Up quite early again and on the road, out of Nice, out of France (au revoir) and into Italy (Buongiorno). Stopped just out of Nice at a roadside service centre where there were views down across Monaco – lots of huge boast in the harbour. On the A12/E80 there were hundreds of tunnels. As we were driving along we were able to catch glimpses of the countryside in between. There were glasshouses everywhere and the mountainsides were terraced. When we saw large villages the houses were clinging to the hillsides and cliffs that ran down to the sea.
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| Monaco |
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| The A12/E80 through the mountains |
At La Spezia, we parked the car and took the train back to the Cinque Terra (terra now means earth but once meant villages, hence Cinque Terra = Five Villages = Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside.
We bought a ticket to Vernazza (the fourth of the five villages). It has a little harbour where the sea was a little wild today. Lots of tourists there today. We then caught the train back to Manarola (the second village). It was just delightful. Not as many tourists and lots of brightly coloured houses clinging to the cliffs leading down to the sea.
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| Venazza |
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| Manarola |
Back to La Spezia and we had a little fun!! Finding the B&B for the night. The GPS didn’t recognise the address. My phone had a French sim so it was useless. Thankfully Jill’s phone has a Travel Sim which has been working very well so we were able to use it to call Robert who suggested we drive to one of the suburban railway stations and he would escort us from there. Rather than ring him again, we spoke to some local youths who couldn’t speak English but managed to draw us a ‘mud map’ to Robert’s which worked.
No food at the B&B and a little out of town so Robert suggested a local restaurant. Their English was about on par with our Italian but we did manage to order some dinner. Mine was spaghetti with mussels and prawns (quite reasonable) and Jill’s was veal and salad. We had managed to get the message of no gluten across but the veal came swimming in butter. She tried.
The B&B is very comfortable.
