Cinque Terre: the Italian Rivierra
Today Alex and I had a relaxing day at the beach!! It was wonderful!
Bus strike & taxi scam
Our day started by going to the front desk to ask for the best way to get down to the beach. This was a brave act for me considering how bad I wanted to avoid the front desk and possibly running into my buddy ol' pal that I mentioned in the previous post. Luckily he wasn't working. The guy who was said that the bus is the best way to get to the train station, but that he just found out that the busses were on strike that day from 9-5pm! (I had heard stories of that happening to people, but was still pretty surprised that it really happens!) So our options were to either make a 45 minute trek down the mountain or to take a taxi. We chose to take a taxi to avoid getting hit by a speeding car as it winds through the curvy roads on the mountain. Everyone drives fast and crazy here! Even in big busses! The taxi cost us €30, so expensive!! I was confused with the price so I even questioned him about it but he said it was because it also counts his time driving to get us. Without knowing a ton about taxi's in Italy and hardly being able to speak to him, I had to drop it pretty quickly. We later found out he scammed us and overcharged us. So annoying! Especially since we suspected it but couldn't do anything about it without being able to talk to him in Italian.
Vernassa Beach
We took the train to the first beach we tried, called Vernassa. Super pretty, but has a very small beach area to hang out on! We only stayed there until the next train came to hop to another beach.
Montarossa beach:
This was such a gorgeous area!! This spot had much more beach space and had an amazing view of the green hills and ocean. The beach area where people lay down was super crowded, but you get used to people laying right beside you tanning or basically all the couples around you making out and cuddling. Actually, I don't think I got used to all the PDA. Some people just needed to get a room. But anyways, once you blocked that out of your view, it was incredible!
It was so nice to be able to sit and relax without amusingly other plan on the agenda. Most every other day is filled with things to do and places to be. Alex and I intentionally planned these days to be a break. It was definitely worth it! I listened to music and started the book Divergent!
The weather was pretty warm and very humid, so the cold water was refreshing! The water wasn't too bad though, definitely warmer than California beaches. It was a great balance! And guess what?! All of the women had tops on! Yay! Maybe topless beaches are not a trend in Italy. Speedos are most definitely a trend though! Haha!
Another highlight of the day was getting to talk to Andrew!! :) Since it's hard to coordinate our schedules with a 9 hour time difference, we don't get to skype very often. It was soo good to see him and talk to him for a while! I miss him a lot and can't wait to be with him again! <3
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