August 6th, 2007 - Relaxing in Riomaggiore

2:00 pm – sitting on the rocks in the shade at the beach

We have taken the morning off to relax. We slept in and pretty much did nothing. I went and got some figs (and fruit) for breakfast … yum yum, I’ll never get tired of them.

We got lunch at a little hole in the wall place and brought it to the marina and sat down in the shade to eat it (yes, everything is done in the shade because Fluffy burns very easily. I don’t tan or darken, I just deep fry. Anyways, we got anchovy pizza, some fried fish balls, fried potato cakes, stuffed mussels, and some spinach cantalonie. It was all very tasty! I very much enjoyed the fried stuff because I have had nothing fried (outside of a few of Brigette’s fries a few days ago) for 2 weeks now. It was yummy and salty. The potatoes were like a fried potato paste. The middle was stilly mushy; different but good. The fish balls were like hush puppies except a bit more solid and rubbery on the inside. Again, different but good (and salty). I think all the hiking and sweating makes me crave salt more… The stuffed mussels were not bad and the cantalonie wa ok as well. All in all, lots of food for only 16 euros (~$20).

So like I said, we are now sitting on the far side of the beach where the cliffs give us some shade. Well, technically I guess it’s a beach but there is no sand. Just get a picture of a beach in your mind and replace all the sand with big river rocks and cliffs in the background and a really nice dark dark blue ocean and that’s where we are. Very nice. Almost perfect if not for the band of wandering gypsy drummers practicing around us. No really. They have their practice drums out and are going to town. But they are not that good. The two chicks who are making the most noise are not real together. Mr. Taylor (drum line director from high school) would be yelling at them.

Well, that’s it for now. We are just relaxing and writing. I don’t know of our plans for the next few days… we have 1 more full day in Chinque Terre. But there are 3 days worth of activities we want to do. I want to hike all 5 towns (its about 5 miles from beginning to end), kayak for a day, and snorkel for a day. I guess we could kayak and snorkel one day, hike another and stay one more night… maybe… depends on the schedule.

OH. I have not described the town we are in. We are in Riomaggiore, the first of the Chinque Terre (= 5 lands in Italian) towns. It’s a nice little down. 1 main drag down to the marina. Lots of little pizza shops and a few little fruit stands. And man oh man is it not Texas here! They build up. Then up some more. Then still up more. When we got here last night and went to get a room, the lady indicated us to follow her. Yah, it took longer to get to the room than to get to the office from the train station. We wandered through the back streets for a full 3 minutes before we got to the room. And it was like 4 or 5 different turns and nooks and crannies… geez. I counted this morning and it is 150 steps from the street to our room. No fat people around here. You climb so much. And our room isn’t even at the top. There are places above ours!

The room we are staying in is nice. It’s small and white. A bed, small fridge, toilet and, for the first time this trip, a tub (although having a tub does no good when the hot water doesn’t last long enough to fill more than 2 inches). Yes, that is it. No sink. You have to do everyting with water from the tub. It works, and it was only 45 E. so a pretty good price.

Well, back to relaxing. We will be home in a little more than a week. We look forward to seeing you all then.