The Cinque Terre – an unscheduled stop on the Italian coast
On my third day of travelling across South Europe from Bulgaria to France, I experienced serious car troubles. On an earlier trip to Greece the car had overheated badly and had to have the water pump replaced and prior to setting off from Bulgaria, I had had the vehicle serviced, not once, but twice to ensure it was in tip top condition for the 3000 km drive through Greece, Italy and into Southern France. However, after only a few hours on the road the radiator warning light had kept flashing on and I kept having to stop to replace the coolant. However, on the second day I drove right across Greece to Igoumenista ferry port without any problems. But on the road approaching La Spezia in Italy, the car suddenly overheated with no warning and I had to pull off immediately. Luckily there was a turn off to the town of Aulla and a garage immediately after the turn off. But the news was not good. It would take maybe 3 or 4 days to repair the engine and would be very expensive. The garage gave me a large container of water, told me to stop every few kilometres and sent me on my way. As it was already dark, I found the nearest hotel and found a room and after a few tears and moments of panic, decided to see what another garage over the road said in the morning. Unfortunately, it was the same story. I was struggling to comprehend exactly what the problem was, only that it involved ordering a part of the engine, completely stripped the engine out and rebuilding it and would cost in excess of 2000 Euros. I appeared to have little choice as hiring a car from La Spezia on a one way drop off was a minimum of 1000 Euros and then what to do about the car I had left in the garage. So I checked back into the hotel for 5 nights, managed to get a room with access to a large terrace for the dogs and settled in for a long, boring stay for both me and the dogs.
A brief internet search revealed that the UNESCO protected area of the Cinque Terre (so named because of the 5 main villages perched on the cliff edge over looking the sea) was a short train ride away. So on the Saturday I set off with the smallest dog in tow, to go and explore. I took the train from Aulla to La Spezia, where I changed and took the short onwards journey to the village of Monterosso. The main part of the village follows a narrow road down to the square on the sea front and the small port. It is a quaint little place, although fairly touristy. The area is famous for the cultivated terraces cut deep into the hills, rising from the sea, where olives and vines were once grown in abundance and you can still purchase the local wine. I then hopped back on the train and headed back a few minutes to Manarola, where I purchased some tasty Italian pastries and sat watching the local fishermen hoist their small boats hundreds of feet up from the port below to the dry dock area at the edge of the village. My original plan had been to then take the short 20 minute hike along the coastal trail to the village of Riomaggiore, the final village on my trip, but there was a 5 Euro charge to enter this part of the National park and so I opted for the 1 Euro train ride! After a stroll around the impossibly narrow streets of Riomaggiore, where only a few resident cars are allowed, it was back onto the train and back to Aulla and the hotel room.
If you are ever in the area and have the time, it is certainly worth stopping for a day or two to explore these fishing villages, with their tall, narrow houses, built precariously into the cliff side and back up the hill and see the vine terraces cut into the mountain sides.
