La Spezia and Quinqe Terre

After breakfast and hanging up the laundry we walke down to the market. We bought soft Gorgonzola and some sweet Parma ham from a very nice young gentleman. We also bought sausages from a lovely lady. 

We then walked to the Statue of Gatibaldi and down to the marina. Our walk back through the old city included a gelato stop. Black Forest for me and pistachio for Dave. The tourist area is extremely clean. We walked out of it to do some grocery shopping and then went back to the apartment to put the food in the fridge and prepare lunch. We caught a train to Riomaggiore, the first village in Cinque Terra. It was so crowded and very commercialized. We ate our sandwiches, gazed at the view which is stunning and headed back to the station. 

From there we went to Vernazza which was flooded in October 2011. The village was packed with people. Dave and I sat with our feet in the water and finally ate our apples. We walked up to Ristorante Belforte for espressos. They charged us €2 and we could sit down and drink them, and use the bathroom. Absolute bargain. 

On the train back we met a young couple from Pretoria travelling on Bus About. I’m going to look into this as it sounds amazing for young people. We showed them where the market was and then made our way back to the gelateria we found this morning for a second choice. Caramello for Dave and caffè for me. We sat down in the piazza to enjoy our ice cream before heading for the Naval Museum. As our luck would have it, the hall Dave wanted to explore is closed for renovations. No holiday on Italy would be complete without that happening. We walked back to the marina and then into the old city. We had prosecco at Gatto Bleu. Same price as last night but a better quality prosecco and no snacks. After that we went in the lift instead of walking one flight of stairs and back to the apartment. Dave cooked dinner and we played back gammon, enjoying our wine and the cheese.