Leaving Lucca, Ciao Levanto

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We woke this morning to another cracker Lucca day. We had been here long enough and I was keen to get on the train.

Lucca is a great place to visit, but TBH, it could be done in a day. There is nothing really too special here (apart from the mummified lady in one of the churches...creepy). It is steeped in history, but this far down, we are kind of numb to the history of everything now. The terraced houses and cobbled streets used to buzz us out, but now we are craving the comforts of a city again.

We soon got sick of all those stairs!

A 2 hour train ride and we arrived in Levanto.

The trains here are really cool. It's pretty easy to figure out how to use them and once you have it mastered, Europe is at your feet. They are clean, usually on time and are fast.

Levanto is the very top town in the Cinque Terre. CT means '5 Lands' and the Cinque Terre describes the walk that you take between the 5 towns.

After checking in to our accomodation at Hotel Europa, we went back to the train station and got on the train to Portofino. Portofino is supposed to bea the playground of the rich and famous, but its not all its cracked up to be. We stayed for about an hour, saw some massive super yachts tied up in the dinky little harbour, then got on the bus and headed back to San Margherita (the main town near Portofino) and walked among the other people enjoying the twilight.

San MArgherita is beatiful. Like most places so far, cobbled streets and terraced houses, but also beautiful little parks and walks and its on the beach!!!!

We were looking for a refresher, so popped into this little bar up one of the alleyways.

This was the most random bar we had seen yet. You could buy candy, ice cream and chocolates, but they also had big chunks of smelly old meat there if a sandwich was what you were after. While you are at it, you could also grab a bourbon or a beer...random.

This brute of a lady barked at our request to take our beer outside (it was a mini Peroni, but it was in a bottle, so "no outside!") so we sat down obediently.

Next up, we were served peanuts and olives.....and the whole time we are thinking "do we have to pay for these?" cos thats what happens here...

You walk into a cafe, sit down out the front, order a beer and the bill comes....€20! The beers are cheap, but the Coperto or cover charge soon makes this little break an expensive one, so we are always freaked out when people drop food on our table.

Anyway, while Brutus was busy making a little French girl cry after choosing the wrong iceblock, we slipped out the door and headed down to a cafe on the beach.

A short train ride home and we got back to our Hotel. Tomorrow we will be walking the Cinque Terre so we will need our strength.

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