Sometimes rules have to be broken and this includes the one for our number of day-trips per week. We settled into La Spezia without problems. We’re staying in a blue-collar neighborhood in a pleasant, bright, ground-level apartment with a yard and nice-enough patio. However, all that is more or less lost on us as we’ve been swept away by the surroundings. Perhaps it’s because it’s been a while since we stayed by the sea (Alghero, really, on Sardinia), but we have a renewed appetite and vigor for making day trips. In La Spezia we made no less than four, i.e. double our recommended weekly allotment.
After our epic Cinque Terre hike, we dialed back the level of physical effort and went on three more mini excursions in as many days. In order, we went to:
- San Teranzo and Lerici
- Portovenere
- Levanto and Monterosso al mare (yes, again)
Equipped with a number of the Number 03 bus tickets (they are numbered by the rough distance you’re allowed to travel on them) that we had procured in our friendly neighborhood Tabacchi shop, prompting envious glances to be sent our way from fellow travelers who had not been armed with this information prior to going, we set off to San Teranzo. It’s about 30 mins by bus south along the main coast of Italy which from La Spezia means that you have to travel through the industrial harbour. Bari, anyone? Anyone? Let’s just say we weren’t about to get off the bus anywhere around there. The walk along the seawall from San Teranzo to Lerici was nice enough, but the real reward for us half-amphibians, was a swim in the now properly warmed up Mediterranean. Swimming nearer the Lerici pleasure craft marina and away from the beaches between San Teranzo and Lerici not only saved a few euros, spared us the suffocating crowds (shouldn’t people be working mid-week, keep the economy going and all that?), we also got water that was substantially clearer. The experience got even more colorful and not entirely comfortable during the ride back when we sat in the back and ended up in the middle of a rousing gaggle of hoodlums that blasted Italian rap while probably contemplating what to do with our bodies. If only I had been more diligent with my Italian lessons – it would have been good to know.
The next day we ventured out along the other coast in the La Spezia inlet instead; towards a small town whose median tax bracket is likely a touch higher. We deliberately visited the B-sides to Cinque Terre and therefore expected smaller crowds but Portovenere is a very poorly kept secret. The crowds almost rivaled those of the five, better known towns. We were still undecided as to whether we were going to take a small ferry (power boat) to the island of Palmaria and hike around that when we found it. What is it? Well, it’s a swimming hole in a tiny rocky bay beneath the Chiesa di San Pietro named after none other than Lord Byron himself, who according to lore was a formidable swimmer having swum from Portovenere to Lerici, a feat that surely dwarfs our transit adventures of the day previous. Well, after finding this little piece of crystal clear swimming and duck-diving heaven, Palmaria instantly became an afterthought so much so that we after lunch went back. My only regret is not having a waterproof case for my phone as I wasn’t able to take any pictures of a shallow cave along the coast that I swam to. What made the cave spectacular was the reflection of the blue water off the sandy bottom (probably around 6-8m below). Nature put on a mesmerizing light show for those of us who bothered with the 150m swim through gentle surge.
On our last full day in La Spezia, we went back on the Cinque Terre Express, i.e. the Trenitalia regional that herds the tourist cattle. Instead of getting off at any of the five towns, we remained in our seats and watched the crowds thin out to almost nobody by the time we reached the stop after Monterosso al mare known as Levanto, with the emphasis oddly on the ‘e.’ We went there because apparently we hadn’t punished our trekking shoes enough but thought it appropriate to brave the 2.5-3 hour coastal hike from Levanto to Monterosso. After 10 minutes of feebly trying to determine where the trail head was, we went to the Tourism Info who effortlessly sketched the path through town that would take us there. Turns out that the path starts from the seawall with signs so obvious the Corsicans from across the straight could figure it out without leaving the comfort of their island. Oh well. In places, the path slanted towards a sheer drop-off that disconcerted a member of our crew, but nothing that we couldn’t get through. All in all, it’s a casual 2.5h hike with modest elevation gain – according the FitBit we climbed the equivalent of 150 floors and put a total of 20,000 steps behind us. I.e. the hike is longer than any one segment between the five, but since we were only doing one and knew there would be a swim waiting for us in Monterosso, it did not feel like a strenuous hike. Plus we had wood-fired oven pizza and a liter of the house white so go our just reward for our efforts.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Genoa, our last stop in Italy.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” src=”http://[2600:1f13:e3b:9100:ae18:b451:18d2:e990]/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IMG_20170531_151358.jpg” /][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]One has to appreciate when beer is served with nibblies as they were here at a sea-side bar in Lerici.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” src=”http://[2600:1f13:e3b:9100:ae18:b451:18d2:e990]/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IMG_20170601_120323.jpg” /][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]An intimate affair with us, Lord Byron’s ghost and some thirty other people.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” src=”http://[2600:1f13:e3b:9100:ae18:b451:18d2:e990]/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IMG_20170602_121616.jpg” /][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]“Yes, it’s too bad. You could warn them. If only you spoke Hovito.” – Belloq
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