I had one of my favorite foods: Beef Tapa! Princess is known for having some Filipino dishes at breakfast and today it was this one. Other mornings they had one of my other favorite Pork Tocino. Both are great over steamed rice along with a fried egg.
Today we had an early excursion to Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre located in the province of Liguria. We'd be visiting three of the five villages within the park. Did you know that Italy was once many smaller countries including Liguria? Most became provinces when Italy became a country when it was unified in 1861. So Italy is a very new country. Two provinces within the borders of Italy remain as independent states. Do you know what they are? Answer below. One of them is the answer to a trivia question. What is the smallest country by area in the world?
At 8:30 AM, we started with a bus ride. It took about ninety minutes to get to our first stop in Levanto. From here we were taking a train to the first town within Cinque Terre: Monterosso al Mar. There were thirty three guests on our excursion. Later on during the tour we'd be taking smaller busses that only held twenty so we were divided into two smaller groups of sixteen and seventeen before we got off the bus. Each group had their own tour guide. Ours was Nicola and he had a paper list of all the cabins numbers that are part of his group.
We all got off the bus successfully and followed Nicola. This was also a toilet stop so once that part was done, Nicola provided information including a map of where we were and where we'd be going. We only had to go for one stop on the train to the Monterosso station. He also provided his emergency number. "Just in case". This will become important very soon. And as a final step, Nicola went through his list of cabins and verified that everyone was there. Or so he thought.
Our train was on the opposite track from where the toilets were. Nicola was a very fast walker as he led us down the stairs and up to the other side of the station. We all boarded the train. Or so we thought. Once we arrived in Monterosso we gathered out on the walking path and Nicola did his count. Our merry band of sixteen travellers was down to eleven. Somehow we were missing five people!! Here's where that "just in case" number became important. Nicola received a call and it was one of the "Missing Five". It was only then that a woman who was travelling with her husband and another couple asked Nicola if that was one of them calling. She didn't realize until that moment that they were missing!! I was shocked by this. When I asked if she could call them or vice versa, she said she couldn't because she didn't have data. How do you go on an excursion
and not realize that all your small group isn't with you at the beginning and end of each leg? This is the basics of The Amazing Race!! We soon learned that when Nicola was asking for cabin numbers back in Levanto, she had provided her cabin number but her husband wasn't with her at that time. He must have been in the toilet. So Nicola thought both people were there. He made sure to verify that on each subsequent leg.
Nicola had to explain to the "Missing Five" how to catch the next train which would leave in about fifteen minutes. So while we waited, Nicola did explain to us more about Monterosso and provide more information about the next towns. Nicola then got a call that the "Missing Five" were on the Monterosso platform. Taking no chances, Nicola went to retrieve them and soon the Merry Travellers were back together. From that point forward, Nicola used his paper list of cabins to verify that each cabin number and all the occupants were at each leg before continuing.
Monterosso is the largest of the towns and the most spread out. We had a stroll along the beautiful coastline.
Beaches are considered public land here but there is a battle about whether business can "own" stretches of them and rent beach chairs and umbrellas. We made it to the center of town where there was a small wine tasting along with some pesto and tapenade on fresh bread. We then had about ninety minutes of free time. This would be the longest amount of time in any of the three towns. Angie found a great place for lunch called Ely's.
We started with a great dish if braised octopus and potatoes.
Such a delicious dish with olive oil and garlic!! For mains I had spaghetti with clams and Angie had a small pillowy pasta called Pansoti which was filled with a ricotta/spinach mixture along with a glorious pesto sauce!!
Both dishes were so good. Definitely needed the bread to sop up all the sauce.
After lunch we walked around the shops until it was our meeting time to see Nicola. And much to my surprise, everyone made it!! Nicola led us to the smaller busses and we were off to Manarola. This town had much steeper paths. We weren't invested in going all the way to the sea so went about halfway and found a small cafe and had a couple of beers. It was then time to head to our final stop of Riomaggiore. We went down the steep slope to the marina and found a cafe and had a couple of local beers.
We were surprised when the bar owner came out with snacks for us.
We then took a short walk to the train station. Would everyone make it back to Levanto? Nicola repeatedly told everyone that our stop in Levanto was the fifth stop and it would be about twenty five minutes. Angie even pointed out for everyone to follow along on the map Nicola had provided earlier that day. All the stops were clearly marked. People still asked. How many stops? How long? Do we just take it to the last stop? Thankfully the train wasn't crowded so the Merry Travellers were able to all sit in one section which made it easy to keep tabs on everyone and make sure everyone made it successfully to Levanto. We boarded or larger bus and made it back to the port of Genoa. Back on the ship and in our cabin by 7 PM for a a short rest. Then we had a simple dinner at The Eatery (aka buffet).
Today we're in La Spezia but not getting off the ship. We'll have a sea day instead after our long day yesterday. And tomorrow is Civitavecchia where we'll disembark after two weeks onboard.
Trivia Answers: The Vatican and the Republic of San Marino. The Vatican is the smallest country by area in the world.
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