Friday, May 24th
Checked out of Il Villino after a good breakfast. Drove over to La Spezia on the Ligurian Sea. The drive is far more scenic than the one into Bologna. green, open country with red poppies, yellow broom and lavender wildflowers line the roads and coat the hills. Little brick villages with stone churches on hilltops and little valleys like in a storybook. This changed as we neared La Spezia.
Checked into the 5 Terre Lodge on a busy highway and had to go 5 blocks down and up a hill and through an electric gate to park the car but we weren't that surprised. We were met by a bubbling young hostess named Margherita(?), She was delighted we were there and assured us our stay would be memorable and comfortable. Well, it was immediately memorable, as the newly refurbished rooms had a few shakedown problems but, looking back, it was comfortable, too. Margherita knew where everything was in La Spezia* and her recommendations were spot on. Her mother also did laundry, which we had been collecting up to this point. (whew!)
Lunched at pizza restaurant and had the best pizza. It will live forever in my memory!
Train to Riomaggiore, the first village of the legendary Cinque Terre (chink wuh TARE uh). After figuring out how to board the train, we got off at the first stop, Riomaggiore. * We entered through a dramatic, covered walkway, lined with mosaics, to a more dramatic, cliffside village of weathered stone walkways, walls and buildings painted in alternating pastel colors to gave the carnival atmosphere we had seen in the travelogues. Ancient stone alleys and walkways mixed, without apology, with newer paved and flagstone streets. This is a living town, not a museum! I Ventured out along the rugged, lava cliffs on a network of homemade walkways overlooking the dark, clear water taking gorgeous pictures everywhere I turned. We finally boarded the train back to La Spezia, frantic to come back the next day and see the other villages.
Joe
* Notes: La Spezia is a grimy seaport town but it is the gateway to the Cinque Terra villages (the reason to be here) The villages, from south to north, are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso (del Mare).
