On day 6 we woke up and had our coffees and started getting ready for an excursion.
Right down the hill from our hotel is the ferry pickup and drop off dock. The ferries here are serious professionals at dropping off people at these tiny points in the middle of rock hazards and waves. They pickup every hour from the dock below us, so we watched as boat after boat went by while we got ready.
When we were ready and had our day bags packed we went down the ticket office and bought 2 tickets to Monterosso and proceeded to the dock to wait. There was quite a line of people waiting to board the boat. When the boat pulled up it started filling up fast. Luckily another boat was waiting right behind the first boat. We got on the second boat and were able to find a nice seat as well.
Our boat trip made a few stops along the way. They stopped at Manarola, Vernazza and then our stop at Monterosso.
As we exited the boat we noticed a large amount of jellyfish in the water at the Monterosso harbor. They were cute little small ones, but not fun to swim with nonetheless.
We wanted to find an umbrella and chairs to rent so we started walking through a tunnel Northbound to the other beaches where those chairs were. Most of the places we stopped at had a sign that said they were full. We decided to stop and just eat before really trying to get a chair and swim. We ordered a pizza, bruschetta, tuna salad and caprese salad. We were hungry!
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| This pizza was good, but kind of misshaped. |
After eating I talked to the umbrella attendant and asked if any umbrella chair setups have become available. He indicated they did have some. Score! So we paid him and followed along as he lead us to our chairs. We were only a few rows back from the beach.
For the next couple of hours we swam, drank beers, drank aperol spritz, had a fritto of calamari and just relaxed. It was perfect. The beach is pretty busy there, but fun if you can get a home base of chairs and umbrellas to relax in.
We finally had enough beach lounging and made our way up to the train station. I bought tickets online using the ticket app called Trainline. We walked up to the platform and waited with the big group of beachgoers as our train pulled up. We stopped at Vernazza and then Riomaggiore. This time we only had our small backpacks, so the hike back to our hotel room wasn't as bad as our first arrival.
We freshened up and showered to get ready for dinner. For dinner we again walked up to the town center to look for something to eat. We found a place called Ristorante Centrale and waited to be seated. There was a group of 3 waiting ahead of us but a 2-top opened up and we got seated first. Score again!
For an appetizer we ordered the mixed fried fish plate that came with anchovies, shrimp and calamari. One thing I'm not loving about the shrimp here is that they come whole. I kind of hate having to peel shrimp when I'm eating. Also you have to clean their poop out too. A bit gross when having a dining experience.
For main course Deanna had a pesto pasta and I had linguine with clams. We enjoyed all of this meal a lot. Even the little fried anchovies during the appetizer were tasty.
As we walked home I stopped and picked up a gelato with pistachio and stracciatella scoops. A delicious and sweet way to end the day. We also stopped to take in a little of the folk festival in the square above the town center. There was quite a crowd gathered and it looked like everyone was having a lovely time.
Deanna and I took photos of us both holding up the column by the tunnel and thus ends Day 6 of our trip.
Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump