I have come to enjoy travel days. We are all together as a group, and we have so much fun! This morning we were up early to get ready to make our way to CinqueTerra. Had a light breakfast; no tea for me today…just too hot and humid. Mom had her yogurt and granola and a sweet roll. Me; well…a slice of pound cake, a chocolate croissant, some scrambled eggs, ham and cheese. I’ve not quite figured out why there is so much dessert at breakfast here, but I’m not complaining.
We gathered at 8:20 and rolled our bags about 1/2 mile to meet the bus. What a sight we all make! 28 of us rolling bags down the streets of Florence; dodging bicycles, vans, taxis and Vespas. Sauro had the bus parked and bay doors open for us to deposit our bags. Norm (my buddy) always helps Sauro load the bags onto the bus. We all settle in and get ready for Sara to start her instructions for the day.
We first drove up high above the city so we could view it from above. What an inspiring sight. All the church towers, the domes, the river. Florence was nice, but crowded. I believe I failed to mention in yesterday’s blog about the protest we found ourselves observing. We heard singing, and yelling. There were the Polizia (who are the local police) giving way to a van and a lot of people marching behind the van. The van would stop, and a woman would speak on a bullhorn. People cheering her words. Then more singing. We watched for a few minutes and then decided we had had enough.
I digress. Shortly after leaving the city limits of Florence, we stop at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial. Before we stopped, Sara asked us if any of us had heard of this cemetery. To a one of us; a resounding no. A little history: During World War II, as the Allies pushed back the Germans, temporary cemeteries were built. After the war, this particular piece of land was given as a cemetery by the government of Italy without charge or taxation. There are a little under 4400 soldiers buried here. They are buried here by either choice of the family, or family was never located. There is also a wall called the Tablets of the Missing which includes over 1400 names. Most of these soldiers were on bombers and their remains have yet to be found.
The gentleman who greeted us is named Angel Mato. He is retired US military and chose to serve at this cemetery. He gave a brief explanation of the crosses vs. the Tables of the Missing. He also said that because of advances in DNA testing they have recovered 90 of the missing soldiers. In front of the Tablets of the Missing, he asked one of us to read a letter written by a high school student who had done some research on one particular soldier. One of the women in our group read this letter, and there was not a dry eye in the house. It was a very sobering experience. We walked through the cemetery and got back on the bus.
Sara told us not to be embarrassed about not know about this cemetery. She said it was rare for someone on her tour to know about it. It still was a little disconcerting however.
On to Pisa we roll. It’s hot and humid there. Again, we walk. Must have been about 1/2 mile or so. The great thing about the Tower of Pisa is that there are several other things nearby to look at. We checked out the Baptistry and the Cemetery. Oh, and of course, the tower. So amazing to see in person. We did not walk up the tower. The tickets were sold out for the day. The Baptistery has amazing acoustics. They have a demonstration every half hour. One of the staff members sings for a minute and it’s incredible.
Mom and I walked down a nice street looking for lunch. We found a place to eat where the breeze was blowing nicely. I had the Spaghetti Carbonara, and Mom had the tagliatelle with ragu and a peach ice tea. We finished up and made it back to our meeting spot with time to spare. Sara had bought us a local favorite, Cecina, which is a flatbread made with chickpea flour, water, salt and olive oil. It was tasty and we each enjoyed a small slice.
We walked back to the bus where Sauro had the air conditioning on so the bus was nice and cool. It’s been humid since Venice so I enjoy the A/C whenever I can. We head for Levanto to the train station as buses cannot get into Monterosso Al Mare (the location of our hotels). Once off the highway, the road becomes twisting and turning, often just one lane. And steep. Sauro is fearless. We always cheer for him when we reach our destination. It’s not as if he’s driving a Fiat. He’s driving a full size bus!
We arrive at Levanto and drag our bags to the train station; saying our thanks you and good-bye’s to Sauro. Sara has already purchased our tickets so all we have to do is get on the train. We get to the platform and have to hop on the train immediately. We squeeze in as we are getting off at the next stop.
Sure enough about 5 minutes later the train is stopping at Monterosso al Mare and we are fighting to get off the train. Fortunately we were traveling as a pack so no one could go against the tide to get in. We drag and/or carry our bags out of the station and wait for our luggage conveyance to arrive.
The group is split between two hotels that are owned by the same family. Our hotel, Hotel Pasquale, is right down near the water. The other hotel is located up the hill a bit. Two separate vehicles show up, one is a taxi (van) and the other is a little black and green 3 wheeled Cushman like truck with a flatbed on the back. The driver hops out and begins loading luggage in the back like it’s a game of Tetris. He’s full up, so off he goes.
We walk across town to our hotels. Sara drops off the first group at our hotel. We are given empty plastic bags as we walk in. This is where we can have our clothes washed and dried. Funny to think we are excited about laundry. And we didn’t have to do it ourselves. Yes, it’s 18 euro per bag, but well worth it. We get up to our room (on the second floor) and as usual, I open the windows; in this case it’s doors. We have a small patio that overlooks the water and has a tiny table to sit at. We also discover a smaller door and find that it goes out to a larger patio with a small table and two chairs.
Mom and I can hardly tear ourselves away from the doors. But I knew if we wanted our clothes washed we better get them sorted quick. So we dump everything out and start filling our bags with lights and darks. I was out of socks, so I wore my hotel slippers downstairs to drop off our clothes. Back up to the room we go so we can stare outside some more. We settled into our room and rest until we had to meet for dinner.
Fortunately the restaurant is only steps away from the hotel. It’s not really a restaurant anymore. But the others of our hotel prepares a traditional dinner for this area. Our hosts started off by making pesto from scratch. With mortar and pestle. It took about 20 minutes for her to do, and it was delicious!
Our first course was Pesto Lasagne. Very simple and a great Vegetarian option if you go that way. Our second course was fish with a small side salad. Not sure exactly what, but Sara said it was like a sea bass. I had a few bites and couldn’t eat any more. So I ate more bread.
Dessert was a custard half frozen, half not with chocolate drizzle. Served with it was a digestive, unknown what kind. I believe it was a very strong wine, but served basically as a shot.
We get back to our room by 9PM and start thinking about going to bed. We did have a bit of a FaceTime chat with family back home: Dad, Louie, Doug and Luke. I don’t think we realized how much we missed them until we saw them all!
Lights out and off to bed we go…the sound of the sea lulling us to sleep.
