We had to get up early: 6:20 for me, earlier than that for Mom. We left by 6:45 to walk to the bus station for our day trip tour to Cinque Terre, a National park in northwestern Italy. We walked our mile to the station, snagged some McDonalds for breakfast (it was literally the only thing open during that entire mile walk), and joined our tour group. It was a HUGE group.. double decker private bus huge.
The drive from Florence to La Spezia took 2 hours on the bus. The tour guide talked into the overhead speakers the majority of that time.. loudly. I did enjoy some of the history he was sharing, but he had my ears throbbing with the speaker volume. When we arrived in La Spezia, we split into two groups and went into the train station. We were told where to meet in 15 minutes.. we stood in the bathroom line for 14 of those minutes and had to leave before actually making it inside.. only to stand at the train platform listening to this guide say all the things the other guide said before on the bus.. cool. Had we known that, we wouldn’t have gotten out of the bathroom line..
We board the train to take us to the second of the five towns in Cinque Terre.. the towns go in order from La Spezia north like this:
0. La Spezia
1. Riomaggiore
2. Manarola
3. Corniglia
4. Vernazza
5. Monterosso
So, we went from La Spezia to Manarola. When we got off the train, we were supposed to be listening to the guide to know where to go and when to be back.. Mom had other plans. she went into a cafe and bought croissants and water so we could use the bathroom. There were two other women in there doing the same thing, also annoyed we didn’t get a chance to do so earlier when there was clearly time to allow it.
Mom and I then walked up the ginormous hill into the cliff side of this town. When we got to some great views, we turned around and walked back the way we came, so we could go into a dress shop and then walk down to the pier before it was time to meet the group. We both got cute dresses, and then rushed to snap a pic of the water.. and then all but ran back to the train station. When they said “fast pace tour” I don’t think this is what we thought they meant.
From Manarola, we went a whole 4 minutes to Corniglia. From the train station you have to walk up about 400 steps to the top of the village (with gorgeous views of the cliff side homes and vineyards surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea). So absolutely beautiful, but hot and apparently we had to be up those steps within 10-15 minutes to “stay on track..” Hearing that even that would be rushed, Mom opted for the shuttle bus to the top and met me at the village center.
We didn’t do the lunch option with the tour because so many of the preset meals had something with seafood, and mom doesn’t do seafood, so we’d be on our own to explore Corniglia and find lunch, then meet at the restaurant the group went to (those that opted in), by 1:05. It was less than an hour from this moment, and the guide kept repeating himself over and over, so we went to walk away, and he stops us.. fusses, “I am trying to tell you something important, I’m trying to tell you the meeting time and meeting spot!” So, I said back, as polite as my irritation would allow, “1:05 in front of that restaurant, we got it! Thank you so much!” And kept walking.. it has already felt like we’re being herded like cattle, please quit cutting in to free time we actually do have..
So, we find a sandwich shop, get food and a lemon soda to try, locate the gorgeous terrace and eat our lunch on a bench. It was pretty, for sure, and I loved the idea of it-but this tour was annoying us both by this time. And trust me-one thing you don’t want to do, is tell Connie to hurry up. Yikes. We snap some pictures along the walk from our lunch spot to the restaurant meeting spot. We actually make it there early and our guide spotted us and asked if everything was ok and if we enjoyed lunch.. we tell him we did and ask if we have time to order a glass of wine here before time to go.. he grabs the waiter for us and gets our order in.
We enjoy (well, I enjoyed) our wine on the terrace and took advantage of the restrooms before walking down to meet with everyone. From here, there were 2 options: hike from Corniglia to Vernazza and have the absolute best views, or take the train.. the hike is estimated to take 1.5-2 hours, the train-5 minutes. It was a no brainer to me, I wanted to take the train, get to town, have 2 hours of freedom from cattle probes, and enjoy the views we’ve paid to see. Mom was shocked! Look, y’all, just because I hiked the AT doesn’t mean I want to sweat my ass off and be miserable on vacation!
When we made it to the train station for our 5 minute ride, one of the women from this morning at the bathroom asked me something.. I don’t remember what it was now, but I’m thankful she did because it sparked our conversation that turned into making the rest of this day trip wonderful. Her name is Jennie, shes an ED nurse in Florida, she’s here with her Mom, Diane, who reminds me of Mom so much it’s hysterical. The 4 of us quickly bonded and decided to find a place for drinks together with the view of the sea in Vernazza!
We did just that. Jennie and I tried a lemon spritz, which is 100x better than an aperol spritz, for the record. It was like a lemon candy in a drink-but put a lemon drop to shame. We talked and shared our stories-everything from nursing nightmares to traveling mishaps. At some point we were all laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes! After some time, we all went perusing through the shops until it was time to be at the meeting spot. Ugh. Meeting spots.
We boarded the next train from Vernazza to Monterosso. They split us back up into our groups, so Jennie and Diane had to go with the other guide. Boo. In Monterosso, we had almost an hour (45 minutes actually), so Mom and I found a bathroom, paid our €1 each to use, changed into our bathing suits and promptly walked to the beach. I cannot-hear me now-CAN. NOT. See a gorgeous body of water and not get in it if I have the chance!
We drop our stuff in the rocky sand and walk towards the water. People are sunbathing all around, but only 3-5 people are actually in the water. We step in- HOLY SHIT that’s COLD! Hahaha, but not the coldest water I’ve ever been in (thanks, Lake Tahoe).. so, I walk out until I can swim out farther, keeping my hair out of the water.. mom got her toes in and called it quits! Hahaha
I swam, I floated, I smiled and I giggled. I flipping loved it! And I didn’t have to dodge, bob, weave, or talk to anyone else. There was no one out there! I kept a close eye on my watch and stayed in the water for 30 minutes, giving myself just 10 to walk out, get my towel and attempt to dry off before throwing my dress back on and walking to the meeting spot with mom. We got there and met back up with Jennie and Diane before getting on a cruise boat that would take us from Montorosso back to the first town (the one we skipped this morning), Riomaggiore.
The boat ride was beautiful, but too crowded to even attempt getting a picture. Dang it. Then, once off the boat we walked along the coast just long enough to snap some pictures, stand in a bottleneck line attempting to go down the stairs, and then stand at the train station for 20 minutes.. you know, the train station with no views.. when we could have been enjoying the breathtaking beauty surrounding every other step of this gorgeous town. Awesome.
We take the train back to La Spezia, then walk for 20-25 minutes to the bus.. to take our 2 hour bus ride back to Florence. Good gracious, this trip was so beautiful and could have been so much more enjoyable, but we were honestly worn out and frustrated from the rush rush rush of the day. We originally thought it was just us, but we overheard others say thing the same. Oh well, they meant well-it is so beautiful, and honestly now I know if i ever make it back here that I can navigate this area without using a tour group.
After getting back to Florence, Jennie and Diane walked back with us from the train station. We went into a square with another lovely church and quickly found a restaurant to sit and eat some dinner outside. The best part this trip has been meeting these two! Man, they are funny!
We said our goodbyes sometime around 11:15 (we didn’t get back to Florence until after 9pm), and we walked towards our Airbnb and they walked to their hotel-all exhausted by the day. Upstairs, I changed into running clothes and knocked out my mile-showered-and then we both crashed, hard. Reeeeeeal hard.
Sounds like an awesome day !!!