Well it was a very Italian kind of paradise - our first day in Cinque Terre, the name of which means Five Towns. All perched along the beautiful Western coast of Italy.
We decided to go to Vernazza, the fourth of the five towns, first. We had watched a travel show where someone had found last minute accommodation there, so we decided to start our search for a bed for the night there, after our bad experience at La Spezia.
We walked past a few places that had signs outside saying they had rooms, but didn't decide to stop until we saw one outside a Gelateria. We went in, spoke to the lady, she said her price was 70 euro a night (much better than the 130 we'd paid for the previous night), her father took us to look at the room, and it was a done deal!
This is the very very steep staircase to reach our new room. Tom had fun lugging his suitcase up there later that day.
And then we proceeded to enjoy Vernazza with a weight off our minds (well mine, at least - I don't cope well with uncertainty when it comes to having a place to sleep at night).
And then we hopped on the train again to visit the fifth town, Monterosso, before taking the train back to La Spezia to quickly collect our luggage.
This is me waiting at the train station. I look thrilled, don't I?
After we had safely installed our luggage in our new room, we decided to take on the first of the walks between the five towns of Cinque Terre. Reportedly the hardest, it was the walk from Monterosso (the fifth town) to Vernazza (the fourth town) where we were staying.
We even managed to catch a little game of Bocce in progress between a few locals. Note the guy in underpants, socks and sandals? Hilarious.
We admired our shadows against the rock walls...
And then as we started the very steep ascent of the path between the two towns, we got to admire some spectacular scenery (that's when our legs weren't burning, of course).
As we climbed... and climbed and climbed, we came across a little picnic area that was dedicated to stray cats of the area, with food left for them.
As we eventually started making our way downwards again (after two hours of climbing), we stumbled across a little area with this view.
So we made ourselves a little picnic and stayed put.
And watched the sunset over the town of Vernazza.
And the surrounding hills.
We eventually picked ourselves up again and made our way back down again, still enjoying beautiful views.
And of course we found some interesting architectural add-ons.
And the beautiful little town as the lights came on.
We also got an excellent view of one of the spots where the railway track (that goes between the towns) runs almost right next to the water.
When we made it back to our little apartment, we were almost unnaturally excited about the fact that it was our first room with a little kitchenette. We'd bought some supplies for a rudimentary little dinner when we were in La Spezia collecting our luggage earlier, so enjoyed some rare domesticity in cooking a meal for ourselves again. And loved it!
There was no cheese grater in our little equipment cupboard, so I improvised. The handle of a saucepan with holes in it was a reasonably effective grater! Never say I'm not inventive!
Mmm... spaghetti with tomato sauce - simple, but perfect.
It's amazing that the small things you take for granted at home (like cooking dinner for yourself) become exciting and rare when you're traveling! Oh and yes, that is a salad bowl's worth of parmesan cheese to the left of me. We didn't eat it all in one sitting, just so you know we're not complete pigs.
And that was our first day in Cinque Terre. It hadn't started so well, but we had not only a bed, but a kitchen for the night, we had conquered one of the four walks between the towns, and we had enjoyed a lovely home-cooked meal (if I may say so myself) that didn't cost us a fortune for once. Perfect!
Hard to top it, but we tried to on our second day! Wait and see.
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