Italy-Our Family Vacation-Cinque Terre

I was so excited about spending time in Cinque Terre.  Cinque Terre is a group of five villages along the Italian Riviera coastline.  The villages are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

My friend, Amy, had been there before and she highly recommended it.  I was looking forward to a hotel on the beach, kayaking, and relaxing in a lounge chair after the last several days of frantic sightseeing. 

Months in advance, I attempted to book a hotel room or an Airbnb in one of the villages of Cinque Terre.  There were none available for a group our size.  Cinque Terre is a very popular vacation spot for many people. 

I finally found an Airbnb in La Spezia. La Spezia is a short train ride from Cinque Terre. The Airbnb was a boat! How cool would that be? The owner advertised that he would take his guests to Cinque Terre for an additional fee.  That sounded nice.  We could take the boat rather than the train, and what could be more fun than spending a few days living on a boat?  Spoiler alert. Lots of things could be more fun than spending time on THAT boat.  

We left Pisa and took the train to La Spezia.  I messaged the owner of the boat to make arrangements to meet him at the pier to start our adventure on the boat.  The boat was supposed to be available at 3:00 that afternoon, and it was close to 3:00 when I messaged him.  He messaged me back and told me he had taken some people out on his boat, and he would not be available until 6:00.  A little irritating, but we could handle that. We agreed to meet him at 6:00 at the marina.

We needed to do laundry, so we walked through the streets of La Spezia, pulling our luggage, and found a laundromat. We started several machines.  About an hour later, at approximately 4:00, the boat owner messaged me and said he was ready to meet us.  I told him we were in the middle of doing laundry and reminded him that he had told me to meet him at 6:00.  I told him we would try to hurry up and finish the laundry and I would message him when we were ready.  He called me about a half an hour later and rudely told me he could not wait for us much longer.  Let me get this straight….I booked the Airbnb, paid for it in full, arrived on the agreed upon time of 3:00, just to be told we could not have access to boat until 6:00 because he decided to make some extra money taking people out on his boat. Now, at 4:30, the owner is telling me that he cannot wait any longer for us to get to the boat because he decided that he is ready earlier than the agreed upon time of 6:00. Did I have this correct? I reminded him again that he had told us 6:00. I’m pretty sure I was gritting my teeth when I said it. 

We hurriedly tried to finish the laundry.  We could not seem to find a taxi, so we hurried through the town of La Spezia, on their cobblestone streets, with all of our luggage, to get to the marina. We finally arrived at the marina and met the boat owner and his wife. I introduced myself, but he chose to talk to my husband, Greg, rather than me. I had booked the boat, made all of the arrangements, and paid the bill, but he did not address me at all.  Then before we knew what was happening, he had put my husband Greg, and my son Ryan, and their luggage, in his air-conditioned car, while the rest of us, all female, were expected to continue walking to the pier, behind the car, pulling our luggage. It was very hot, and we were very tired, so by the time we arrived at the boat, I was beyond angry. In his defense, I can sort of understand why the owner did not want me seated behind him in the car, with access to the back of his head. 

We finally reached the boat. We gathered in the seats at the front of the boat to get our instructions from the owner. 

They served us some fruit and then gave us information/instructions:

1. Do not use the bathroom on the boat. 

Who books an Airbnb and does not expect to use the bathroom on the premises? We were told we were expected to walk down to the bathrooms at the end of the pier to go to the bathroom and shower.  The public bathrooms were clean, but there were no curtains or doors on the showers, resulting in very fast, very uncomfortable showers.

2. It will cost 100 euros per person to take the boat to Cinque Terre.

By the way, we couldn’t actually get off the boat to explore the villages of Cinque Terre. We could just wave at them as we boated by.  When I declined, he acted insulted.

3. He would bring breakfast to us in the mornings.

We had to agree on a small window of time to have breakfast the next day.  When we told him that we would be leaving very early on the second morning, he informed us that he would not be providing breakfast that early.  Even though that was included in the price I paid for the Airbnb. 

As he was giving us these instructions, he did not look at me one time.  Maybe he was unsettled by the daggers shooting out of my eyes.  The owner finally left the boat. We began to inspect the boat, what there was of it.  From the front of the boat, there were a few steep stairs to the kitchen/dining area. There was a tiny bathroom, which of course, we could not use.  The kitchen/dining area was so small, our suitcases barely fit.  The sleeping areas were four tiny spaces in the wall, maybe the size of a twin bed. These spaces were supposed to hold two people. There was barely enough room for one full sized person. The boat had no air conditioning, at least none that the owner told us about. If there had been air conditioning, the owner probably would have told us we could not use it.  The looks on everyone’s faces were….well, let’s just say, the looks were not saying, “We are so excited that you found this boat, Mom!” We were hungry, so we went to the marina to have dinner at one of the restaurants.  We went back to the boat, shuffled sideways around our luggage, wedged ourselves in our little bunks, and proceeded to sweat through the night.  The good thing was, we were so dehydrated from sweating that no one had to get up during the night and walk down the pier in the dark to go to the bathroom. 

