Pisa, La Spezia and Riomaggiore

We were due to move onto La Spezia this morning but as it is only just over an hour by train we had a early Sunday morning last look at Pisa. It was nice looking at the slightly emptier streets.

Police were high profile everyday - nice to see they buy British!

Found this nice park - square for the first time!

Best lean view!

Armed soldiers doing security checks for those going up the tower. Did not make us feel safe!

So off to Pisa Station for the 70 minute journey to La Spezia where we are staying three nights.

Basil at our hotel tells us we are too early but we can leave our cases

So back across the road to the station café for a tea and Pizza. Unlike the UK station cafes are reasonably priced and the travellers are not fleeced!

Still too early so a look around La Spezia which is empty as it is Sunday.

In the centre of the city is a large covered market which does not operate on a Sunday

Our reason for staying in La Spezia is to visit the Cinque Terre which are five picturesque villages along the coast, north of La Spezia

After checking in to our very nice room we decide to do our first Cinque Terre village Riomaggiore. Yesterday we travelled 90 minutes by train for a cost of 10.50 Euro each. Today our 16 minutes cost us 8Euro each. Italian Rail ripping off the tourists. We have bought a freedom 2 day ticket for Monday and Tuesday at 29 Euros ! It gives us freedom to train, walk and free loos!

The journey is only 8 minutes and all in tunnels! Even half the station at Riomaggiore is in a tunnel!

This is the view from the Station Platform!

First we have a look along the coast from around the station.

Path to next village, closed at the moment!

We then climb up to the top of the village with views along the coast

Looking down at the Station

We then start to get views of the village

So we walk down to the harbour through the village

A few minutes after taking this we were invaded by a swarm of Japanese Tourists!

And have a look along the coast at sea level! It is a bit rough and the tide is high.

A bit scary like the Fishermans' path in Aberglaslyn

This is a little bay - beach is made of rocks the size of footballs!

We use the tunnel bypass back to the station. We missed a train as we could not find the 'composter' to validate our tickets but another arrived almost immediately as they were running 20 minutes late!

So another 8 minute ride back to our hotel. Then a not so successful, but very cheap dinner followed by a couple of Gelati and a little walk around La Spezia.

IG - straccia and IB Cherry!

So back to write this blog on the very quick but unreliable hotel internet! Looking forward to a nice day tomorrow. Today we had a rainy middle of the day but a nice warm and dry afternoon.