More in Cinque Terre

In the evening, we took the train to the town furthest south, Riomaggiore (town #5), and walked from there to Manarola (town #4) along what is called Lovers’ Lane. This section of the trail connecting the villages is paved and short, making it very, very easy to traverse. It’s incredibly beautiful, especially as the sun set into the Mediterranean, hence the Lovers’ Lane moniker.

In Manarola, we had dinner at a seaside restaurant called Marina Piccolo, which was woefully understaffed. But everyone was pleasant, the food was good, and the view incredible. The couple at the table next to us (she from Florida, he from Puerto Rico) had bread, we had olive oil, and the empty table next to us had plates. Inadequate service forced us to cooperate and share, and voila! an appetizer and instant friends.

Thom and I shared a sampler appetizer plate – stuffed mussels, deep-fried octopus, and god only knows what else. Delicious. Thom had linguine with crab, and I had squid-ink pasta with scampi, a typical Liguiruan dish, which tasted fishy, despite having no fish in it. Thom loved his second course of baked anchovies. The view was better than the food, but the whole of the meal was still wonderful. Ria fell sound asleep before the appetizer was served, and slept absolutely soundly until it was time to order dessert – tiramisu custard, and chocolate tarte with pear.

At 10:30, with Ria now wide awake, we walked back along Lovers’ Lane, this time to the light of a nearly full moon. We met a couple of young men at the train station in Riomaggiore, from Portland, who were thrilled that we’d heard of Portland and that they didn’t need to explain to us that it was near Seattle. They were attempting to “do Europe” in a week. Seriously. Today, they proclaimed proudly, they’d “done” the Vatican (in four hours) and Rome (yes! Rome!), come to Cinque Terre, swam in the Mediterranean, eaten dinner, and were off to Florence in the morning. This conversation actually happened:

Boys: We’ll do Florence in a day, then fly out.
Me: Why bother?
Boys: Because it’a a major city. We can’t skip it.

Boys: Do you think we can do Paris in eight hours?
Me: No.
Boys: How about just the Louvre?
Me: No.
Boys: What if we hurry?
Me: No.

They told Thom “We’ve basically done all the churches in Europe. We’ve been to the biggest and the oldest, and we’ll see Notre Dame when we’re in Paris. Can we walk to Notre Dame from the Louvre?” When I suggested they go someplace small, instead of Florence, they said, “Cinque Terre is our ‘off-the-beaten-track' venture. That’s enough.” When I suggested Lucca instead of Florence, they persuaded themselves that they could stop at Lucca on the way to Florence, and do both in one day.

I have lots of pictures to post, but this internet connection is too slow to handle it. I'll post more when I get a reasonable speed.