The next day, we walked to the train station and took the train from La Spezia into Cinque Terre.  I wanted to hike between the five villages, but since the temperature was going to be close to 100 degrees that day, no one volunteered to join me.  We took the train from village to village instead.

We all wanted to start at different villages, so the girls went one direction, Ryan and Kelly went another direction, and Greg and I went to another village, with plans to meet in one of the villages for dinner later that day. We did meet up with Ryan and Kelly in one village, had lunch, and spent some time on the beach. It was very hot and crowded, but we all had a really good time exploring the villages. 

There were shops, lots of gelato, beautiful views of the rugged coastline and Mediterranean Sea, and colorful houses stacked on cliffs.  It was a really fun day.

We met for dinner and then took the train back to La Spezia.  We were really tired and did not feel like walking, so I called for a taxi, requesting a van, to get back to the marina.  Our van arrived, but before we could get into the taxi, another family-it appeared to be a dad, mom, and two teenage kids- started to get in the taxi. Or I should say started getting in OUR taxi.  We told them that we had called for this taxi, but the man just told his family to get in the van.  The teenage daughter told her dad that this was our van, but he would not listen and kept telling his family to get in the van. What we wanted to do was reach in there and pull that jerk out of the van by his ear.  What we did was stand there with dumbfounded looks on our faces, watching the taxi drive away with the other family in it.  I tried calling for another taxi, but the taxi company did not answer.  We were hot, sweaty, tired, and now we had to walk, again, to the marina.  I don’t think anyone said a word.  We made it to the pier, went to the boat, got our things and walked down the pier to take very quick, very uncomfortable showers. In the girls’ shower rooms, we took turns being lookouts for the person in the shower.  I’m not sure what we would have done if someone had come in. We hadn’t come up with a secret code work or anything.  I guess we would have just yelled something like, “cover up!” or “grab your towel!” Anyway, we managed to clean up, wedge ourselves in our bunks, and attempt to sleep one more night on this incredible Airbnb find. 

We had to get up before dawn the next morning to get to the train station and go back to Rome.  Ryan and Kelly were leaving to go home that day, so we had to get them to the airport.  I tried to call a taxi to take us from the marina to the train station.  No luck.  So we walked (again) to the train station instead. We got on the train and started back to Rome. I was checking and double checking the time, and we had plenty of time to make it to the airport.  Okay.  Everything was going to be okay.  Then, the train stopped.  An announcement was made that there was a breakdown on the train and we had to change trains.  We gathered our luggage, got off the train, waited for another train, and boarded that train.  We sat there for a while.  Shouldn’t we be moving? Toward Rome? Toward the airport? After a long wait, there was another announcement.  The first train had been repaired and we needed to get back on the original train.  We gathered our luggage, got off the new train, and got back on the first train.  We finally started moving and were again on our way to the airport. We no longer had plenty of time to get to the airport.  We were barely going to make it to the airport on time for Ryan and Kelly to make their flight. I was on the edge of my seat the entire train ride.  We finally arrived at the airport.  I told the girls we were going to leave our luggage with them and I was going to go with Ryan and Kelly to find the security line for their flight.  Greg said he was going to go with us.  I told him we were planning to run, so he might want to stay with the girls.  Greg doesn’t like to run.  He insisted on going with us. Okey dokey.  We all grabbed some luggage, and we took off running.  I saw the American flag on a security line sign, threw the luggage at Kelly and Ryan, gave them a hug, and told them to get into that line.  Greg had kept up enough to be there in time to give them a quick hug before they got in the line.  I was very impressed.  They sent us a text a little later saying they had made it to their gate and were getting ready to board their plane.  I can’t believe they made it. 

Greg, the girls, and I spent one more night in Rome together.  We ate at a nice restaurant, and then the girls took an Uber to the airport early the next morning.  I had scheduled our flights so that Greg and I had one night together in Rome, just the two of us.  We spent time walking to a nice little restaurant near the Vatican, having some pasta, and just enjoying each other’s company.  It was a nice way to end the vacation.  

Tips:

1. Cinque Terre is very crowded in the summer. You will want to book accommodations far in advance, especially if you are traveling in a larger group.
2. When booking accommodations for Cinque Terre, avoid booking a “luxury boat” on Airbnb. It was not luxurious, and it was barely a boat.
3. You will be amazed at how fast you can shower when you’re using a public shower with no doors or curtains on the shower.
4. I have been accused of expecting my family to walk too much on vacations.  I have been told the same thing by co-workers when we go to conferences.  What is wrong with walking?  It gets you where you want to go, and it is a good way to see the area rather than whizzing by in a taxi or Uber. Not everyone agrees.
5. Walking is a great way to see new places, despite what my family and co-workers say.
6. Sometimes there are circumstances that cause people to have to walk rather than taking a taxi on vacations or conferences. Having to walk is not always my fault.
7. When you call a taxi in La Spezia, be ready to jump in right away when it arrives. Otherwise, another family may steal your taxi.