Cinque Terre - Riomaggiore

It was an early start at 6am this morning and we finally arrived in Riomaggiore at 2.30pm - after another mediocre BA flight where they could not serve any breakfast due to some problem and then the steps could not connect to the door on disembarking in Pisa, so we waited for about 25 minutes on the plane while they tried to get the stairs to link up to the plane! From Pisa we caught  a few trains and it was easy enough to find our destination despite our lack of knowledge of Italian when trying to negotiate our way around the various stations, and the lack of staff on the platforms to direct you - but we got the right trains and arrived a bit bedraggled after carrying our heavy luggage up and down stairs at the stations. We are spoilt in London with so much helpful staff around to guide you on to the correct train. It was however a pleasant surprise to see how inexpensive train tickets are here, especially compared to travel in London which is just so expensive! There are no big hotels in Cinque Terre and we are staying in a charming room - well it’s just a room, I cannot call it a B&B as there are no eating facilities at all, but its perfectly appointed, spotlessly clean and well located so we cannot complain. The best was the owner of this accommodation met us at the station and carried our luggage to our rooms - I could have kissed him as by then my arms were feeling very strained from my heavy bag and camera bag.

It was a bit too late for a big lunch so we dumped our bags and headed out to walk around the town - we found a place selling paper cones of calamari which was the perfect snack lunch - scrumptious! It certainly hit the spot. We then walked all over the town, up and down the many flights of stairs and by the end of the day were feeling quite tired. I went back and read Rainie’s account of when she visited here in September and she experienced the same, it can be tiring travelling here. Visiting these steep villages with their many stairs up and down the town is not recommended for those with dodgy knees! Our beautiful room has a great view on to the main marina, and so we eventually retired to our room in the late afternoon to relax before supper where we enjoyed a cold glass of prosecco, compliments of our hosts. 


Cinque Terre is as beautiful as expected - I think this time of year is a good time to come as it is warm without being too hot, and there are not too many tourists yet - there were enough tourists today, all with those annoying selfie sticks getting in the way of my compositions, but it is not too bad as it gets in the summer - it must be heaving then and best avoided I think. 


I went out at sunset to take some photos and then took more of the village in the blue hour - they did not turn out as well as expected as the sea was too rough to get any nice reflections from the lights. All boat trips were cancelled today due to the rough seas. I have added some extras, including one at the blue hour.