Day 9 - Travel Day - Riomaggiore to Milan to Athens

Day 9 was a big travel day for us. Luckily we did some packing prep the night before so the morning of our departure from Riomaggiore wasn't as hectic as it could have been. 

We woke up and finalized the last pieces of our luggage and ate the last bits of food from our fridge. I'm glad we bought that pizza for the morning and for our travels. Our hotel host offers assistance with luggage from the hotel to the train station, so we waited for our helper to arrive. (Link to our hotel, Creuza de Ma)

When our helper showed up I hoisted my 50 lb suitcase on my shoulder and followed him down our hotel stairs as he carried Deanna's suitcase. We wound our way down the path and into the marina. We bobbed and weaved our way back up the hill into the town hallways for the last time and onward through the "underwater" tunnel. We finally emerged on the other side of the mountain at the Riomaggiore train station. I gave him a little thank you and we took our place on a bench waiting for our train. 

It was already pretty hot out at 10am, so we were glad to see the train show up with out too long of a wait. We jumped on and found a corner to stand in by the stairs and entryway. La Spezia was just the next stop away, so it was only about a 5 minute train ride. 

When we arrived at La Spezia station we hopped off and started walking through the thick crowds at the station. People were congregated in large tour groups and it was difficult to get to the exit. It was quite frustrating, but we eventually popped out the other side into the town of La Spezia. The goal here was to pick up a rental car that I had reserved online. The rental car place was only a few blocks away so rather than get a ride I decided we'd walk. We began rolling our luggage along the sidewalks and down into the main promenade of the town. This area was really cute. It was full of shops, fountains, art, and a generally nice vibe. I wish we had known what La Spezia was like, it would have been worth spending some time here. 

We found the Budget rental place and went inside. At this point my entire back was covered in sweat as well as the place on my shoulders where my backpack straps rested. Inside the car rental place there were already people at the counter and some people waiting. The folks working the counter desk were one man and one woman, both probably in their late 60s or 70s. The woman was only answering the phone and talking forever and the man was taking mental pauses here and there and getting distracted by little things the woman would say constantly. It felt like an hour for him to finish the current customer that was at his window, but he eventually did and the next person started getting help. It probably took him about 20 minutes to process him and get him his rental. 

Deanna waiting in the front of the rental office

Sweat

When it was my turn I went up to the counter with all my documents out. They both were very excited to see that I was from San Francisco. They mentioned in broken English that they had been to Sausalito many years ago and loved it. They also mentioned a restaurant by name, but I don't remember what they said. After a few minutes of the man going through my reservation he said "oh no, problem, we don't have your car." I wasn't surprised to hear this, so I just rolled with it and said "ok, no problem, I'll take what I can get."

I was observing their systems while they worked and noticed that they would take a copy of everything and put it in a never ending "to be filed" stack. They would then take another copy of some forms and put them over in the back on top of a filing cabinet also in a rather large stack of other forms. Then the lady would look through her basket of keys to see what keys they had. So apparently they weren't tracking their cars at all on the computer, but only through the basket of keys in front of her. 

When our order was complete we both followed the man outside as he lead us about a block away to a really small and uninspiring looking car. We piled our stuff inside and got in. This car was as stock as it could be and stick shift. So I started it up and backed out of our very narrow spot and into the very narrow and crowded street behind us. I shifted back to 1st gear and we were on our way. I quickly remembered how to drive stick liked I had never stopped. 

Our road trip wound through lush green valleys, by small towns, through deep tunnels, and through well known places like Parma. We stopped at a highway side Automart to pick up some food and drinks before getting back on our way. It took about 3 hours to get to Milan. At the Milan airport I think I did 3 laps around the airport before finally making it to the right rental car return driveway. It is not very clearly labeled for Budget returns. The dropoff was fast and we got our luggage and started into the terminal. 

We arrived probably about 4 hours before our boarding time. We made our way to the baggage check in area but nobody from Aegean airlines was there. I asked a nearby employee from another airline about it and they mentioned that you could only check bags within 2 hours of your flight time. "oh." So we went upstairs with all of our luggage and had some wine and a snack while we waited for time to pass. When it was around 2 hours away from our boarding we went back down to the Aegean airlines gate and hung out in front of the line. 2 ladies appeared soon and started prepping their lines. Within a few minutes a line of about 30 people was already formed behind us. Thankfully we were first! 

