Riomaggiore
ITALY, GREECE & MONTENEGRO Diary : Day 3 - 04th May 2018
Riomaggiore ( pronounced - reeyo majio ri ) is the last in line of the Cinque Terre, from North to South on the Western coast of Italy. Similar to the other four villages it was first mentioned somewhere around the 13th century when the settlements began to move from the hills to the sea. However, the settlements on the mountains still exist. The village is today split into two with the mountain settlements managing agriculture & the sea side settlements managing fishing & sea food.
We got out of the train and found a long, dark pedestrian tunnel leading to the village. The train station and the tunnel were the only flat lands that we noticed in the village. The tunnel was a museum in itself. It was well lit. Its roof was decorated in shiny blue acrylic, possibly depicting an 'undersea walk'. The walls were exceptionally designed with tiles & mosaic art. We walked through the tunnel at our own pace admiring the interiors.
We reached the village soon. The layout of the village was similar to that in Vernazza. The walk to the sea from the station seemed shorter. The streets were narrower and the buildings were more brightly coloured than those we had witnessed in the other 3. (read Monterosso, Vernazza & Manarola). The entire village gently sloped from hill side to the sea side. There were plenty of steps running downward at regular intervals. We noticed that a lot of the ancient stone walls were still maintained. The village as usual was full of energy. Tourists crowded the streets and the shops & restaurants were running full.
We stopped by a few colourful shops to observe the displays. Lemon seemed to be on major sale. They were giant sized as compared to those in our home country. We stopped by at a pizza point to grab a few yummy slices. Garnished with Basil and home made fresh tomato sauce, these slices were a bite made in heaven. We bought a few more to fill our tummies and a few more to satisfy our senses.
Slowly and steadily we walked down to the water area. We found many boats of varied colours anchored at random areas. A small alley led to a few stairs towards the sea. The sea side featured a small inlet of sea water in the centre, hugged by ramps forming a steep V shape.
The outer sides of these ramps fitted into the huge piece of mountainous rock that split itself around the 'V' , lying at a higher plane . The cemented ramp on the right sloped right into the waters , while the left side had a few steps before ending with a short ramp, that also reached the waters . Buildings seemed fixed to the rocks standing above the sea, on its either side. The bright red and yellow coloured buildings were built in a step down fashion, beginning from the mountains. The edges of the buildings facing the sea had own set of steps to climb up further. Riomaggiore made its impression on us with its unique harbour.
We walked the steps to get down to the rocks. The water rushing into the inlet was not that clean. There were yellow banana boats tied up to the walls overlooking the canal. We spent a while sitting on the rocks yet again enjoying the breeze blown by the Ligurian sea.
On the opposite side, we spotted people climbing on a few beautifully shaped rocks. The kids decided to climb it too. The rock was at a height at the foot of the bright buildings . A few steep steps were cut into the rock, right from the top, that led to the water. The kids enjoyed their climb up and down. We saw a few fishermen in their boat, trying a catch a bite. Not sure if they were successful. We then walked back the alleys into the village. We treated ourselves to some ice-cream and fresh strawberries. After a while it was time to return through the tunnel to the station. We caught our train on time to get to La Spezia and further to Florence. We reached our accommodation in Florence and called it a day.