Our room at the hostel was private, which was great. The front desk guy was extremely helpful, providing us bus schedules and other conveniences. The breakfast there was "così-così" (so-so), but otherwise our stay was quite pleasant.
We slept in a bit, but we were fed and on a bus to Cinque Terre around 9:50. Cinque Terre ("five lands") is a series of five villages that have collectively become a national park. We took a bus from Biassa to the closest town, Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is a bit bigger than Biassa, and completely tourism focused. The town is almost entirely shops, restaurants, and walking paths. We wandered around Riomaggiore for awhile, snapping pictures. Some other tourists were discussing a nearby beach, which we wandered around for awhile trying to find, but never did. After our short walk we decided to move on to the next of the five towns.
All five towns are connected by train and foot path. We bought a day pass and took a train to Manarola, the next town. Manarola had some better options for eating and shopping, so we spent considerably more time here than Riomaggiore. We wandered around, buying locally made wines and liqueurs from the tourist shops.
We had lunch at a nearly-sea-side ristorante. It was only one door down, had a clear view of the sea, and the menu was about half the price of the sea-side restaurant. Elly had salmon ravioli and I had "seafood spaghetti" which wound up being a Lovecraftian plate of spaghetti, eyes, legs, shells, tentacles, and unrecognizable fleshy rings. I sent my imagination on a break and chewed everything that seemed intended for eating. Incredibly fresh, quite delicious, but not necessarily the sort of thing I'd do on a regular basis. Elly and I worked out what most (but not all) of the items were: whole shrimp, octopus, squid, and mussels. Her lunch was also really delicious and easily identifiable, but I'm still glad I got what I did.
Cinque Terre is an interesting experience. The towns are quite beautiful, but are somewhat tarnished by the level of tourism. It gives off the aura of being both comletely authentic while also having a nearly Disney-esque level plastic fakeness. I think we got a slightly lop-sided view, though, because Elly was not feelng up to taking the famed walking trail between towns. The trail's beauty earned it the name "Via Dell'Amore", after all.
We didn't want to wait around for the bus to Biassa, so we took a train to La Spezia and bussed to Biassa from there, saving us over an hour. Between the train and the bus we enjoyed another cappuccino in the late-afternoon sun.
Once back in Biassa Elly switched shoes from "cute" to her more practical Keens and we went on a hike on the trails around Biassa. "Always follow the red and white" advised Luca, the front desk guy. Nearly an hour up the side of the mountain to a rest stop. The beauty of this trail is undescribable, and hundred or so photos I snapped do not do it justice. The entire hour hike is paved with ancient stone steps, winding its way up the mountain through arcane, untamed forest. Deep, healthy green entangled us all around. It was absolutely, incredibly awesome and I don't see the point of stumbling around the English language trying to describe it. It felt otherworldy and magic, like something out of a fantasy story.
Then there was benches and a refreshments booth at the top. The juxtaposition was surreal.
The hike really is worth more than the few messy sentences above, but this blog isn't the place for poetry.
Back to Biassa for anchovies, pizza, and lemon torte. Then back to the hostel for much-deserved sleep.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment