Travel Diary 15

Travel Diary 15

The trip to La Spezia was quick and uneventual. Drove uphill half the way through a pretty, timbered valley dotted with occasional houses tucked away amongst trees on the hillsides. It’s unusual seeing bush land without any eucalypts anywhere and I am unfamiliar with the various varities of trees. Must admit though they are good to see as they are all different shades of green making a colourful and pleasant view.

The higher we went over this range, we passed through more and more tunnels and across viaducts. Sometimes the wind got up and that can make for hairy driving when crossing the viaducts. One is travelling along nicely at around the 110 – 120kph mark and not a care in the world and then along comes a viaduct and you have no idea whether the wind is whistling up the valley or not or how strong it is and if it is going to blow you off course a bit! That is a bit unsettling, as all of sudden you can find yourself having to steer into the wind to stay straight and then if it eases off quickly correct the steering so you don’t drive into the guard railing or a car overtaking you! Having sloppy steering on the van doesn’t help either!

Once we reached the top of the range about 1800m above sea level, it was all downhill, literally. Speed signs posted every few hundred meters now read 100kph maximum instead of 130kph. Trucks told to slow down to 80 instead of 100kph. Not a flat section or even a slight rise for about 45 minutes of driving.

At the end we found ourselves at sea level again and coming into La Spezia.

La Spezia is an old port. Originally built by fishermen and then used as a naval boat yard by the Florentines when attacking Genova on and off over a few hundred years. It is not much to write home about and is signifcant because it still acts as the ideal spot for the Italian Navy which we happened to see sail out of the harbour for about 1km then back again. Just a quick practice in turning around I suspect. They have 8 ships I counted. Hopefully they have more elsewhere!

The town is also known as the take off point for Cinqua Terra or “Five Lands”. These are rather spectacular villages perched on the Coast line where the cliffs do not drop straight into the sea. There are five of them and they were originally settled by the Genovese and used as bases to thwart the Florentines when sailing towards Genova to give them a bit of a touch up. Something I was told by a Guide that was a fairly frequent occurrence in the middle ages, not having mobile phones and computers to keep them occupied!

The first port of call on the ferry is a place called Portovenere. This is probably the most photographed and recognisable village in the region. Mainly because of the painted homes along the waterfront. We joined the rest of the tourists on deck and snapped away with our camera and ipad. It was while doing this that I noticed the yacht and girls sunbaking on the front of the boat and of course they needed photographing as well. 

The houses are all bright and painted using four different colours. Very spectaclar sight. But, it is not part of the five Cinqua Terra villages, even though it is used to advertise Cinqua Terra. Guess we’re in Italy!

We stayed on the boat admiring the scenery and coastline on the one and three quarter hour trip. We called into every village and each one has a train station, a church and two or three of them even have a walking track between them. The train, apart from the stations, drives through nothing but tunnels.  In terms of sightseeing, we got the better end of the bargain being in the ferry.

All along the Coastline we could terraced hillsides with crops growing. Grape vines are the most popular and the local wine is a dry white which we eventually tried later at lunch. Smaller patches support vegetables and olive trees. Vertical paths provide access to these and small houses consisting of one or two rooms are scattered here and there, perched on ridges and rocky outcrops. Landslides are common with shale falling straight into the ocean below, leaving scars and rocks and the odd busted olive tree scattered on the shoreline.

There are only a few places where boats could land and where they exist people have built what I can only believe are fishing shacks. Small, propped up by driftwood and half hidden by large boulders to give them some protection from the storms I imagine they experience from time to time. It’s a wonder any of them survive.

Later I found out that these small shacks are only used at harvest time for a week or so and then abandoned until planting season rolls around when they are occupied for another week or two. That makes sense as I could see no roads in or out and it would take hours of careful climbing and trecking like a mountaineer to reach these places.

The villages themselves are small. Maybe 100-150 houses surrounded by narrow lanes only reachable from the outside world by train, boat and a couple by road. Some are built close to the ocean and any half decent storm wave would certainly send its spray all over them after crashing into the rocks. In a couple of places, steps carved out of the rocks lead down to the jetty or rock landing place which is accessed by the boat gliding gently towards and only the prow of the boat touching. Others have formal beakwaters and piers so a side on mooring is possible.

What makes people live here? Work would be at a minimum and only tourism would provide any income from a restaurant or shop selling nick knacks and a massive range of tourist stuff like tea towels, key rings, pocket knives, place mats, T-shirts, kids toys, local made jewellery, plaster of paris models and so on. Guess most of them go to work at either Genova or La Spezia for the day and return at night time. And to think the first people moved here in the mid 1400’s!

The last village is called Monterosso and we disembarked, walked along the jetty 100 meters to the town proper. This consists of a rail bridge across the front of the town dividing the two small plazas and shops from the stone beach. There is a small hotel here and it has a sectioned off area of the beach covered in umbrellas and sun lounges. It would be impossible to lie on the beach and people occupied about one third of them sunbaking while a waiter dashed around delivering drinks and nibbles on a tray. We wandered around and apart from shops and restaurants there really isn’t anything to see. So we had a beer and then walked around non touristy parts of the town.

I saw a guy wearing an Indoor basketball singlet with Golden State Warriors printed on it. I smiled and said “Great team! How are they doing so far in the finals?”

“Fantastic! Two nil up” he replied in a distinctly Aussie accent! You couldn’t make it up if you tried!

This mand, his wife and their two year old biy are from the Sunshine Coast and have taken a year off to travel around Europe. Living here and there as the fancy takes them. Currently in Monterosso of all places in a small two room villa. Next week going by train to Venice! Brilliant … I love it! We chatted for about 20 minutes, told each other how magic Steff Curry is and then left. That’s one for the books!

A few minutes later we worked ot we had an hour left before we needed to catch the boat back and so lunch better be had. But what and where? The Aussie guy had said we had to try the mixed fish soup as it was absolutely the best. So after visiting about 7 or 8 places we found one right in the square that sold “Mixed Fish Soup”. No body sitting here while the other restaurants were all full. Couldn’t see anything wrong with this place so thought we’d start a trend and sat down. We ordered sthe soup, got served some water, some bread in a paper bag, (don’t ask, I don’t know), a litre of wine when we only wanted a half litre and which we got fixed up as it was “No problemo!” and waited. Another couple sat down and got served as well. Poor waiter was rn off his feet by now and when the next lot of customers sat down (there were 6 of them) he had to get some help from inside!

Finally or fish soup arrived and with the first taste, Kerrie and I were in heaven. This, without doubt, was the best soup I have ever tried. The Aussie guy was just understating it when he said this was absolutely the best. There were really no fish pieces just shell fish and baby octopus, minature muscles, pieces of squid and baby clams. But the sauce it was all cooked in … I cannot descibe it. But it is worth the 30 euro boat trip just for a meal of this! I kid you not! If I came to this every night I would never sick of it. This was up there with the fish meal the Frenchman had cooked for us in France and that was rather special!

As we savoured every mouthful, two elderly couples came up and were looking at the menu on a board beside our table. As one does when checking outu a restaurant, you look around at what people are eating to try and get a feel for what the fare is like. If it looks good, you move inside. Well one of these ladies was checkikng out my soup and I said to her “You just have to try this mixed soupl”

We chatted for a few seconds, then I offered her a taste on a clean spoon which she took and the look on her face said it all. Talk about impressed! So in they came. I looked at Kerrie and said “We should be on commission here!”

These two couples were Welsh and I was wearing my All Black T-Shirt and so of course the conversation turned to rugby and the great historical games played between our respective countries. Famous names were mentioned and qite a few “Do you remember that game when so and so scored that try?” We all remembered except Kerrie who doesn’t have rugby history down pat yet having been bought up on a diet of Aussie rules in Adelaide. But she smiled at the fun we were all having. Eventually I turned around to finsh off my meal while they ordered.

Can you believe it? They all ordered fish and chips! I was dumbfounded! Talk about adventurous!

The trip back was fairly uneventual except for the local timetable being different to what really goes on. However, we survived. I dozed most of the way and after busing it back to the campsite we called it a day.

The camp site is run by volunteers from the local Ambulance Services and has had little money spent on it. No services and only a few sites with electricity. But it is the only one in La Spezia and the only one for about two hours drive. So it is very popular, but don’t expect too much if you are ever there. Ohh and the address is not the one listed on the website! It is around the corner in a separate road, but near the street they advertise! (Yep … only in Italy).