Day 3: Livorno/Cinque Terre/Pisa

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Port: Livorno

We both had a wonderful night of sleep…the seas were calm and we experienced no fog - which means no fog horn! Yay! Woke up to the alarm at 6:55 am – and peeked out to see we were already docked at the photogenic and beautiful port of Livorno. (This is sarcasm, dear readers – Livorno is the last thing from being photogenic or beautiful.)

The phone rings at 7:00 am on the dot, and it is Room Service telling us that our breakfast is on its way. Yes, the night before we ordered our breakfast and hung it on our doorknob. No more stale toast or lumpy oatmeal for Hubby. Free – but tips are appreciated. I hop up and put on a robe and sure enough, 5 minutes later, our delicious hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit and pastries is delivered. We tipped Erhan $2.00 and then sit down to enjoy it on our balcony. Overlooking that beautiful scene in front of us. (sarcasm)

After breakfast, we get dressed and ready to go. The weather is partly cloudy with an expected high of 85. Gorgeous.

We walked down the gangplank at exactly 8:00 am to meet up with our tour group. Our group included 3 other couples that met through Cruise Critic and arranged our tour through Rome in Limo. We have Erin & Bryan; Laura & Chris; and Bill & Amy. (Their pictures are on the blog posting for Day 1 - Sailaway Party.)

We're at the port of Livorno. Livorno belongs to the region of Tuscany, which incorporates the west coast area of central Italy and includes the historic and culturally significant towns of Florence and Pisa. The people of Tuscany are noted for their charm, generosity and taste for good living. They take great pride in their art and architectural treasures.

Most people visit Florence when coming to Livorno. We have opted to save Florence for another visit. We feel we will be seeing enough churches, monasteries and monuments in Rome that we would like to do something different. Besides, hordes of barbarians storm Florence every day - we would like to avoid the barbarians today and go off the beaten path. So - we're heading to Cinque Terre - or "Five Lands".

The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. It is a very popular tourist destination - but NOT as popular as Florence.

Vincincio, our driver, is on the dock waiting for us and we hop into the spacious van to begin our tour. Our plan is to visit the five villages of Cinque Terre and then head over to Pisa to see the tower – not climb it. We don't have time - that will wait for a future trip.

It is a long drive to the Cinque Terre – we drive on the highway for at least 90 minutes. Hubby is sitting in the front seat by Vincincio; I have taken the odd seat in the back. I can hear Vincincio talking a mile a minute with Hubby but I can’t hear a word he is saying. I imagine that he’s telling Hubby all sorts of wonderful stories, interesting tidbits, and gold nuggets of information – and I will have to drill Hubby later to fill me in on all I missed. Later, Hubby tells me that Vincincio told him nothing of value – it was worthless information and told Hubby nothing of the area or what we were seeing. Vincincio was nothing more than a driver – he was not a guide. His job was to get us where we needed to be – but not tell us anything about it.

We finally arrive at Village #1, Riomaggiore, after driving down some pretty scary switchbacks on the side of a steep cliff. Vincincio explains that we are now on our own for a while. He helps us purchase train tickets and he then hands us a piece of paper where he has “mapped” out our itinerary for the day – giving us exactly how much time we are to spend in each village and giving us the exact time of the train that we are to catch at each village.

Before leaving to explore, Hubby has to use the restroom. There is a public restroom right by the Ticket Station, and Hubby comes back out with a strange look on his face, and calmly asks for the camera. I hand it over to him; he disappears back into the bathroom; and comes back out. Welcome to Europe.

Upon Vincinzio's advice, we explore Riomaggiore - -and then begin walking to Village #2, Manarola. The road from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Via Dell'Amore (roughly, "Lovers Walk") and varies in difficulty from an easy stroll to a rough and physically challenging hike. Along the way, we come across "Love Padlocks" - Love padlocks are a custom by which sweethearts affix padlocks to a fence or similar public fixture to symbolise their love.

Along our walk to Manarola, we see incredible coastline and stunning scenery.

We arrive in Manarola and admire the shops and the houses and the passageways and the “Italianess” of it all….(is that a word??!)

Manarola has a delightful little restaurant

that you could walk up to the counter and walk out with the most delicious focaccia.

And so that is what we did. Hubby and I got the pesto focaccia – and it was a 9.5 on my scale. It was to die for. Warm, gooey, cheesy, with just the right flavor of pesto. We came out with the bread & oil all over our face – no hiding it from anyone - and so the others in our group rushed in to get their own delightful focaccia. So much for having this guilty pleasure to oneself!

It is time to catch the train. We head to the station and go underground to punch in our ticket, and then wait on the platform.

The train comes speeding up and we all board and find seats – and we’re off – through dark tunnels – until we reach Village #3 – Corniglia. The ride takes all of about 3 minutes.