The lady called us forward and we were on our way in about 2 minutes after dropping our suitcases. We were both hungry so we stopped at Wagamama to have an early dinner. I had a curry chicken katsu and Deanna had what appeared to be pad thai, but she didn't order that. It all tasted pretty good and I had a sake with my meal. 

We went over to gate A3 which was indicated by the departures board and our paper tickets that we received. We bought some chips and waters and took a seat by an annoying kid and his dad. Our gate was currently boarding a different flight and airline so we sat by and watched as they were all loading. As time passed something started to feel a bit off, so we went over to the gate to double check that we were in the right place and boarding group. The gate description had not changed to our Airline or flight number. It still said Ryanair or something else. Panic started to set in for both of us. Our flight was boarding in 19 minutes!

We walked over to the departures board and watched as the Athens line item updated and rotated between the various Athens flights. Our flight popped up and the gate indicated was A78! YIKES. So we started a very brisk walk through what felt like the entire airport in search of gate A78. Along the way we would stop and double check our flight again to make sure nothing changed. Still A78. We were sweaty and stressed but pulled up to our gate with 2 minutes to spare before they started calling for boarding groups. Disaster avoided. When we got on the plane we were seated in the emergency row that was only 2 seats, which was amazing. I had forgotten that I was able to make changes and get us good seats for that flight. That took away all the stress of having to run across the airport to make our flight. 

When we landed in Athens and made our way to the baggage claim I stood there while I received 2 phone alerts about our gate change to A78 from A3. Then I received an email about the gate change. Thank you for the prompt updates Aegean airlines. lol. 

We grabbed our bags and proceeded out of the airport exit and found a gentleman with my name on a sign. I confirmed he was our ride from my scheduled taxi service and we followed him to his waiting Mercedes taxi cab. The cab was very clean and smelled nice. Our driver put his foot to the floor and got us to our Athens hotel in pretty quick fashion. 

Our hotel, the Niche Hotel Athens, sits atop ruins from the Valerian Wall (click for info). We checked into our hotel and went up to our room. The room was very nice and clean. We called downstairs to ask for them to bring up an extra luggage stand for our suitcases. I'm not sure why every hotel room doesn't already provide at least 2 luggage stands in the rooms. It's logical to assume that more than one person will be in a room and that more than one suitcase will want to be off the ground. We constantly have to ask for these when we travel. It's annoying. 

We were pretty tired, so we didn't go out and were already mostly full from our early dinner at Wagamama. We decided to go to bed. 

That is the end of day 9. 

Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump

Day 4 - Trains to Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre

The 4th day of our trip is a travel day. We will be heading to Riomaggiore to enjoy some North Italian coast time. 

We woke up and finalized our packing. I pre-scheduled an Uber ride to the train station for us, so we were hustling to be on time for our ride. After we gathered all of our gear we made our way downstairs and outside to the front of the hotel to wait for ours ride. Our hotel is on a one-way alley so if any car stops, then the rest of the cars have to wait. We saw our Uber van pulling up but he got stuck behind another car and started honking. It was awkward for a minute, but when he got around them we loaded up really fast and were on our way. 

After about a 15 minute winding trip through Milan we arrived at a deserted and inconspicuous doorway to a train station. As our driver drove away, shrinking into the distance, it felt like we had been left in the wrong place. But we went inside and saw there were definitely train schedules on the wall in this dark hallway. We checked our train and platform number. I picked up both our 50lb suitcases and made like a Crossfit workout and charged my way up the rather long staircase to the train platform. At the top of the platform there was no shade and also no people at all. 

We were near some apartment complexes and some graffiti covered walls, but there were no signs of life at all around there. I guess that's how it is near the train tracks in Milan? Since there was no shade structure around we sat on the stairs to get a little shade from the staircase wall. We hung out for awhile watching as other trains zoomed by and one passenger or two got off occasionally. 

When our train arrived we got on with our luggage and found one of the many open double seats. None of the trains we booked allowed for reserved seating unfortunately. I put our luggage up on the top rack and we sat down. This leg of the train journey would be a short one. Actually it turned out to be very short. We were at the next station in about 10 minutes. Hindsight would have just had us Uber to the 2nd station and skip the first train, but we had no idea what we were doing. 

