Wednesday,
May the Fourth Be With You
I
was just about to doze off when I was woken at 02:30 by the airport security
who informed they were closing the airport. What the -? I’d read someone say he
managed to sleep in the airport as his RyanAir flight landed late and was
hoping I could do the same. Oh well. I joined a few others who also had to exit
the terminal and finally sat at one of the entrances. I spotted a broken
suitcase, took it, opened it up and sat in it.
The
airport re-opened at 04:00 (really, why even bother chasing us out?) and we
went back in. It was almost time for Suboh so I went to perform prayers before
trying in vain to catch some kip. Alas, I didn’t manage to. After freshening
up, I set off for Lucky House B&B less than a km away. I had asked Giovanna
to help contact the owner to inform I would be arriving by 07:00 (I had
indicated so in my booking but the owner never responded) and Giovanna promptly
called her up. So I was happy and relieved to see the owner already waiting for
me. I checked in and paid for my room and the city tax too (I also had to pay
city tax in Lecce). I left my suitcase and seeing that I was already going to
miss the 07:36 train to La Spezia Centrale (you need to get to La Spezia
Centrale or Genoa to get the train to Cinque Terre), I had a light breakfast
first before hurrying over to the train station which was just less than a km
away. So yeah, that was one of the reasons why I chose that particular B&B:
besides its high rating, it’s within walking distance of both airport and train
station. I was in such a hurry, I brought both my Speedy and LeSportsac along
instead of leaving some things behind such as my passport, my Total Pillow,
house key etc... yes, seriously.
I
arrived at the station huffing and panting and rushed to the ticket office to
buy my ticket. The gruff unfriendly ticket lady sold me the 08:19 ticket and
when I asked which binario, she barked ‘6!’ and I left feeling irritated. I
rushed to the platform and it was devoid of passengers. I checked the time and
it was 08:20. Of all the time you wanted a slight train delay you wouldn’t get
it, I thought crossly. I pondered my options. There was another train to La
Spezia Centrale at 08:28 albeit not a regional train. I decided to take my
chances and went to find the platform for that train.
And
what do you know, of course there had to be a diligent ticket inspector and he
looked at my ticket and said I had the wrong ticket. I proceeded to explain my
situation and stressed that the ticket lady sold me the ticket knowing I may
not be able to make the train and really when I missed that train, what choice
did I have? He was not swayed and told me I had to either pay the difference or
get down at the next station. I had checked earlier and I knew the fare
difference between the Regionale train and the Frecciabianca was €1.50 so I was
shocked when he calculated and told me I had to pay €16.10. I told him so and
he said the fare on board the train was different (and higher) than the one
bought at the station. What the hell. I told I would get down at the next
station as I wasn’t about to part with what would be double my original fare.
After a while, I got up and went to find a WC. I locked myself in, pulled down
the cover and sat in there (it was clean and not at all smelly). After a long
while, someone came knocking on the door persistently (I suspected it was the
ticket inspector) and I shouted, ‘Diarrhoea!’ a few times.
The
train stopped at a station, Massa I think, and I got down reluctantly. The
inspector was on the platform, I think looking out for me and when he saw me,
he blew on the whistle, hopped back on the train and the train doors closed. I
went to ask a newsagent if there was a bus to La Spezia and he said no. I
checked the timetable and was dismayed to find the next Regionale train was at
almost 11. ‘And what time would I reach Riomaggiore?’, I wondered. Then I
studied the screen and couldn’t believe it when I saw a Regionale train which
should have arrived was delayed by ten minutes and yes, after calculating in my
head, I might just be able to make it! So it was another rush to the other
platform – going down the stairs and climbing up the stairs to the platform and
presto, the train arrived within a minute. Phew, I made it! As I sat down I
wondered if it was in fact the train I had missed in Pisa because I know from
my research that the next Regionale train from Pisa after the 08:19 one leaves
Pisa only at 11:05. Or perhaps the train was delayed in Pisa itself. I could
have saved a lot of explaining had I known!
We
arrived at La Spezia Centrale at 09:50 and I rushed to buy the 09:55 ticket to
Riomaggiore. I managed to get the ticket and rushed down the stairs to the
platform for the train and boarded it huffing and panting. It was only an
8-minute train ride to Riomaggiore and the train was simply packed. It was like
the whole of Liguria had descended upon Cinque Terre today. I got down,
wandered over to the information centre before walking back and finding signs
to La Via Dell’Amore which links Riomaggiore to the next village, Manarola.
There was a small group of German (!) hikers and the bloke told me that the
path was closed. Oh boy.
I
turned and kind of followed them up the village. I sighted a couple coming down
and waited for them to ask directions to Manarola. It turned out they were also
tourists/visitors who were staying in Cinque Terre. They didn’t know the way
although the bloke said I could hike and showed me the barely discernible
figures climbing up the distant hill behind us. I asked if he knew the way to
the trail and he shrugged. I thanked them and seeing a few other hikers,
decided to follow them.
To be continued
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