La Spezia

Up early for a coffee and a walkabout on deck.  We docked at 8 am on a cool 15 degree day and got ready for our trip. Nothing concrete planned other than a train ride to Montorosso and the Cinque Terre located on the other side of the mountain range west of us. I quickly went up to the Windjammer for breakfast as Kelly showered and prepped. (I brought a bacon sandwich back for her.....  brownie points you know!)

Off the ship and onto the transport bus to take us out to the front gate/terminal. We sat down and we drove away!!! Google maps said 1.6 km to the train station so we decided to walk along the waterfront and up the Main Street. We grabbed a cache along the way as we transited the main square and market place.

Fishing beside the cannon.

We quickly arrived at the station and got directions to obtain tickets. They also had to be validated or else! Lol. The lady also said that all walking paths between the villages were closed due to weather but the train pass we purchased made traveling around very easy.

Off to the platform and onto the train to Lavente. Mmmm wait a second... we wanted Lavento with an O. A few minutes to confirm that we were on the correct train and away we went. Note: They are two different places but the train does go to both. Phew!

 We quickly past through the first four fishing villages and exited at Montorosso to start our adventure. The weather was holding with threatening skies but we came prepared if things turn wet. We wandered the streets and Kelly had a coffee to help sort out the sore head.  We did the tourist thing and then headed south towards the next village via train (which came by about every 8-10 minutes)

Very nice colors added to the view in Montorosso..

Beautiful colors of fall.

Great sculpture/architecture

 Lunch at the Restorante Gambero Rossi in Vernazza. I had the seafood medley and Kelly the lobster with pasta. All excellent.  More wandering and photo ops.

Vernazza

 We then hoped the train to Corniglia but due to the hike up to the town we elected to skip over a few towns to save some time. So the next stop was Riomaggiore and some serious hiking up the steep roads and pathways. Some amazing views!! Even managed to get a geocache.

The tunnel in Riomaggiore is festooned with various rocks & slates.

Riomaggiore gave us great views.

The start of a walking section in Riomaggiore

Oratorio di Santa Maria Assunta

in Riomaggiore

Check out the land formation and stairs in this picture!

We headed back to La Spezia and walked down the Main Street and market. Gellato was on order as Kelly loved slowly walking along the street looking at all the shops.

Back on board the ship we relaxed, blogged this entry and downloaded pictures... oh and yes had a nice cool drink to help "wash away" the sore legs :-)  I suspect tonight will be low key as we hit Rome and the Vatican tomorrow.

We finally made it to the dinning room tonight and enjoyed excellent service and great food. They never disappoint us! We are beat and off to the rack once again.... repeat ending:-)