July 24
Today I went to Cinque Terre and it was amazing!
Mum told me that I HAD to go there, and in this case, Mother really does know best.
I caught a scooter from my AirBnb to the train station – given my experience with trying to catch buses from the night before, I didn’t believe the buses would come on a Sunday. From Pisa, I caught a train to La Spezia, along with half of Europe it seemed – standing room only.
After an amiable amble through La Spezia down to the wharf, I caught a ferry to Monterosso – the last ferry of the day it turns out! (Timetable here.)
After waiting to dock in the harbour at Palmeria Island, I changed boats at Portovenere – nearly missed the change because I was busy sunning myself on the upper deck, but the (rather good looking) boatmen made sure I got to where I was going.
The ferry ride to Monterosso took about 1.5 hours, and was a lovely cruise along the Cinque Terre coast. Cinque Terre translates to ‘five lands’ and refers to the five villages that are carved into the cliffs – Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. There were several stops that were missed as it was quite rough, so I think normally you’d go into each village, but the ferry I was on went straight from Portovenere to Monterosso, and looked from afar at the other villages in between.
The sheer cliffs seemed to be home to some very hardy people who were making means by vineyards, crops, and perhaps fishing. It reminded me of some of the homes along the Wellington coast that require cable cars to access them. Some homes seemed to also have a set of stairs many meters down to the sea, to a jetty. I was filled with a great many logistical questions – how do these houses get services like power and internet? What if there’s an emergency? How do you make a speedy exit? As oceans rise, will these one day be beach front properties? Why did people think that living here was a good idea in the first place? Alas, none of these questions were answered, so I will clearly need to return and investigate. Given there is a road and train lines that run closeby I imagine the houses are not as remote as they seem, but still.
Given the train was absolutely packed, I decided that I should immediately book my return journey, as I didn’t really fancy paying for two lots of accommodation.
I wish I’d actually just stayed in Monterosso for a night at least. It is so utterly magical.
The ferry dropped us off at the ‘old town’ part of Monterosso about 5pm, so I went through the tunnel, acquired my ticket for the last train of the night (10pm ish), and went to scope out the beach situation.
In my travels, I came across a restaurant nestled in a glade of trees, and made a mental note to come back later.
I did some beach recon while on the ferry, and there’s basically three options – the fancy beach at the far end, main beach and old town beach. All of these have a paid and an unpaid section. Far end was golden sand, but quite pebbly. Loads of kayaks, but too crowded, not appealing.
There are 3 beaches at Monterosso. The ferry drops you off by the old town beach – a very nice beach. There’s the main one by the train called Fegina, then another one if you walk to the right called Il Gigante. (It’s not that big, do not get your hopes up.) And, finally, the old town beach.
The main beach, Fegina, does not have much of a free section, so you need to pay for a sun bed there. Looks like a great vibe if you had someone to hang out with, but not a great buzz for being on my lonesome. Bar right on the beach, loads of lovely sunbeds and umbrellas, but I didn’t see a lot of point in paying for one, given I planned to spend all my time in the water.
After a brief exploration of the old town, a survey of the new town, I came back up and over the hill instead of through the tunnel and found the location for my next wedding anniversary dinner.
I settled down on the old town beach, Spiaggia Tragagia. There’s two sections at most beaches in Italy – a paid section and an unpaid section. For your money you get a less crowded beach and a sun bed, and, if you’re really lucky, a sun umbrella.
There’s even a sectioned-off part of the water for your exclusive swimming enjoyment, fenced off with buoys and such (the empty part in the far right of this picture). There are so many visible markers of the haves and the have nots in Italy. It is very much a society where one is very conscious of their class. The beach is just one example.
Swimming at Spiaggia Tragagia is currently in my top three swims of all time. The water was a perfect temperature, there were waves if you wantes waves, or if you went out further, you could stand on a rocky outcrop towards the harbour mouth, or snorkel there, or you could just lie back and float. It got quite deep quite quickly, and it was a pebbly beach so there was less worry about sand everywhere.
I decided to be bold, and use the unused roped off section of water given no one else was to do a few laps across the bay. This slight rebellion raised exactly zero eyebrows. The partitions are there, but no one is enforcing them, luckily.
After swimming until my fingers and toes went pruny, and trying to dry off in the fading light, I rinsed off, got changed, and headed back to Lapo’s to try my luck for a table. After a brief wait, I was seated with a lovely beach view outside, and dined on caprese salad and gnocchi as the sun set.
…And half a litre of wine that made me very sleepy.
I only ended up having about 5 hours in Monterosso all up, which was a nice taster, but I would definitely love to come back another time and linger for longer.
The return journey was mercifully short – a 20 minute train ride back to La Spezia, then an hour and a quarter back to Pisa.
Handily, the scooter I’d taken to the station was still there, so I just used that to get back to my AirBnb again, as there was no chance of buses, and taxis seemed nonexistent at nearly midnight.
Monterosso is completely enchanting, and thoroughly worth the hype. There’s not much to do other than lounge about on beaches, or walk between towns (or visit churches if you’re into that kind of thing), so it’s a great place to come and relax. The place is littered with eateries and seaside bars. I particularly love the charm of the old town and look forward to going back to dine at a hill top restaurant with my babe.
Cinque Terre and Monterosso: worth the hype, definitely go.
Other Links:
You can hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso
Info on beach options and general info about Monterosso