2023 Italy Day 09

By travelerdon on April 19, 2023

La Spezia & Cinque Terre, Wed, Mar 29

Today we sleep in a bit because we are staying in La Spezia another night. Actually, we are in Fezzano for another night at the Marina Del Fezzano. We wake at 9AM. I take a short walk out into the marina for some morning photos and my camera cheers! I also walk into the village and find a prospective restaurant for breakfast. When I arrive back at our bungalow, I inform Elee that I have found breakfast for us. We leave the room shortly and get coffees and cappuccinos at Caffe Luigi along with some delicious savory pastries.

When we are finished, we get our cameras and bundle up for the day as it looks like rain. I even put on thermals and am glad I packed them! We head off in search of the boat ferry in Porto Veneri. We locate it and try to park but alas, the pay machine won’t work for us. So we find other parking and head for the ferry but because I get a bit lost (Elee does not) and we miss the early ferry.

All things happen for a reason and we spend a couple hours in Porto Veneri and find the old town with a church that is at lease 1000 years old. Quite the photogenic town and my camera agrees! So we walk around and end up at a local seaside restaurant for a glass of wine and some lunch consisting of Minestrone Soup and “Stuffed Mussels” which were a real treat! Never had them ‘stuffed’ before. Quite good! We also chat with another couple at the table next to us that are fun to talk to!

So then we make it to the ferry for the 2:50 ferry and it is quite the sea ride. It is rainy and stormy and the seas are strong! Grab every handhold you can on the boat! But Elee and I HAVE to take photos so we need to move around! Grab on and hang tight!

The coast of Italy in this area is quite stunning and our cameras are thrilled we took them along, even in the rain! Our cameras are professional grade and can withstand the water! I will have them cleaned professionally this summer with my Canon Pro Account and all will be well! Meantime, they work hard for us!

We want to visit the Village of Manerolo but we are told the ferry can no longer dock there due to maintenance issues. So we get off in Vernazza instead and ride the train back to Manerolo. Quite the picturesque place like all of them! So now we have to figure out how to get back to the ferry for our ride home! We are briefly worried for the timetables don’t align for our ferry ride (last ferry of the day), but then I look at the train and ferry schedules and see that if we grab a train to Riomaggiore, then we can make the time work. But the ironic thing is that when we visited there yesterday, Elee couldn’t climb the steps to get the post card shot. And that is exactly where we have to go to get to the ferry!

So, Elee being the trooper she always is, we make the climb and she gets the post card shot, albeit in the ran and fog. We make it to the ferry with several minutes to spare! The ferry is almost empty for the last ride of the day and we figure that people are tired of the weather! We chat amicably with a chap from the UK and the time passes on the ride back.

This is how restaurants tell you they are closed! LOL

My hats off to the pilot of the ferry as it is amazing to me how they hold the boat within 15 feet of the rocks with the seas tossing them about in ALL directions! And the gangplank stays where it should be! We questioned the pilot when things were calm and congratulated him on a job well done! He shrugged it off and told us that is his favorite part of the job and what he loves most!

So we make it back to Porto Veneri and all is well! Cameras are satiated and satisfied, not to speak of wet! But they will survive! We find our car and program my phone’s GPS and find our way back to our bungalow to kick back and get this Blog typed! Photos are in the computer and we will post later!

We have a towel heater in the bathroom (a common appliance in Europe) and we put it to good use drying our jackets and sweaters!

Time to call it a night. See you all in the morning!