A Chink Of Terror

I am sure that this post may upset a few Cinque Terre Fans, but I think we were very unlucky with our experience today. I sure that if Lesley's knees could have taken it, the walks would have been brilliant, but that was not the case.

So, we are 54 days into our trip and today is the first day it has gone wrong, hopefully, it is the last!

Today was our day to explore the villages of Cinque Terre!

It all started out well. We got up, had a great breakfast at our hotel, and then made our way to La Spezie Centrale Stazione.

We purchased our two Cinque Terre Cards for 20 Euros that gave us unlimited use of the trains and local buses along Cinque Terre.

Within a very short time the platform was full of other people heading into Cinque Terre. Then the train pulled in, the nearly full train that is. The best we could manage was standing as the train was quite full, but we only had a 7 minute trip so we could put up with that.

The first stop was Riomaggiore. When the train stopped and the doors opened you had to watch your step, if you tripped you would certainly get trampled to death. We moved to one side and took a seat, and waited for the crowd to subside.

After a few minutes we were on our way down into the town. Lesley was already struggling with very sore knees and the going up and down stairs was not helping. Plus these crowds were challenging the big crowds we had come across in Venice...people were arriving in this little village by train, bus, boat, car, and trekking..... I would not have been surprised if we saw someone on a camel!! It seemed like half of the world was trying to cram into this little village all at once.

Riomaggiore's Cute Little Harbour

Looking Up Into Riomaggiore

Oh No, More People Coming In By Boat

Lesley In Riomaggiore

We had a bit of a look around, but really there is not a lot to see once you have taken the few standard photos that everyone must take when they come here. Every eating place looked like someone was out the back defrosting the same old pizzas as everyone else.....Where was the fresh seafood?....quite disappointing really.

We decided, "Hey, we have seen what we came to see, let's move on".

So we made our way back to the station. Within no time at all it looked like a few hundred other people had the same idea, and this number increased with every passing minute.

The Waiting Crowd Just Kept Getting Bigger

Then the train pulled in, it was bulging to over capacity. A few people got off, lucky we were in front of a door and were able to get on but had to stand in the entry. However, the hoards of people behind us also decided to get on..things got very ugly, people were screaming and shouting, all I was concerned with was to protect Lesley...this was getting stupid and dangerous. They tried closing the doors many times, but each time they tried to close them they would hit somebody and would reopen, allowing more idiots to try and force their way in........this was beyond a joke and was not an enjoyable holiday anymore, people were turning into animals!

After 10 minutes we pulled put of the station, and 5 minutes later we pulled into Manarola. We did the same trick as before...got off, stepped to a side, sat down and waited. While sitting we watched even more people from this station trying to push and shove their way onto an already dangerously overcrowded train. You could hear women screaming as they were getting crushed inside the train...this is insane!!

We decided we had had enough! We would have a look around Manarola and then catch the next train back to La Spezia as we were not enjoying ourselves at all.

Again, we went around the village getting all of the standard photos. Again, there is not a great deal to do here anyway, there are a few tourist trinket shops, the old faithful Pizza places, but not a lot else. Look the scenery was incredible, but was hard to enjoy with so many people pushing and shoving, and we were dreading getting back on a train.....the trouble was, even if we decided to jump on a boat instead they were not much better!

The Lovely Waters Of Manarola

The View From The Walkway Back To Manarola

Looking Across To Corniglia, The Next Town...Not This Time.

So after a short while we were back in the station with the ever present hundreds waiting to continue their journey, but this time we were heading in the other direction. Then an announcement came over the speaker informing everyone that the next train going further into Cinque Terre had been cancelled...I was not surprised, the poor rail staff looked like they had had enough. Now the next train was not due for over an hour and a half, boy is it going to get bad later on today!

Our train pulled in and it was full, a few people got off, and a few got on, at least we got seats this time! When we made our way through Riomaggiore the platform for the other direction was full, and I mean very full of people waiting for the next train that was due in about an hour to head into Cinque Terre....good luck!

Within 15 minutes or so we were back in the safety of La Spezia.

Look Cinque Terre may be a nice place to visit, but NOT in August, every means of transport is over crowded and dangerous...it does not make for a nice holiday. So if you are coming here make sure it is NOT in August...or the European Summer Holidays, or....... look play it safe, come in winter!

We managed to rescue the day by going down to the harbour in La Spezia and having a very pleasant afternoon.

Last night, when eating our ice cream down near the harbour we had noticed very large queues waiting outside of a little seafood restaurant...it was now lunch time (late lunch) and the queues were quite small...so we joined it.

Very Popular With The Local's.

They had an amazing variety of very fresh seafood dishes on the menu, it was great. We went mad and ordered Marinated Anchovies, Lightly Fried Seafood, Octopus and Potato Salad, Seafood Parmigiana, beer, wine, bread, and bottle of water all for just 37 Euros......and it was fantastic. If you ever get to La Spezia check out Dai Pescatori Restaurant down near the harbour it is great value and the seafood is so fresh!

So our long held dreams of Cinque Terre had been dashed a bit, but maybe we can get back there another time when it is quieter and we can appreciate the beauty we had so much wanted to see.

 

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