Arrived in Riomaggiore around 5:30pm in a light rain. Maria, the owner of our AirB&B place had her father meet us at the train station. He insisted on caring the Pelican case with one of the small camera backpacks on top of it. I thought it might kill him as he was a fair bit older and it was a decent climb to the flat up a fairly steep hill. At least it was paved road and not cobble stones or stairs.
The room is brand new. We are the first to stay in it. It had an unfinished mini-kitchen, a small kitchen table with two chairs, a thin balcony with French doors, a decent sized bed, another large window with a view of the Mediterranean, if one leans far enough out of it, and a decent bathroom with a tiny shower. The bathroom does have a heated towel rack, nice touch.
Dropped our bags and headed out into the tiny town. Three minutes below our flat is the train station and a restaurant. Next to that is a small tourist center and next to it a tunnel that follows the train tracks though a passage way through the hills. On the other side of that tunnel is the main town. Cute, single road with small shops mostly catering to tourists. Didn’t really catch my eye at first. A few bars, a few restaurants, a few shops selling local wines and Limoncello. We read a few menus, weren’t overly impressed and finally decided on PrimoPlatto Laboratory Pasta Fresca Takeaway, a to-go pasta shop that sold maybe eight different types of noodle made on the premisses that day matched with one of many types of sauce, along with some local white wine. Yummy. The rain had stopped so we ate it on a bench outside the store, sipping cold, white wine and watching the people walk by. Simple life, no freelance jobs due, no article deadlines, no classes to teach, nowhere in particular to be. Devine.
Early night to sleep. We have five villages perched on cliffs over the Mediterranean to investigate over the next five days.
