Day 31 - October 1 - Cinque Terre
We hadn't slept well last night because of the crying child next door. David was furious and we discussed leaving for Nice or another hotel. He went out to the terrace for coffee and told the lady her child kept us up all night. She said sorry, but there's nothing she could do and she didn't seem to care. We know the child wasn't sick because in the mornings she was outside, playing and laughing. We called around and found a Hotel Palme that would rent to us for one night.
We told the lady we were leaving and she gave us receipt, charging us for both horrible nights and one of her relatives drove us down to town. None of them seemed to care; not sure if people leave early all the time or they have enough business.
We trekked our bags to the Hotel Palme- which is part of 'new' Monterosso. They were nice and helpful, although the rooms are bit dorm-style. But, I'm not complaining!
We got our suits on and decided to go shopping, to the beach, eat and check email. We ate at a Foccacia place - yum, light, airy and buttery and crispy. We walked into old town for some shopping, but it was more touristy than I thought. We bought some pesto and postcards. We went to the internet cafe, but it was closing for an hour and a half for siesta. Also the Farmacia was closed until 4 pm. Note: On Saturday, almost all of my contact lens solution leaked out into my suitcase. I couldn't get anymore solution until Monday as all pharmacies are closed until on the weekend. so I was able to use a few drops at a time and get it to last a few more days. We went to Bar Midi again for gelato and to wait until the shops reopened.
We got to the internet point as soon as it opened and checked email, then off to the pharmacy for contact solution. We went to the beach, grabbed some lounge chairs, a beer and sat for a while, relaxing. The water was a bit too cool for swimming, but it was a beautiful day!
We went back to change for dinner. We ate at Ristorante Il Baggiano in 'new town'. I ahd spinach pasta with walnut cream sauce, david had spaghetti and meat sauce with french fries and we split some Prosecco. We asked for olive oil and the waitress asked 'what for?' We felt like telling her none of your business - oh well- the waitstaff was not friendly. Off to bed!
Thoughts: Cinque Terre was the least friendliest place we visited. Other than the beautiful scenery we did not really enjoy our stay here. I would stay elsewhere - Santa Margherita, Levanto, someplace a little north and just day trip to the Cinque Terre. It was so crowded with tourists - it seemed like the locals just wanted us all to leave and the extra money from tourism wasn't worth the trade off in their loss of privacy. Can't say I blame them.
