very comfortable here, however the music is a little spastic, probably much like this blog post.

Arrivederci my friends! Tomorrow we see Monaco for real and head home to Lyon. Enjoy the pics!