The train pulls into Corniglia station and we disembark, only to see a green bus where every other passenger from the train is now boarding. But why? Why would they get off a train only to board a bus? Should we board the bus, too? Does the bus cost anything? How much? Where is the bus going? What do they know that we don’t? Why doesn’t anyone in our group speak Italian? As we ponder these great mysteries of life, the bus departs….and leaves 8 confused American tourists standing there – realizing they are suddenly alone – and there is no sight of Corniglia. As we try to decipher this mystery, we see a sign – prominently lettered in Italian – but in smaller, English - stating that the only way to actually get to Corniglia from this point is to either take the FREE bus (which has now left us in its dust) or to take 386 steps – straight up the side of the cliff - or – walk straight up a long, long road that appears to be going uphill at about a 90 degree angle (I kid you not) and leads to who knows where. We all look at each other – realizing that although there may be 3 choices listed on the sign, OUR choices have now come down to two – either the steps or the road to nowhere.



We were only going to have 30 minutes in Corniglia anyway before we had to catch the next train to Village #4, Vernazza– and now having spent at least 10 minutes realizing the dire circumstances of our transportation issue – we make a group decision that we don’t have time now to do anything - other than to sit at the train station and wait for the next train.

And so that is what we did. We can say now that we visited Corniglia but never saw any of it. Wasn’t that fun?This is about all we saw of Corniglia. The road.

Don’t ask for pictures of Corniglia – we don’t have any – except some lovely pictures of the calf-killing, heart attack inducing 386 steps. Straight up. The Side of a cliff. That we opted not to take.

A little frustrated of our experiences in Corniglia, but feeling optimistic that we would not be fooled again, we eagerly boarded the train to Vernazza.

Our very informative driver, Vincincio, had told us that should plan on spending a little more time in this village, as well as the next one. This village was a delight – it had a small beach; cats everywhere; and a few more tourists than Corniglia.

Here's a photo of Vernazza from above - it's beautiful.

And we didn’t have to take a bus or a sidesplitting hike to get there. Oh, it was divine.

And – it had not one, not two, but at LEAST 3 gelato bars – oh, the dilemma of which one to choose! We settled on one and Hubby ordered a small cup of tiramisu. I ordered the chocolate, and the man behind the counter asks if I only want chocolate. And I stare at him in wonder….you mean, I could get more than one flavor in my cup???!! No one told me this! I have now died and gone to heaven! This is a photo of the man and his gelato bar who shared this revelation with me!!!

So – I see a delicious looking gelato that looks like butterscotch pudding (It really was pretty), and although I don’t recognize the Italian word for the flavor, it really is pretty…and so I order it, as well.

As we walk away, I take a bite of the pretty light-brown gelato – and recoil in horror.

It is cinnamon. I hate cinnamon. Argh. I wouldn’t even give it a 2. Hubby is an angel – he offers to let me eat half his tiramisu (I would give it a 5.2 – I’m not big on tiramisu), and he eats the dreaded cinnamon. I then eat the chocolate, but I have to be honest and say it only ranked a 5.7. It was too chocolately – it needed some orange or raspberry to break up the chocolate-ness of it all. Sigh. We’ll just have to keep on this quest to find the perfect 10.0 gelato. It’s hard to be scientific, but one has to do it in the sacrifice of research.

We still have a little more time before we have to catch the next train, so we explore the little shops….I find a delightful Italian perfume that smells like oranges (I must really have food on the brain all the time!) and I also find a lovely jewelry store where I purchase some hand-painted charms.

The train is almost due, so we all meet up at the station and hop the train for our last stop, Village #5, Monterosso.

This place is bigger than all of the previous villages and definitely more touristy. There is also a rather large beach.

We all take off to explore and see what there is to see – and Hubby and I find some beautiful, old churches that are open to the public. They were breath-taking beautiful on the inside. We take pictures and people-watch and poke into the shops. At one place, they have “cannoli” written on the menu board – OMG! I have to have REAL Italian cannoli. I eagerly rush inside and look for the cannoli in the window displays but don’t see it; I politely ask the woman behind the counter if they have any left, and she points to what looks like burnt, brown rolls stuffed with whipped cream. That does NOT look like the cannoli I get back home. Uh, no thanks. It was burnt….I don’t do burnt.

Eventually, Hubby and I walk back along the coast to meet Vincincio, and as we are the first of the 8 to arrive, Vincincio kindly points out a gelato bar 10 feet from where we are standing. Well, I don’t mind if I do. Research and all, you know. I step inside and decide to order mojito gelato….and I’m telling you, dear readers, that it gets a 9.3!!! Oh. My. God. It was sooooooo good. Very light – almost like a lime sorbet. Very clean and crisp on my palate. I would highly recommend it.

The others all arrive and we board the van for a very long ride back to Pisa. We get on the highway where Vincincio drives 140 kpm. I made a mental note to go back home and convert 140 kpm to miles per hour, because I didn’t know how fast it was, but I knew it was pretty darn fast. I thanked God that I was sitting in the back seat. But then I added a prayer for my Hubby who was sitting in the front seat; I thanked God that his life insurance was paid up because I was having serious doubts that we’d survive this trip.

