Strolling around Porto Venere

Another early start to get out the door and catch the 9:11am train again to Cinque Terre, or more specifically, Riomaggiore. After breakfast and packing we had 40 mins to spare and turned out the lights for a cat nap.

The train trip was agonisingly slow, especially because the seats were very uncomfortable and the train was at least 30 mins late by the time we reached our destination - it literally crawled the last 45 mins of the trip.

We headed up to the office in the main via of Riomaggiore - a winding street on about a 40 degree incline - and got the keys to the apartment. Turned out to be almost directly across the street from the office. The stairs to the apartment - on the equivalent of perhaps the 4th floor with very high ceilings - were on about a 60 degree incline - seriously, almost as steep as a ladder! That was quite difficult with a couple of rather heavy suitcases!

We were very pleasantly surprised to find a very modern, very clean and quite roomy apartment, albeit without a view - although we couldn't complain given the last-minute booking. The only downside was no kitchenette - so no cutlery or bowls etc - but otherwise the bathroom is perhaps the best we've had on the trip yet! And the shower - yeah!!! A decent shower head!

Being on the main street of Riomaggiore, the whole town being roughly thes size of Balfour St at home, everything is within 60s walking distance, including pizza, gelato and beer - i.e. the basic neccessities of life. First order of business was lunch - a few slices of assorted pizzas - before we decided to check out our options for the afternoon.

Given that we had done a big trek to Montorosso yesterday, we considered doing the walk in the opposite direction - to Porto Venere. However, it's already afternoon and perhaps too late to start the walk today, so in the end we decide to catch the train and bus to Porto Venere and make a final decision when we get there.

It took about 45 mins all-up to get there, and of course we want to check out the town itself, so it looks like we're spending the afternoon here. It's probably a good move to have a rest after yesterday, so we take it easy for the afternoon.

Porto Venere is perhaps the "neatest" town, but also the most exposed to tourism and the larger towns/cities in the area, being on the bus route from La Spezia. Based on one headland of a very large bay, its small cluster of historic buildings soon give way to hotels, cafes and the sprawl of La Grazie, not far from La Spezia. Regardles, with the fortress and church jutting out to sea, the large island dominating the view across the bay and the fishing boats moored in the harbour it makes a picture-perfect postcard.

We walked the main "street" that wound its way through the village. There's no doubt that Porto Venere is the most "up-market" of the 5T villages - the houses and shops are all more well maintained, and there seems to be little tourist accommodation, unlike 5T. Euro 620K will buy you a 90m^2 apartment in Porto Venere, for example - not sure if that has views or not.

After the customary gelato and checking out the church - where amazingly a wedding was about to start, regardless of the hundreds of tourists filing in and out of the small chapel - it was getting time to head back for dinner. About and hour later we were looking for some cheap pasta takeaway in Riomaggiore.

We made a very bad choice. After ordering from a completely disinterested waitress (to put it mildly), we watched her go to the fridge and pull out 2 microwave pasta meals and heat them. We asked for some plastic forks or spoons, only for her to exclaim that they didn't have any. We stood there, wondering what to do, when the owner - who had been watching this - went out the back and returned with some plastic forks. Karina also bought a half-bottle of a local red.

When we got upstairs, Karina went to open the bottle and found the cork had rotted. When she broke though to the wine it reeked of vinegar, so of course she returned it. The waitress removed the remains of the cork and handed it back. Incredulous, Karina refused to take it, saying it was bad, and made the waitress try some. Try as she might, she couldn't disguise the distaste on her face, even though she claimed it was fine! Most people come off 2nd best when they try to argue with Karina, and even though they reluctantly tried to offer her another bottle, Karina ended up walking out with a full refund.

To be honest, we've actually had worse meals over here, so it wasn't all bad after all.

Some KOQ, L&O and bed.

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