Thursday, April 11, 2002 19:05
Weather: Rain.
Location: A trattoria just below the train station in Vernazza, whose name I forgot to write down.

A satisfyingly lazy day. I slept in quite late, just clearing out of my room as the cleaners got to it. The sky was dark with a persistant rain, so I resolved to find a newspaper and a good café and settle in.

At the local tobacco/magazine/postcard/newspaper/souvenir shop I picked up a copy of the Independent, then spent another hour and a half updating the web site, checking that my bank balance is still ok, and checking on the weather forecast. So far this trip I've been lucky, but maybe now it's time to pay the piper: looks like a front has settled in and all of Italy is due for rain for the next few days. Not too bad, though: I'll concentrate on indoor museums and sights in Florence, and hopefully the rain will clear by the time I get to Civita di Bagnoregio on Tuesday. I was able to book myself into the only B&B in that tiny village by email!

After stopping to pick up lunch--olive foccacia bread and a salami and cheese sandwich, with a glass of white wine to get me started--I walked up to the train station. After a half hour of wait, I caught a commuter train to La Spezia, a large town with a naval base, around the next turn in the coastline from the Cinque Terre.

I thought I might spend an hour seeing some of La Spezia and then head back to Riomaggiore, but the station was a bit farther from the port than I expected and I was quite content to wander for a while, especially after I found a long pedestrian street heading in my direction. On the left, the streets ran into the hillside and turned into wide staircases heading up, many with flower arrangements or statuary. At the second newsagent I passed I was able to find a copy of the Herald Tribune, so my reading material for the day was assured.

At the end of the pedestrian street was a large formal park alongside the harbour. I crossed the road and walked through the park in the rain. Other than some policemen buying coffees at a roadside stand, there seemed to be no one else around, and after a brief survey of rather boring flowerbeds and shrubbery, along with a proud but, let's face it, wet statue of Garibaldi on horseback, I headed back to the pedestrian street. From what I'd seen of the harbour it was large, mainly commercial, and sadly bereft of nice tourist-friendly warm cafés to sit in, so I stopped instead in a small café that I'd passed on the street and had a very milky capuccino while I read my paper.

I arrived back at the train station at exactly 15:08, i.e. when the 15:08 train to Cinque Terre was just gathering momentum. I had a pretty boring seventy minutes of wait for the next train, but soon thereafter was back in Vernazza.

After a nap, I set off for dinner. I stopped at the tobacconist's and bought a €5 phone card, since I'll probably have a few chances to use it while I'm here. I checked my email for all of 2 minutes (€0.30) and found a phone booth by the station. Five phone calls later (SO much easier with a phone card) I had a reservation for a hotel in Florence, guaranteed with my credit card so I can take my time at lunch in Pisa.

To celebrate this success, I've just enjoyed a great meal and am working on finishing off a half litre of the house red. I think there may be some tiramisu in my future.

[20 minutes later]

Best tiramisu of my life. Goodnight! (hic)

[side note]

Throughout my meal the restaurant has been playing a CD of orchestral versions of Pink Floyd songs, with a heavy focus on The Wall. Kinda surreal.
posted by Tom at 8:08 PM | link |