Day 3 Cinque Terre

This morning the alarm woke me at 8am. Hallelulia!  I managed to sleep all night. Funny, because at midnight I was texting my mom and cousin Lynn - still wide awake. Guy didn't fare as well through the night, but he had at least an hour on me before I actually fell asleep. Not really wanting to get up, I crawled out of bed and went for a quick run around the marina. A G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S sunny, yet slightly warm morning. The flowers blooming around the sidewalks made me think I was on some kind of scent tour. Deep breaths of this warm scented air made it all worth while. It took longer to hit the one mile mark than I thought it would, but the scenery was just stunning and the sights passed my time away. Being just after 8am, the town was bustling with early morning folks going to work and older locals out for a stroll or reading the paper on the benches by the water. Men were working on their boats and others getting the beach chairs and umbrellas ready for what promises to be a really busy day at the water. By the way, I ran along the red carpet. Check it out in today's photos. It's over a mile long.

Returning back to the hotel, and after a quick shower, Guy and I headed for breakfast. Breakfast took place outside on the terrace overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean. It was quite the spread and had everything from champagne to Nutella. I filled my plate with pears, fresh mozzarella, pancakes (no syrup here so I put berry jelly and Nutella on them) yogurt and just a short glass of water. Guy had eggs and a little morning dessert with Nutella on bread. I wanted some coffee, but being that we were going to be doing lots of walking today, in places that a potty might not be around every corner, I held off and kept the liquids to a minimum. Tomorrow, coffee will be on the table as well as a possible omelette made to order by a guy that speaks perfect Italian, but looks more on the Irish side. 

Next on the day's to-do list was a train ride to Riomaggiore. It is the furthest south of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. We are going to start there and work our way back to Rapallo. We've been here before, but hate to be so close to them and not go for a visit. What we discovered was that we are in peak travel season and let me tell you, wall to wall bodies. Too many. I told Guy to take a nice long look around as this may be our last visit to this amazing place. However, he did remind me that we were here last time in September. So that time of the year would have less tourists...so if there is a next time, it will be during the off season. Guy said he had recently read there were over 2.5 million tourists to these towns in 2015 and the Italians were going to try to figure out a way to keep it down to just 1.5 million. Interesting. However, from the pictures today you can see why so many people want to come here.  We did some perusing of the shops and didn't make any purchases. Still several towns to go and we were finding that this time shops weren't as willing to take a credit card. Cashola was king. Glad we had a few Euros on us today or we'd have been in trouble.

After Riomaggiore we headed to Vernazza. My favorite. Again, bustling with toursits, sweaty tourists, we made our way to the marina and I got the photos I needed to document our time there. Guy was reminding me of the terrible floods and mud slides they had a few years ago. When we got back to the room we watched some videos of it again. Terrifying times and pretty amazing that they've recovered so well. Now that we've looked around, our bellies told us it was time to eat. We looked on Trip Advisor and thought, "why not go with the #1 rated restaurant", right? It was called il Pirata. Yep, Italian for "the Pirate". Sounds cheesy, and their logo was, but there was a line and it was off the beaten path enough that if you weren't headed there on purpose you probably wouldn't have found it. There were a few tourists that stopped just for a pastry and coffee and they were quickly booted out as they only wanted customers who were spending their cash for a full lunch. And again, cash only, no credit cards. There was also a sign on the inside that said, "We don't serve eggs, you are in Italy, eat our food". We guessed from that they just have pastries in the morning. Maybe Diane Marks should put that up in her shop. LOL. However, I had eggplant parmigiana and Guy had spaghetti pomodoro. The best part was the absolutely amazing cannoli for dessert. Oh yeah, call yourself a pirate, I don't care, just give me more of that dessert you got going on there!

Headed back to the town the plan was to take a boat from Vernazza to Monterosso, but being that the last boat we saw coming in was packed with tourists, we just opted to train there instead. Plus the boat ride was only 15 minutes. Not worth it even tho I was so looking forward to a boat ride today. The weather is a tad warm but still, simply amazing. The train ride from Vernazza to Monterosso was so quick we just stood. Our visit in Monterosso was also quick. A stroll up and down the main boulevard didn't spark our interest and we decided our hotel pool was calling us. The one thing about this town is I remembered a purchase I made years ago. By my fireplace stands a tall wooden cat. I bought it here over 15 years ago. It's a treasure of mine and to be honest, I had not thought about where I had bought it in a long time. I'll have to make a small notation on the bottom to remind me it was from this town. 

The 40 minute ride on the train back to Rapallo was actually quicker than that, and it was nice to sit down for a bit. Our TEP didn't really work well on the train due to all the tunnels, but that is understandable. But for the rest of the day it did work fine. Is is super fast, no. Would I get it again? The jury is still out... But let me add that last night I online chatted with them telling them about my not so successful day and they answered my questions and asked me to email them today to let them know how it was going. When I had not emailed them by 10am, they were emailing me to make sure I was back in business. One thing for sure is their customer service is excellent! So back at the hotel we decided to not do the pool because our room was cool and it felt so good to sit down. We took showers and relaxed instead, talking about our dinner plans. Guy kinda wanted fish, but after searching Trip Advisor nothing really struck a cord with him so he opted to give into my secret wish to eat where we ate last night. We usually don't do that, but I was lusting after his pear ravioli last night and we went back so I could have a plate of my very own. So back at the Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo we had a Caprese salad as a start, I had the pear ravioli, of course, and grilled veggies again. Guy went with the veal Milanese and it was just o.k., it maybe needed a sauce or a side of some kind, but it was tender and tasty. I would definitely order mine again. He probably wouldn't. 

On the walk back I took some photos of the surrounding area at night. Still dusk, not fully dark, I really need a true camera to capture the beauty, but my cell phone will have to do. The evening was perfect. Almost a chill in the air where you'd need a jacket, but not quite. Perfect for our walk back. This would be a good Groundhog Day.

Now, about tomorrow. This is where it all gets interesting. So, I booked my glass class and room via Facebook messenger. No bill was sent, just a note back that those dates worked perfectly and Lindsay asked if we had any dietary needs since we'd be eating there for two nights. I told her no, in my reply on FB messenger, and asked if she could send me a statement/confirmation. Reply? Nothing. I could see she hadn't read my message which wasn't completely unusual because I had to email her once to have her check Facebook. Well, not only did I message her once more, I also emailed. Twice. The final one was basically an inquiry asking if they were ok because they weren't reply to any of my messages. So tonight I was talking to the front desk people here at the hotel tonight and they said, "We'll just call them right now!".  Cricket, Cricket. No answer. So he said for us to have them call in the morning and we'll see what is going on. Which means Guy is looking for another place for us to stay tomorrow night. The Hotel Leon, which is our next stop after the glass place, appeared booked, but another place we stayed not far from San Gimingiano only a few years ago looks to have rooms. We really aren't worried, but Guy is joking that we'll be staying the next two nights in the Hotel "Rental Car". I'm sure the Excelsior would love to have us for two more nights. We'll figure it all out tomorrow.

On that note, buona sera  from beautiful Rapallo, Italy.