Old Town of Ventimiglia! (There were ducks (and swans) in the river too!)
Then we got onto our next train: from Ventimiglia to Genoa. Since we booked online thru trenitalia, they had discounted fares so that 1st class was the same price as 2nd! So we got to experience the first class treatment, even if it was only a 2 hour ride haha. I think the only difference I noticed were bigger (and nicer) seats, and power outlets. The coach was actually pretty empty! Unfortunately, this train was 40 minutes late in departing T__T So we just sat on the train playing Candy Crush, waiting for it to move... Luckily we hadn't bought tickets yet on the next train, so it's not like we missed a connection.
View from the train!
Proof that we were in Genoa!
Once we arrived in Genoa, we decided to just buy the next possible train and chill at the station until then. The next train was a 1hr 40min ride from Genoa to Riomaggiore, and was also delayed, though this time only by 10 min haha. It was much less comfortable, but I managed to sleep for most of the ride. Once we were in Riomaggiore, it was then only a quick 2-min ride from Riomaggiore to Manarola, the village we're staying at in Cinque Terre. (Cinque Terre is made up of 5 tiny villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso) The plus side to training was that we were able to see a lot of the Italian Riviera! (When we weren't running through tunnels) And of course, saving money. The whole trip cost < $30!!
Once in Manarola, we once again had to hike up to our hostel. It was a huge hill, and I was hating my carry-on suitcase by the end of it, but then we got a really nice view of the village! We didn't have much planned for today, so we just walked around and took pictures until 6PM, when the restaurant we wanted to go to was open. It's called Trattoria dal Billy (the Billy seems really random), and it had amazing reviews on tripadvisor (and my guidebook). It was pretty funny because our waiter was actually dressed as a pirate! (I think the restaurant might have been slightly pirate-themed, because they had 2 jolly roger flags waving at the entrance and terrace) And he was super energetic and looked like he really had fun with his job!
Creeper shot of our waiter (he's behind Stephanie's head, the blond guy with glasses)
The menu had Starters, Pasta, and Main Course, so Steph and I decided to go with Pasta and Main Course. We ended up both ordering the Lobster Pasta, and I ordered Veal escalope while she ordered Stuffed mussels. However, when the dishes came, the Lobster Pasta was HUGE. And we were totally full afterwards... (Also, the main courses were pretty boring in comparison. We were so sad because we couldn't even finish half of the main course; should have just skipped those) Anyways, onto the pasta. It was a freshly made red (from beets) tagliatelle pasta with a whole lobster in it! The claws were cut into pieces, but the head and tail were whole, and just sliced in half. Look at that half a lobster on my plate! The only gross part was that they didn't take out the guts or anything, so you could see the brains, and there were also lobster eggs >.< But it tasted so yummy!! 18 euros each, but it was worth it!
I was pretty messy....
As the sun started to set, we hiked up on the hill to get some shots of the village at sunset. It's so beautiful! Can't wait to explore the other villages tomorrow! And did I mention, we're both SUPER excited to be in Italy, so we can finally eat PASTA!!!
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