Stepping back

At first, Chel thought I was taking her to the hood.

Thankfully, she didn’t judge a country by its trains.

Our six-hour journey from Cannes to Cinque Terre, Italy required switching to three different trains, and each got progressively worse. As you might expect, the double-decker train we started on in Cannes was quite clean and modern, complete with power outlets at each seat to charge your portable electronic devices.

By the time we jumped on the final train that would take us to Manarola, the windows barely opened to get some air circulating, and graffiti lined the outside and inside of the cabin.

Once we got to Manarola at about 10pm, we stepped off the train, rolled our bags to the main street and heard…nothing. Not a sound but the occasional breeze off the Mediterranean.

You see, the towns of the Cinque Terre are largely off-limits to cars, except for the very rare delivery truck, taxi or a set of buses that are permitted to drive through. The residents park in special lots at the edge of the towns and walk. As a result, sweet, sweet silence is the sound most often heard. Particularly in Manarola, which is the sleepiest of the towns and practically shuts down by sundown.

There happened to be one of the aforementioned green buses parked on the main street, so we asked him where our hotel was. “I can take you,” he said, “But it’s only about 200 meters that way so I bet you can make it.”

200 meters? No sweat! Although, we failed to realize that it was 200 meters at basically a 45-degree incline. While rolling our bags behind us.

When we finally got to the La Torretta hotel, the host Gabrele welcomed us with a much needed cold towel and glass of champagne. He helped us navigate the steps down to our suite and get us settled in. While we couldn’t tell at night because most of the lights in the town were off, our room had a great view of the sea and of Manarola.

The next day, we took the ferry to Monterrosso, the first of the villages and the only one with a large beach. After a wonderful lunch of pesto pasta and swordfish, Chel caught some rays at the beach and I found a couple of worthy gelato shops. Dinner that night was back in Manarola and was one of the best meals of our trip.

Thursday, Chel started out at the local swimming hole down by the ocean while I took my customary one-day-on, one-day-off pass from the sun. Thankfully, Gabriele had told us that jellyfish were more frequent this time of year, so Chelsea has kept a watchful eye and avoided being stung.

After a lunch of pizza and gelato, we decided to venture off to the other towns to search for a painting that would help us remember Cinque Terre. In Vernazza, we met an artist named Dragan who did some beautiful work. We also discovered that Vernazza has a nice little beach area, so we’re headed back there today and will meet Dragan to look at some of his larger paintings.

Our visit to Cinque Terre has been a wonderful change of pace from Nice and Cannes. To be in a place with almost no cars, with hilltop vineyards on your right and the ocean on your left is like stepping back a few generations.

It’s still at the top of my list of favorite places in the world, and now it has taken its place atop Chelsea’s list. I’m so thankful we were able to come here together, and also glad that Chelsea chose not to judge a place by its trains.