It was POURING rain when we woke up, but luckily it stopped before we left for the day. We took the 10am train to Levanto, the first town north of Cinque Terre. We wandered around the town and walked on a rails-to-trails pedestrian/bike trail north from the town. The tunnels reminded us of the Elroy-Sparta bike trail in Wisconsin. We then took the train to Monterosso and grabbed some lunch at the train station. I had to use the bathroom, so I went to the train station bathroom to find ... a squat toilet. Great. Never used one before, but I guess there's a first time for everything ...
We looked around Monterosso and visited the old castle converted into a cemetery. We then decided to walk to Vernazza, the next town over. It started with this big stair climb out of town.
Maybe 15 minutes out of town, we took a wrong turn here and ended up on a "trail" that eventually involved crawling around on hands and knees to avoid slipping off the side of the trail. After it started getting nastier, Ken wisely suggested we turn around. We then ran into another American couple who figured out that we had taken the wrong turn. After the stairs, we should have turned left instead of going right.
We made the rest of the walk (about 2.5 hours including our detour) successfully. I was very proud of Ken for doing it even though the trail was often very narrow with steep drop-offs. There was also a section that was washed out where you had to go sideways across some boards while holding onto the cliff for balance.
When we got to Vernazza, we saw these signs that said "trail closed". Uh, where were those signs in Monterosso??
We got some gelato in Vernazza and saw we had 1 hour until the next train. We sat a while at the harbor, and then it started raining again. We walked around the town some more, then sat at the train station for about 20 minutes. We got some lasagna at a "take-away" restaurant and ate at the apartment when we got back. It was OK but not worth going back. We hung up all of our wet clothes around the apartment and took it easy for the night.
After breakfast, I decided to buy some time at the local internet cafe (at the tourist info office) and check e-mail, update blog posts, and check the train schedules for tomorrow (does it really take almost 6 hours to get from Cinque Terre to Nice on the train??). So, I go to the internet cafe and ask for 30 minutes. The cashier tries a couple things and tells me it's not working. I stay there for 10-15 minutes, and she finally tells me that they have to call someone and I should come back in 30-60 minutes. Great. It somehow seems very Italian that the only internet cafe in town is not working. I fetch Ken at the apartment, and we decided to walk on the path south of town. Except it's closed before we get very far, so then I go back to the internet cafe. She tells me that it's still not working, maybe tomorrow ... but then as I'm leaving she's telling her coworker that the Wi-Fi is working. That's all I need! It turns out that they have 2 systems, rent-a-computer and Wi-Fi, and they only have the rent-a-computer on the pricelist, so that's apparently what I asked for. Problem solved.
Ken and I get pizza at the local restaurant (really good), and then we walk from Riomaggiore to the next town over, Manarola, on the Via dell'Amore. It was the first footpath connecting the towns, and it's where lovers from different towns would meet. We walked around Manarola, including the town and some of the terraces above it. We would have walked to the next town, but it was closed due to landslides. In fact, the only officially-open trail is the Via dell'Amore that we just took. We decided instead to take the train to the next town, Corniglia, and walk around there before going home. The sign at Corniglia says, "365 steps up" with an arrow pointing left, so we take the steps next to the sign. No, they lead towards somebody's house, and the owner chases us away. We end up walking up the road. Corniglia is a nice little town, and it feels a lot more self-sufficient than the others (maybe because it's a lot less touristy?). We had some great views of the seaside. We went to dinner at the one open restaurant in Riomaggiore. We had forgotten it was Valentine's Day until we saw the special menu! Julie had these great clams for an appetizer and Tegame alla Vernazza (a local specialty — fresh anchovies and potatoes), and Ken had fish in the Ligurian style (not sure which kind of fish or what "Ligurian style" meant, but it was good).
Check-out time at the apartment is 10am, so we get up, eat breakfast, and get ready to leave. We drop the key and payment in to the door (they don't staff it during the winter), and wander around Riomaggiore with our luggage. Unfortunately, it's drizzling, which dampens our enthusiasm for being outside. We walk up the hill to find the only parking area in town, the castle, and the cathedral. At 11:30, we attempt to go to lunch at the same place as yesterday, but unfortunately they don't open until 12:00, and our train is at 1:00 with at least a 10-minute walk to the train station. Instead, we walk to the train station where we find another restaurant that opens at noon. We validate the tickets, wait until noon, and then sit down. Unfortunately, the food is more expensive and not as good as the previous day, but oh well.
We have no trouble getting onto the train at 1pm. Unfortunately, we are on the train 4.5 hours until Ventimiglia. It was kind of a long ride. It's a regional train that stops at many of the towns along the route, but it's really the only way from Cinque Terre to France. In Ventimiglia, we have 15 minutes for a bathroom break and to find the train to Nice. We get to Nice around 6:30pm and accidentally walk the wrong way out of the train station. After we figure this out 5-10 minutes later, we don't have too much trouble finding the hotel. We decide to try one of the restaurants in the Rick Steves book for dinner, but when we can't find it, we start wandering around. About 30 minutes after leaving the hotel, we see this restaurant that looks ok and sit down. It's the restaurant we had been looking for! We got cassoulet (almost like pot roast simmered in white beans), which was really good.