The Five Villages

I checked out of the hostel in Genova and decided to take the bus all the way to the Brignole Station instead of trying to navigate my way via bus to the Principe Station. Trains to Cinque Terre leave from both stations, so no problem there. The train was mostly empty until we got close to the 5 villages that are situated in Cinque Terre National Park. Even then, there was still plenty of space. Once I arrived in Riomaggiore (the last of the 5 villages counting from the N), I walked through a long tunnel decorated in mosaics with tile and rocks depicting scenes of Cinque Terre to get to the main part of town. From there it was a steep uphill climb to where the hostel was. It was taxing, but could have been worse. The room has 6 beds and isn't too bad. Kitchenette, bathroom, TV and free laundry are all part of this room. Kind of excited to wash some clothes.

The park was set up to preserve the fragile coastline in this part of Italy. I'm not sure why it was endangered or why it's so fragile. Any information I have come across in the town where I am staying has been in Italian. It is beautiful coastline. Jagged rocks with striated patterns stick out along the water where they are pounded by the teal blue sea water. The rocks have multi-colored bands running through them of yellows, greys and blacks. Everywhere you look along the coast are picture perfect views. Two men in thick sweaters and orange-yellow waders pick through their fishing net. Boats of every color line one of the streets down by the water's edge where a string of orange buoys marks the way out into the sea. The houses rise like brightly colored red, orange, yellow, green, peach and cream towers from the rocky hillsides terraced into various levels with staircases, elevators and ramped streets linking them together.

Being such a small town, though the largest of the 5 villages, there is a limited supply of food items available. Two small street shops supply most needs, but bread is hard to come by and I haven't seen any fresh meat--only luncheon meat [which I'm still not ready to eat after the Bologna dinner incident]. For dinner I wanted to make a concerted effort to use up my 500g box of rice that I've carried with me since Firenze as I have been without cooking facilities. The famed dish of the area is pasta and pesto. I thought "Why not try rice and pesto? I can call it Italian Rice when I open up my cafe someday." Having learned in Firenze that I need to limit how much I buy so I can actually eat it in the days allotted, I chose some pesto, a small red pepper and two tiny zucchinis to garnish my rice. With some olive oil and garlic it all turned out pretty good for not having spices and in about an hour. The only improvement I would make is to add a bit of salt and pepper. Surprisingly the pesto added a great flavor with the sweetness of the pepper.

Not wanting to spend the entire evening indoors, I went for a walk after dinner thinking I might get some gelato if the shop was still open. I discovered that a coop shop across the street was miraculously open. Both branches 1 and 2 were closed this afternoon. I wandered in hoping to find some bread for breakfast and walked out with raisin loaded focaccia, peach juice boxes and some crunchy, lightly sugared cookies. I walked to a nearby bench and opened the cookies right away. The cookies really hit the spot. Just enough sweetness and lots of crunch. Yum. I also located two churches I could check out tomorrow for Pascqua (Easter). Originally I think I had intended to be in a larger town to see the pageantry of Pascqua in Italy or France, but I think a small resort town celebration will be equally interesting.