While we needed the help of a taxi to get our bags up the hill to the Air BnB, gravity did most of the work in getting them back down again. Other than a few rough spots on the cobblestones we got them down to the bus stop easily. We let the first bus overfilled with commuters pass and caught the next one a few minutes later. Boarding a bus with a wheeled bag is always an adventure. My card didn’t scan on the first try, so as the bus lurched forward I fought for balance while juggling the card and grabbing for my bag as it attempted an escape. Fortunately we were both able to get seats.
We were pretty early to the train station so we stopped for (second) breakfast. There was a small food court where we picked up rather mediocre coffee and cornetto. At the nearby piano, a small group put on an impromptu early morning concert with a guitar and singing, baggage piled beside them as they waited for their train.
The platform was posted on time today and we set out on time on our first of three trains for the day. This train was a regional (local) train, so no assigned seats and not as fancy as the fast train. Our rolling bags didn’t fit in the overhead rack, so we ended up sitting in a four-person area with two sets of seats facing each other and holding onto them. Later we realized we could have stashed them between the seat backs of a pair of seats facing forward and backward, but by then others had already stowed their luggage there and we wanted to keep it in sight. No coffee and twix bar this time, either. We did thoroughly enjoy the beautiful spring day as we passed through the countryside, headed toward the sea.
At least half of the people on our train got off at Pisa, but we continued another 40 minutes beyond that to Massa. At Massa we had 15 minutes to change to our next train. It was a small station and we just had to move one platform over, so it was plenty of time. The next train was still a regional train but very new and not too crowded, so it felt luxurious by comparison.
After another 45 minutes we arrived in La Spezia, the city at the southern border of Cinque Terre National Park. It is a fairly large city of 92,000 people, with a commercial harbor, Italian navy base, and a cruise ship port. Since we needed some supplies and it was lunch time, we stopped for a layover for a couple hours. We found a luggage locker a few blocks from the train station and with some creativity managed to stow all of our bags into one large locker.
The wide streets and light crowds of La Spezia were a breath of fresh air after Florence. The brightly colored houses were cheerful in the bright spring sun. Based on a recommendation from Google, we found a restaurant that served local specialties including a flatbread made from chickpea flour and a veggie quiche. The restaurant was filled with the chatter of locals on lunch break. It was also dog friendly, and we saw several small dogs lounging under tables while their people ate.
We wandered around town for a bit after lunch, making our way down to the harbor to enjoy the view. Despite the sun, the breeze still had a chilly edge to it as it came in across the water. We couldn’t stay long however, as we still needed to make our way to our final destination. On our way back to the train station we stopped at a grocery store to get breakfast for the next couple days and some raviolis for dinner so we wouldn’t need to go out again.
The third train we boarded was the local train for Cinque Terre National Park. The local train runs from La Spezia to Levanto through all five villages about every 10-15 minutes during the day. Since it was already mid-afternoon, not many people were headed into the park so it was easy to get a seat. We barely needed it though, as we arrived in Riomaggiore less than ten minutes later.
The town of Riomaggiore is built in the steep slopes of a valley. Reviews for our Air BnB had suggested that there was a long climb to the entrance of the building, followed by 5 flights of stairs. After the last few days in Florence, we thought the climb to the building entrance was quite reasonable. The stairs however were still a bit tough with luggage, mainly because the height of each stair was about twice what is standard in the US. With a little bit of huffing and puffing we made it to our room. The room itself was a spacious studio with a kitchen and comfortably large bath, the front windows overlooking the street below and back windows into a kind of tight winding courtyard in the center of the building. It was comfortable and pleasant, a bit noisy due to the street below and echoes from the courtyard.
Once we settled in and took a break, we set out to explore Riomaggiore. First we climbed up the hill behind our apartment following the main street, passing the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista church, some more restaurants and shops, and ending up at the castle with a beautiful view of the town and sea below. Then we came all the way back down the hill following some of the winding stairs and alleys until we finally arrived at the harbor. There we joined the growing crowd sitting on the rocks to watch the sunset, a perfect finale to our first day by the Mediterranean Sea. The audience applauded as the last ray of sun vanished from the horizon, a celebration of a beautiful day come to a close.
