La Spezia, and the Cinque Terre

So I made it to La Spezia - which is essentially the gateway to the Cinque Terre.

I went about finding my hotel, from memory I believe I found the street easy enough, but initially was looking at the wrong end of the street. Once I found it it was all good - the lady who checked me in was nice, and could speak English. The Hotel itself  - The Hotel Astoria - was nice, slightly older, but not a dump by any stretch of the imagination. It was well worth the €50.00 I paid per night, which is actually really good considering a dorm room isn't that much cheaper.

I believe after sorting myself out at the hotel, I went back to the train station and talked to the tourist information people, in preparation for the following day, as there wasn't much left of the day to bother attempting to try and see any of the Cinque Terre.

On the recommendation of the hotel, I went somewhere for dinner that specialised in Pizza. I can't remember if I tried two pizzas or just the one, with the intention of another. From what I remember, it was delicious.

I then had a little bit of an explore of La Spezia and it's marina, however it was dark by this stage, so I made my way back to the hotel to sleep.

The next morning I got up an went to explore the Cinque Terre, albeit probably not as early as I should have. I decided to do it in what I perceived was the reverse order to what most people would do - ie. Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore as opposed to Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare. There were a couple of reasons for this, the first was because I wanted to go against the flow, secondly was because I knew the walkway between the first and second villages (Riomaggiore and Manarola) was closed, due to enviromental damage, and thirdly because I knew the walk between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza was the longest, so I figured I would be taking the road less traveled.

Monterosso al Mare

Vernazza

After a quick lunch/(brunch) and a swim, I proceeded from Monterosso al Mare to Manarola. I quickly discovered why it was the track less traveled as it took over an hour, and up and down a hillside. Of course the views were great, and we went past a guy selling Lemoncello, where I bought some. What was also great was that on the way I ended up meeting an older (albeit still relatively young, i.e. between my and my parent's ages) couple from Wellington. We were heading in the same direction, and they were great company. Once we got to Manarola, the three of us had a swim in the harbour to cool off. I believe they may've had several days to explore, whereas I just had that day, so I had to bid them adieu and proceed to the other villages.

The next village, Corniglia, is up in the hills, as opposed to being a coastal village. I took the train to that stop, and then you have to catch a minibus ride up the hill to the village proper. I had a look around the village, and had another meal, before proceeding to the other villages.

Looking at google images, I believe it must've been Manarola where I spend a little bit of time exploring the alleyways which went up hill and at one point ended in a courtyard with a church in it. By this time it was dark, however I'm sure I checked out both Manarola and Riomaggiore before returning to La Spezia for the night. Unfortunately, by the time I reached La Spezia, all the restaurants were closed.

The following day I hopped on the train to Bern.