Florence to Riamaggiore

 Day 2 - Florence to Riamaggiore

Well, after a pretty good night's sleep we started the day with a pretty typical European breakfast which was very tasty.  Gotta love a little bite of croissant and Nutella to start the day!  We were up reasonably early and off to explore the area around our hotel again before meeting up with our travelling companions. We really did have a lot of fun trying to read all the place names in our best Italian accents - The Godfather would have been proud of us.  It was a hot and sunny day from the get go and we enjoyed our morning stroll.  We headed back to our place and packed up our bags before heading to Santa Maria Novella (couldn't simply call THAT the train station) to meet Sherri and Randy.  Again we headed to the area around the Duomo (religious area) and then through some back streets looking at the shops and people watching.  On the way back to our hotel we stumbled onto the market we had heard about and spent some time in a maze of leather, postcards, art work, shoes and more.  Lunch was on the piazza at the basilica and then on to the train station for our trip to Cinque Terre.

Travelling by train is the BEST!  Lots of leg room and views of the countryside made the trip quite comfortable.  The 2 1/2 hour ride went quickly and before we knew it we were gathering our packs to switch trains from La Spezia to the one that goes into Riamaggiore.  As our train had to stop and wait for a high speed train to go by we missed our connection and had a short wait for the next train.  Much of that section of the rail was through tunnels  but as we neared Riamaggiore we caught glimpses of the sea and were wowed before even seeing the real thing.  The walk from the train UP and UP and UP (with a heavy pack) was challenging but the sights, oh the sights, blew us away.

We arrived just as the sunlight began to fade into early evening and I don't think we could have had a more magical introduction to the Cinque Terre (cheen-kwa-TARE-ah).  Our host was amazingly helpful (even though she talked and talked and talked while at least ONE of us was anxious to get out and explore).  The photo above was our first glimpse of the magic and we spent the next couple of hours just soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of this very steep, one street (so far) town above the sea.

Dinner was in one of the many little restaurants tucked into the hillside and I have to say Bob won the  prize for eating outside of his comfort zone.  He is not really a big seafood fan but wanted to get right into the seaside culture and ordered 'Spaghetti fruitti di mare.  He made his way through clams, mussels, squid and some little critter that I recommended he not actually eat - lots of legs, antennae and a shell. The rest of us sissies dined on pasta, bread and wine.

After dinner we joined the rest of population and picked a spot up the hillside to watch the sun set into a beautiful pink sky.  I cannot begin to describe the atmosphere, the chatter in many languages, the smells from the restaurants around us, the sounds of laughter and tinkling glasses as most people enjoyed the view with a refreshment in hand.  Magical doesn't even begin to describe this first evening.  I purchased a lovely small water-colour of the five villages from a Russian Spy (that's what it said on his shirt!). He was very friendly, very funny and very talented and assured me it was just a t-shirt, nothing more.  In speaking with him we agreed that he had found paradise and while he struggled to make ends meet, he was doing it in the most beautiful of places. We slowly sauntered back to our place in the middle of the main street just up from the marina and called it an early night. More exploring tomorrow if the predicted thunder storms aren't too bad.  If they are we will find a little bar and enjoy some of the local food and wine and relax like a real local!

Ciao!