At the next station we got off and went downstairs to check the platform assignments. Unfortunately the way I bought my tickets, through the Omio app, did not provide ongoing status updates for the trip. After finding our platform I grabbed our suitcases and we headed over to the next waiting point. We were assigned to platform 11 which was like 5 platforms over. The train pulled up and we got on and realized this train had more people and less seats. Panic set in pretty fast when we got on that train and we started to sprint down the aisle with 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks looking for a worthy seat pair to occupy. When I saw a row that was open I would ask the neighbors if we could sit there and then I would look ahead and say "one second" as I looked for an even better option. I kept upgrading our possible seating scenario as we continued through multiple trains. We finally reached one of the front train cars and there were ample amounts of open seats. We setup shop and put our luggage up on the top rack. This leg of the train ride was about 90 minutes long. I spent some of the time blogging when the internet was working, but mostly just daydreaming. The Italian countryside was nice and full of hedgerows and farms. 

We pulled up to our 3rd transfer point in Genova at the Genova Brignole station. As we exited the train we immediately noticed how much busier this station was compared to the last two. We only had about 15 minutes before the next train so we went downstairs as before to check the train schedules and platform assignments. I could not find our train number on any of the boards. So we continued through the station to the main ticketing area and the huge board on the wall of all train arrivals and departures. Still no luck in finding our train number or platform assignment on the board. We saw a little information booth and headed there to inquire about our ticket. The nice lady in the booth explained that since we booked our ticket so far in advance that the train has now been cancelled and we can take an alternative route to Riomaggiore. She basically told us the next two trains to get on and that I didn't have to buy a new ticket for the trip. And actually at no point in our entire journey has anyone asked us for our ticket. 

We made our way to the platform for the train she told us to take. We anxiously waited as a few other trains stopped at our platform and people loaded and unloaded. When our train pulled up we realized this was a new train model with different seating and cargo storage. We struggled our way again to find a pair of seats that worked for us and our luggage. We finally settled on some sideways seating facing one another across the aisle. We had to put our luggage on the seat next to us because the storage shelf was too narrow for our suitcases. It was pretty frustrating. At this point the regret of booking this train trip become more apparent. I would suggest if you ever plan to go to Riomaggiore or any Cinque Terre locations, you do not take a larger suitcase. If you can travel with one large bag that you can carry and not have to stow then that will make your life easier. Or if you can afford it, drive, or rent a driver. 

The next stop was not far along the coastline to Sestri Lavante station. We hopped off and yet again looked for our platfrom on the train board. After finding out our location we dragged our luggage along the busy tunnel passed the snack machines and up the next set of stairs to the platform to wait. It was really busy on this platform as well. The anxiety of the last train seating situation was causing us both to stress out a bit but as the train pulled up we charged our way on and found a four pack of seats in a nook by the exit where nobody else was. So we setup our luggage and relaxed for the last leg of our train journey to Riomaggiore.

We pulled up to Riomaggiore and exited in a cool and windy stone tunnel. It was quite nice actually compared to the rest of the stations on our trip. We paused and let the massive crowd push past us so that I could take a photo from the tunnel that included the sign and less people blocking the view. 

We exited the tunnel and the railway area to go find the person our hotel had arranged for us to meet. We continued out of the station and to the right over by the tourist info booth. (We'll leave out the part where I went the wrong way and climbed about 100yards up a very steep driveway at first with all our luggage) We stood there for about 30 seconds when a man approached and confirmed he was our contact. He took Deanna's 50lb suitcase and hoisted it on his shoulder and began a very swift pace through a long underwater like tunnel walkway that lead through the mountain to Riomaggiore. Along the walls of this tunnel were lots of mosaic tile artwork, it was cool to see. 

I followed suit and hoisted my 50lb suitcase over my shoulder and struggled to keep up with the pace of our helper. Deanna kept looking back at me like "wtf" as he was nearly sprinting ahead of us and we were lagging behind. The tunnel was very crowded with people heading in both directions and some folks weaving in and out of the slower people in the path. When we reached the end of this tunnel we immediately started down a flight of winding stairs that were thick with other travelers. We had no idea where and how far we were going, but just kept on chasing our helper. 

With the amount of people and the amount of stairs on this path I now know why he put the suitcase over his head. The idea of dragging my suitcase along this walkway seems like an impossible feat. 

