Europe 2003 - Part 5: The Cinque Terre, Liguria

I decided not to go to Rome at all, and stay a while in the Cinque Terre, a set of 5 villages on the Liguria Coast, described as the “finest countryside in Italy”. The last night in the Firenze hostel was fab - David, Anna and I met a gaggle of Norwegian girls and we had dinner at the usual place down the hill. The “waitress of the moment” this time was a little gorgeous Italian with curly hair whose eyes darted around like a lizard’s. I talked about the Cinque Terre with David, and said goodbye to him and Anna at breakfast. I hitchhiked a lift to the station with an Indian couple on holiday. The male half was from Goa, but the female half was shocking to me - she was a white lady brought up in India who spoke Indian languages and also English with an Indian accent. Since I am of Indian descent, this was a shocker to me, I’ve never met anyone like her.

The train to Pisa was packed, and I talked at length to a bunch of snazzy Brazilian girls from Rio. They all loved the backpacking in the Cinque Terre, calling it the “lost and real” Italy. At Pisa, I changed after some more haggling and confusion (now becoming common!) to a train to La Spezia. Everything was dropping in scale, the towns gettnig smaller, the countryside fields yellow and golden. I thought to take my chance staying at one of the villages themselves, a long shot since it was high season. I met a strong-minded girl travelling alone from New York called Adrienne. We immediately got on and realised we wanted the same thing for teh next few days in the Cinque Terre - accomodation, serenity and hiking (and beach!). So far it’s been a few nights with her, beacuse it makes sense for accomodation. We got to Monterosso on the local trains and to our dismay found nowhere cheap to stay. Fortunately, there was just one apartment for hire, the old landlady this night came to be known as “the beast” due to her assumption that we were all stupid. We both waited hours to find 2 people to share that apartment for 4 with. After a long time, and a few-minutes before the office-closing time, three people turn up at once! The American guy Jeff said that he’d sleep at the beach, so we moved into the apartment with Jesse and Brooke (a couple from Melbourne). Adrienne and I went out that night and had a fabulous dinner in this pretty village and checked out the bars afterwards. The next day we had a cold shower and said our goodbyes to the Australians and moved to Manorola, another village. The youth hostel here is a real trek up the hill and even though we made it, there was no spaces. After some poking around in bars, etc. we found a private apartment with a double and took it. We then went on an afternoon trek on Via Dell’Amore. This half hour walk along the cliff edge to Riamaggiore was Italy at it’s most beautiful. Terraced vineyards extended to the top of mountains and the coast was so majestic that I almost cried. Waves crashed into bays and great headland cliffs and when we reached Riomaggiore the village was just as quaint as Manorola. We had lunch (on Adrienne) at a Manorola restaurant, where I learned that Grappa in expresso after a heavy meal gives you a 90% neat shockwave that smacks you awake. Old Robert de Niro brought us free drinks and food on the house with a chunky smile and enthusiastic eyes, that lovely devil schmuck! While walking around the town, we met a couple that had just arrived from Firenze and Adrienne and I tried to sneak them into ours to spread the cost. Our landlady wasn’t a moron though, but luckily she knew someone who knew someone in the village, and soon enough - Luke, a big easy going Australian (now a teacher in England) and Monica (Mexican) had found a place to stay. We four dined by the moonlit piazza and listened to village life and the San Lorenzo festivities of the Cinque Terre. Great fanfares and bandwagons passed the main village thoroughfare, and we all went to walk the the Via Dell’Amore at midnight. The result for me was sleeping on the rocks and watching the moon throw glitter at the sea, its dynamic forms being shaped like fractals. The scene and sounds were utterly rustic and we all had a lush sleep that was textured like dessert wine. Outside my window, Manorola looked like the old town of Mombasa. A little tortoise is munching leaves in the patio below and the church bells ringing something joyous.

Italian ladies are working outside, stressing their words and lazing them before they end - beLLISIM…mmm o. Luke and Monica are such earthy people that I must mention them here. Both are simple and wonderful, Luke is solid as rock and a great person to travel with, we found out last night he has no sense of smell. Monica is sweet as pie, a hardy Mexican from the city that likes to smile and laugh. Life in the Cinque Terre grows slowly and now I’m visiting my favourite Italian girl at the tourist office. We four need breakfast and an apartment in Riomaggiore, we found one for two nights. I remember the last two days - lazing with hundreds of others on the blue Mediterranean gulf of Liguria, and got soaked and bathed by choppy waves. I’ve been sleeping in my hammock on the terrace in our apartment and we’ve been cooking meals together to save restaurant costs. I found a cave yesterday with Luke along the coast and the waves crashed so hard we heard the echoes and shuddered. The local produce is delicious, Monica’s iPod has Bob Marley and our picnics are lovely. We plan to to hike up the mountains today. Last night we took a swim until the early morning when we had full moon, this was magic.

I’m here another night and then plan to go to Venice.

[Photo omitted - Caption: Me and Luke at our 2 day apartment having cooked a good meal. Riomaggiore at The Cinque Terre, Italy.]

[Photo omitted - Caption: Luke, Adrienne, Monica and I at our apartment balcony in the heaven of Riomaggiore]