Riomaggiore Town

5-Nov-2013, Riomaggiore

It is probably one of the bigger town of the 5 in Cinque Terra, and that left it with lots of space to be charming. This post is dedicated to how charming it can be. Let's start with the train station. It's quite some distance from the town and it has it's own center. Near the station is actually a path where you can walk out to the coast. But due to bad weather, the path was closed while we're there.

This is roughly what the path looks like. It's call the Lover's Path. And it was suppose to be beautiful in terms of view. Sad, but still.... there was enough good things there to be sad over one little misfortune :)

Anyway, back to the charming town. While walking around, I just love the small narrow alley found at every crook and corner.

The shops have their own character as well.

 Even the post-office is cute. Yes this is their post office, but it was close while we were there (or maybe it was too early).

And so I leave you with the above picture as we end our post on the 5 charming town of Cinque Terre.

Next destination - Venice. Stay tune!

Riomaggiore Hill

5-Nov-2013, Riomaggiore

After having enough of the marina, we walked up hill towards the town church. There was suppose to be a castle in the town as well. The walk up alone was pleasant enough as the view and just lovely going though all the small charming alley of the town. I'll show you more of the charming town in the next post.

The walk up shows the town from a different angle. It was almost as if we were transported instantly to a hillside resort.

And here is the town church I was talking about. You can go inside as well. It's not as grand as the one at Vernazza, but it was charming nevertheless.

 Climbing up further will bring you to a small castle that isn't really that grand. But it does look really old.

But what is near the castle was what took my breath away. There was a resting place there, with a cross over looking the sea and the coastal view. And that place just connects with me. I think I could have sat there for eternity and not get bored. Something about that very spot touches me deep inside. If I was a religious person, I would say that I had a spiritual experience there. But I to be frank, it was more of a dark and ancient feel to it as compared to a churchy holy kind of feel. I simple adore that one single spot.

Riomaggiore Marina

4 and 5 Nov 2013, Riomaggiore

We actually reach Riomaggiore on 4-Nov-2013, and it was a rainy day. We were early and couldn't check in. So we had lunch before calling the hostel to let us in. The whole town again, has only one main road and leads to the sea. It was a miserable day as the rain just won't stop. Even when we took the train to visit Manarola, it was pouring. We had our dinner there and head back to our dwelling place. But luckily the next morning, the weather cleared, and we had one full morning to explore Riomaggiore. Of course when I say morning, I meant we woke at 5am and went walking around town :)

 

It was still dark when we headed to the marina. The street lights were still on, and there were hardly anyone in sight. We met a road cleaner who admired the wave with us and shared a good morning, but that was it. It was peaceful and quiet all over except for the sound of the waves.

 

Soon the day begins to break, and a dim ray of sunlight starts to bring some colour to the town of  Riomaggiore.

Here are some of the unique sights of the town that is still deep in slumber as we softly explore it at our own leisure.

Monterosso

5-Nov-2013, Monterosso

Fast forward a bit to Monterosso as I wanted to share that not every single day at Cinque Terra was a raining day. In fact, on the last day, we had to catch our train back to Milan from Monterosso, and Mother Nature was extremely kind to us on our last day.

 

We arrived early at the station, and since it was such a pretty day, we took a short walk out of the train station to take a look around. This is the town we saw. It was totally beautiful. Like some resort time that it must have been every beautiful spring and summer.

 

I also wanted to share that I have one of the best focaccia in Italy here at a place call Focacceria La Marina. It cost only Euro 2.70 each piece, and it was so good we went back to buy more before the train arrived. We tried making them when we're back home as well. It's just basically bread, ricotta cheese, wild rockets, and tomatoes. Probably some virgin olive oil helps too. Its so easy, and so freakingly delicious and addictive that I could have just eaten that one single thing for the whole of my italian trip and it would have been the best meal I had! Do try it if you're ever there!

Ref:
Focaccia