We continued down the stairs and through a rustic and narrow concrete hallway which opened to the waterfront area of Riomaggiore. We could immediately see the Sea and marina ahead of us, but we still had more stairs to go down and more crowds to pass. We kept on and on through the marina to another set of stairs that lined the left side of the area and began going up. These stairs were pretty steep and lugging a 50lb suitcase above my head along with the 30lb backpack I was wearing made for a sweaty endeavor. We finally reached the top of these stairs and our helper opened a private gate which lead to yet another, steeper set of stairs. We started up those stairs and about 3/4 of the way up that flight I finally need a brief break. I dropped the suitcase to the step and took a breather. Our helper kept going up the next little flight to our door. I picked up the suitcase and caught up to him and Deanna. I was dripping sweat at this point. I looked at our helper an he didn't have a drop of sweat on him and wasn't breathing hard at all. He gave us a brief overview of the room and property and left us alone. 

We finally arrived in Riomaggiore! 

We setup our bags in the room and dried off from all the travel and stair climbing. After that we went outside and had a sunset photo shoot from one of our many private terraces on the property. We truly have the best location in all of Riomaggiore. Down below our property is a small bar near the peak of the stair path that people congregate on to take photos. We hung out on our terrace as the sun set in the Cinque Terre and everyone in town applauded in approval. What a lovely way to arrive here. 

This is our first hot and sweaty photo as we arrived

Our fridge gets restocked with beer, soda, juice and water. 1 free prosecco bottle on arrival

We made reservations for dinner at a local "michelin suggested" restaurant called Dau Cila which was just a few steps away from the water in the main Marina area. Our reservation wasn't for a couple hours so we decided to wander around a little and then have a couple aperol spritz at a small café. The cafe was cute and built into what felt like a cave. The only thing I didn't love was the smoking people sitting at the table near us. But that is pretty common in Europe so it is what it is... 

My view from the cave while having drinks

Aperol Spritz all day every day

When our dinner time approached we went up to Dau Cila and noticed that a couple girls were waiting by the entrance. They were speaking English and informed a passing server of their reservation to which they quickly told them to hold on. That was enough for me to realize we should just be silent and wait for them to talk to us. This restaurant has pretty mixed reviews so we went into it expecting interesting service. We stood on a step sort of out of the way of the servers and greeting area, there was not clear cut greeter station so we went with a guess as to where we should wait. After they took the girls in front of us we stood there for what felt like 15 minutes, but was probably only 5. Then they spoke to us and lead us to a seat. We had a nice view of the marina and uphill a little with the buildings nearby. 

We ordered a bottle of wine to start out. For dinner Deanna ordered the Sea Bass with vegetables, I ordered the cheese and pork pesto ravioli, and we had a calamari and vegetable fried appetizer. Overall the food wasn't bad, but definitely not something to rave about. The service was indeed pretty poor. At one point we saw our waitress across the town square smoking a cigarette with folks from a nearby bar. I just imagined she didn't wash her hands after that and came back and started touching plates and things with her smokey hands. But maybe she washed her hands and everything is fine.

After dinner we went on a stroll up the city center. We picked up 2 aperol spritz to take along with us and a bottle of wine for later. We found some cute little shops with trinkets and in one store we bought a risotto jar kit with truffles for making back at home.  

We were both still up and getting ready for bed around 1am when all of the power went out. We looked outside and saw that the entire Riomaggiore town was pitch black. Not a light in site. It was quite bizarre, but we found out that it was a planned outage to repair some damage from the recent thunderstorms in the area. No big deal, but after a few minutes of silence and blackness we heard a rather large thumping bass coming from the distance. With no air conditioning we had the window open and over the roaring ocean waves we could distinctly make out what seemed to be a pretty large sound system playing electronic music. On top of that, there were constant chanting, hollering and cheering to accompany that music. Normally I'm up for that sort of festivity, but at this point in our travels, we just wanted to sleep. I managed to mentally put myself in a burning man state of mind so I could fall asleep with all the ruckus, but I know Deanna struggled to sleep and eventually on her massive exhaustion put her to sleep for the night. At one point I was so curious what was going on that I was going to go investigate but with the power being out, I probably would not have been able to get back into the property due to the electric locks. 

That is the end of Day 4. Thanks for reading!

Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump