What do you mean you can't get there from here?
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2006
1
28
80
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Monterosso al Mare,
Italy
Monday, December 25, 2006
It took much longer for us to get there than we thought from looking on the map, because our little car had to chug over so many mountains that dwarfed the ones we'd driven over previously. On the way, we passed a quarry where the most beautiful black marble jutted out of the earth in huge blocks. Marble is so plentiful around here, there are huge pieces just sitting in the surf, and no one cares to take them back from the sea.
After a whole lot of up and down, we finally pull up to the first town in Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare. It's our plan to drive through this town and on to several of the others before nightfall, seeing where we can find a lodging deal. This is around the time that I notice that our guidebook says that all the other towns are inaccessible by car. That's just great. We've just spent all day driving to a place that we can't get to by car. Making the best of it, we decided to stay in Monterosso for the night and have that be our Cinque Terre experience.
I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. Cinque Terre, or "The Five Lands" for those of you who insist on thinking in English all the time, is the name of 5 deep mountain gorges, each with their own town, that open directly onto the Mediterranean in the Northwest of Italy. Because of the steep cliffs and the sea, each of these towns was extremely isolated until recently, and each town still has a unique accent and identity. Monterosso is distinguished from the others as a beach town, but the tiny strip of beach, when compared to the steep mountain slopes behind the town, hardly seems like the most exciting feature. Now, though the road into town is still difficult and long, a seaside train track, with plenty of tunnels and hourly service, keeps the towns connected to their tourism lifeline.
As we began our exploration of the town, it started to rain, and I was feeling sad. Maybe it was because we were alone again, in an expensive place this time, where we have to scrimp and save, and can't always afford hot meals. Maybe it's harder now that we've had a little taste of home. Could be it's that Cierra's talking about sleeping in the car tonight if we can't find a cheap place to stay. Or perhaps it's just that this stupid rain jacket kept leaking right on my face. Grr.
We found an interesting fellow named Miguel who runs a bed and breakfast in the house his father built in Monterosso. He paints all day, and tinkers about his place, fixing things and cooking in his outdoor kitchen. He's spent his whole life living in this town, and remembers when the tourists hadn't discovered it yet. Cierra talks him down to 40 Euros, so we don't have to try sleeping in our car. Miguel's Shepard, Chico was extremely friendly and refused to keep his paws off Cierra. Bad Chico!
Miguel directed us to a cheap pizzeria for dinner, and we set out to explore Monterosso by lamplight. What a beautiful little place! As we climbed up to a convent on the hillside for a better view, it occurred to me that it looked exactly like a model train set. Even good train sets are always unrealistic in presenting a denser town in terms of bigger buildings than makes sense for the size of the town. But here, with so little space on the valley floor, every building is built up, with tiny alleyways and staircases between. Set just back from the beach, a dual train track appears from one tunnel, disappearing on the opposite side into the other. And just like a train set, the same train seems to race through every 20 minutes, usually without stopping.
In the morning, we awaken to dawn outside our door. We had time for a quick walk along the beach, then a makeshift breakfast of yogurt before we packed up the car and made for the Florence airport to drop it off.
