Train to Terre

I am writing to you after fourteen hours of train rides. Mind you, these were broken up into four different legs with an overnight stay in Nice. I would have gone crazy with so much sitting, but the countryside was so beautiful I hardly minded. We arrived in Nice quite late so after getting settled in our hostel we set out for a night walk around the city. Somehow we managed to find the center square that had all the street musicians, which was quite entertaining and fun.

Today, we arrived in the Cinque Terre, and I immediately fell in love with it. We did not book a hostel ahead of time mostly because there were none. After getting off the train in Riomaggiore, I was greeted by a friendly Italian man offering us a room for 15 euro per night (this is INCREDIBLY cheap in the hostel world). I agreed upon the contingency that we see it and like it first, and Sergio led us up the path expounding the many glorious wonders of the room he provided. It turned out to be his personal apartment with only two extra rooms (the other was occupied by an Australian couple), but it was so nice and clean that we couldn't pass it up. Sergio is your stereotype of the older Italian man. Very touchy, very talkative, and very friendly. He has burst into our room several times to show us something completely unnecessary or to say in broken English "Ok, the bathroom is clean cause I use it too, right? Capiche?"

Oh, side anecdote here... I was preparing to go out for a walk when Mike came bursting through the door, his eyes watering and his face turning red. "Do NOT go out there!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed. I couldn't figure out what had happened, but apparently he sprayed a squirt from a bottle thinking it was air freshener, but it turned out to be a bottle of pepper spray that Sergio keeps by the door, "in case French people come by..." He then proceeded to pour liter after liter of our precious bottled water into his eye as he coughed and spluttered and washed out the extremely potent gas. I knew it was strong because even the tiny squirt was coming through the door and making my eyes water. At that moment, Sergio burst in to see Mike in considerable pain, the pepper spray, and demanded of me "What did you DO?!?!" Nothing! We left promptly for our walk.

The Cinque Terre was exactly what I hoped it would be. Relaxing, raw, sunny, beautiful... Rick Steves, along with many other travel agents, have sung its praises, so I was worried that it would be over-touristy and developed. Turns out, it is just as quaint and untouched as all the pictures make it out to be. Pictures will follow. We went to a very rocky beach with clear blue SALTY water to swim for a bit, and then got some groceries for the traditional Cinque Terre dinner of pesto pasta, white "Cinque Terre" wine, and seafood.

Upon our arrival home, Sergio REFUSED to let us cook it for ourself. He took all our ingredients, added quite a few of his own, and whipped us up a delicious feast. At one point, he even clapped my cheek and said "Ok, you go, bella, I make it for you!" He set a beautiful table for us, and even periodically checked on us to see if we needed anything. Then he REFUSED to let us clean up, and took our leftovers and "make soomething for your lunch tomorrow to hike." We kept looking at each other and laughing at our luck to fall in line with this wonderful, hilarious man. Tomorrow we go for the five village hike.