Continuation of our Cinque Terre stops:
Monterrosso al Mare: Remember the train was packed until this stop.
Squished like sardines.
This is where the beach is. Sand! Beautiful blue water. It was tap water-cold.
Bring your bathing suits, sunscreens and towels.
Once you get off the train, take a moment to view where you are.
Turn right towards the stairs. These stairs will immediately lead you to the beach.
Its truly beautiful.
We made sure that our family and the other wonderful family knew when to meet up for the next train stop.
The Cinque Terre Card is good round-trip on the way back. Remember to validate your ticket and write your name on the back of the card.
It is a 50 Euros fine if you do not have it validated.
The town was so cute!
We turned right from the stairs and towards the end of the town. I wanted to eat the fresh focaccia bread which was raved about on many of the research that I did on Cinque Terre. I was so bummed that I forgot to purchase some bread and pasta for the way back.
The café that we visited was named: Bar Focacceria Antonio Enotea. You will see the yellow awning on the right before the church and the playground on the left. Have a seat!
Enjoy the delicious Focaccia bread homemade by the little old lady and her daughter. Theres WIFI but the code was SOOO LONG!
This place was not cheap.
So, my plan was to eat food at every stop. Walk off the extra calories and also sweat it off if possible.
We had a two espressos, 4 pieces of Focaccia bread and waters.
I could have sat there all day!
Well, onto more fun.
Restrooms: around the corner to the right and behind the church. No paper towels. Just wash. Remember to SIT and Squat! :
My DDs were not having any part of this. DD10 just refused to go all day by the way.
We continued down the road. The DDs played on the playground for 10 mins. Then, walked over to the end of the dock and we took pics.
There to the right of the dock, we saw a stone of a thinking man. I dont know whenit was built recently or been there forever.
Theres cute little places to stay. I knew that we didnt have much time so we turned around and walked back to the other end of town.
I found a spot to sit and reapply sunscreen. It was starting to get hot and humid.
My DD10 decided to eat gelato.
DH and DD13 decided to ditch their socks and shoes and waded into the ocean.
The speedo scene was killing me.
DD10 & DD13 kept asking why the men were wearing their underpants in public
I told them, because they are too poor to buy nice surfboards shorts like in California.
That kind helped them get over the abundant speedos on the older, not-so-fit men.
They waded in the water like they have never been in an Ocean before.
Haha!
DD10 thought that this was hilarious! She kept saying, but we have Santa Cruz 20 mins. Away from our home. Its the Pacific Ocean. Whats the difference! An ocean is an ocean.
Anyways, they wrapped it up and tried to get the sand off their feet. To dry them was no problem.
After all this, we headed back up to the train station for our wonderful Florida family partners.
They were awesome!
We finally got onto the train and off to Vernazza.
Vernazza was DHs favorite.
Again, we exited the train and turned right. We turned left towards the stairs.
You will go through a tunnel and walk through town.
Its small.
Very cute!
Lots of places to purchase fresh bread, olives, pizza, lunch, water, etc.
They loved the fact that everyone in town loved our family. Not just our family, but families in general.
They were more patient with us and especially the children.
We found at the end was a dock for the boats to come. We stayed there until we found several benches in the sun in front of a church.
DH decided be like the locals and unbutton his shirt and sat down.
It reminded me of the 70s. As he sat there on the bench, I took a pic with the entrance to the church as the background.
Then, I sent it to his mom. I thought that this was funny, because she is Catholic (so is my family), but REALLY conservative. I found it funny! DH was dying.
So, we continued to reapply sunscreen and it was getting hotter and more humid.
Suddenly, DD10 starts jumping up and down.
She screams that a bird just pooped on her. Luckily, I had wipes. It got into her hair, part of her forehead, down her shirt. She was SO upset!
Beware of the birds. They are like seagulls.
Then, DH and DD13 decided to climb the rocky tower. I gave them 15 mins. hike up and down it.
When we finally met them and their legs were burning.
Remember, this DIY excursion was not for the faint hearted or unprepared hikers.
DH is like an Amazing Race on his own.
So, I have been walking 3 hours everyday for the past year with our 72 lbs. Chocolate lab in the windy Santa Cruz Mountains of California. It did not prepare me for the heat and humidity of the Cinque Terre mountains.
We ran into some 60 and 70 year old women hikers when we were in Monterrosso. They took the trail and always met them in the towns that we stopped via Train.
They were amazing and put us to shame everytime we bumped into them.
So, we walked back up through the tunnel and then turned right onto the stairs leading to the train platforms.
Note: You will always feel a cool wind before you feel the train coming. Its a quick way to cool down before the next stop.
Corniglio was the most interesting stop. By this time, it was EXTREMELY hot and humid. Beautiful train station. Remember, that the trains have sporadic schedule here. So, dont miss the scheduled train or you will be staying 1 ½ longer at this town.
Once you exit the train, you will exit the train and head to the right. The train car which we were on, the doors didn't open. So, I quickly moved to the next car, and made DD10 exit first. She didn't want to be left without me. So, she didn't exit.
Now that I look back on it, I am glad that she didn't.
Here's where another Amazing Race moment happened. DH looked up at the top of Corniglio. There are a bunch of switchback stone stairs. He said, "Let's Go!" REALLY!
I looked at our Florida family DH and said, "I will not hike up those stairs." The Florida DW said that if your DD13 and DD10 can do it, I can do it, too.
I just shook my head. So, FL DH and I walked at a slow pace until we got to the 2nd set of switchback stair underneath the trees and said good-bye to my DH, FL DW, and the DDs.
I said, "Good Luck! And Be Careful!"
They did it. They climbed all the way to the top and back down. My DDs were racing down the stairs. Really! I could just see the Emergency Room visit in Italy if they have one.
By this time, I was getting worried about our favorite Florida family partners. They were so nice! I thought that FL DW was going to have heat stroke so I fanned her a bit. DD10 was also turning a shade of pink.
So, we purchased cold water bottles and put it under her armpits to cool her off quickly. We had to wait for the scheduled train. I am so glad that we didnt miss it.
It was miserably hot and humid by this time.
More to come on Manarola and Riomaggiore.
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