We drove…and we drove…and we drove…and it was in the late afternoon…and it was sunny….and I had just had delicious gelato…and before I knew it – well, let’s just say, “How many Americans does it take to fall asleep in a speeding van through Italy?” Apparently, that answer would be 8. Thank God that the one and only Italian on board did not fall asleep as well, or we would be goners. Vincincio may not have been the best guide – and he may have had a lead foot – but he knew when it was important to stay awake. Bless him.

I don’t know how long any of us dozed, but we finally arrived at Pisa around 4:30 pm. Driving through Pisa was interesting – crowded, dirty, noisy – no fun. In fact, if Pisa didn’t have the tower, no one would ever visit it – trust me.

Anyway, we arrive at the tower – and we realize we aren’t alone. Huh. Apparently, every other tourist in a 200-mile radius has also decided to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa at the same exact time as we are! Who’d of thunk it? Didn’t these dear barbarians know that they were to be gone already and we were to have exclusive rights to the tower???!!! Oh well….

Vincincio gives us 15 minutes to go take photos – so we plunge into the masses of people (see the photos below if you don’t believe me) and we took the obligatory photos – including the photo of your loved one trying to “hold up” the tower so it doesn’t fall down.

I looked around on the grassy lawn and it looked like one giant Tai Chi class going on – I thought it was pretty funny – so I took a photo of the people taking photos of the people holding up the tower.

Maybe you had to be there, but it really was pretty funny.

We hop back on the van and it is now time to head back to the ship – we arrive back in the beautiful port of Livorno (sarcasm, dear readers) at 5:30 pm and get there right when 3 giant tour buses pull up, dispensing like Pez candy all of the barbarians on board. Yikes – we hurry and pay Vincincio and rush over to beat the people in line to get on board.

We actually now have almost an hour before dinner – amazing! – and so we clean up and then head over to the Concierge Lounge. My favorite bartender in the world prepares a Screwdriver for me, while Hubby gets his favorite red wine, and we partake in some delicious appetizers (crab cakes, grilled shrimp, quiche, candies, cookies, and so much more). We sit and mingle with others in the Lounge, hearing stories of people who actually climbed the Tower (no guardrails – and slippery marble steps. That is not a good combination in my clumsy world.)

Eventually, it is 7:00 pm and time to head down to the Minstrel Dining Room where our favorite tablemates and our favorite servers await. Tonight is “Italian” night, and so I have minestrone soup to begin with (very good – I could have just slurped the soup all night long) and then I have the Tiger grilled shrimp with rice for my main course. (again, very good – and Dejan was kind enough of de-skin my shrimp). During the course of dinner, the wait staff did a song and dance through the Dining Room where they serenaded us with their version of “Oh Solo Mia”. How fun. For dessert, I could not make up my mind – the warm, molten chocolate cake looked so good – but so did the raspberry gelatin….oh, the dilemma! I finally went with the Raspberry, and when Dejan brought out the desserts, he brought me a Raspberry Dessert – AND a chocolate cake – AND another raspberry dessert! I have heard of 2 desserts – but I now had 3 desserts sitting in front of me…this after a day of sampling 4 different gelatos. This cruise is going to kill me yet.

Our table always has a great time – and tonight was no different. We regaled each other with stories of our day, and our plans for tomorrow, and then we talked football, as I sat next to a 15-year old who roots for a team that I DON’T root for, so I had to give him grief. Very nice dinner.

When dinner was over, we headed over to the counter to tell Erhan that we wanted the same bat channel, same bat time for tomorrow night – but there is no Erhan. I see him talking it up at a table with 3 very lovely young ladies. Ehran sees me and I give him a knowing smile. When he walks over to the counter, I say, “Oh, Erhan – flirting?!” And he says, “I prefer to call it Guest Relations.” Loved it. Here's Erhan:

After dinner, I went to the Spa so I could sit in the Thermal Suite and heat the leg muscles up a bit – while Hubby walked the outside track. It is a beautiful evening – perfect temperature; no wind; calm seas. At about 9:45, I change into my gym clothes and join him – where we did about 15 laps around the track – at a pretty good pace – as I had noticed that my gym shorts were a little snug this evening. Hmmmm….wonder why that is? I don’t get it.

We did not go to the show tonight. It was supposed to be Andy Leach, a magician - who had two shows, one at 7:15 pm and another at 9:00 pm. I never heard if he was good or bad. Sorry.

We come back to the room and settle in. Tomorrow is Laundry Day – oh joy – so we’ll finally get some clean underwear. I gather up socks and underwear and t-shirts to stuff in a bag left for us by Alston – all you can wash for $25. Tomorrow is also my birthday. It will be so exciting to spend my birthday while in Rome….and while in Rome, we plan on doing what the Romans do. Including eating some spaghetti – and gelato, of course.

Tonight was 80's Night in the Disco - from 11:00 pm until 1:00 am - but we're too tired. We're getting old, obviously.

Still no sign of the “the Phantom” Alston, our cabin attendant. He has been in to turn down the room – and we have chocolates – but no towel animal. It will be interesting now to see how many days it will take before he shows his face and actually introduces himself to us.

Tomorrow: Rome