Ken and Elise's trip

Day 22: Cinque Terre

This day carried the most crushing disappointment of the trip so far--at least for me. Ken and I had each picked a special event for the trip that was to be our big choice. He had no trouble picking his--he wanted to do the tour through the fjords in Norway. We did that and it was all that we could have dreamed.

I chose Angelo’s Boat Tour in Cinque Terre. It receives wildly positive reviews on Tripadvisor and is listed as a “must see”. It is expensive, but everyone says it is worth it. You are taken out on a small fishing boat for a 4-5 hours cruise around the 5 villages of Cinque Terre. Since you are out to sea, you can get photos that would be impossible from the villages themselves--and can get photos of several villages at once. Along the way you are fed fabulous munchies prepared by Angelo’s American wife, Paula. Angelo stops the boat at a place where those who want to can climb on cliffs and dive into the ocean (no I was not considering that). When it is all over, the tour ends with a meal at an absolutely fantastic restaurant in Monterossa. I wanted to go on this trip more than words can say.

I went to considerable work to get it lined up. I arranged our time in CT so that we would be there on a Sunday--the last day practicable to stay if we were to see all the rest of what we want to see. I thought it would work out great--we would get to CT on Friday--do the villages, spend my Sabbath a bit quietly at the hotel I had booked in Deiva Marina and on Sunday we would do the fabulous boat tour.

I emailed Angelo to confirm a date and was horrified to be told by return mail that Sunday was already booked totally--how about Saturday--they had that open. I could not believe it as I was booking weeks in advance. Although I was tempted badly, I knew Saturday wouldn’t work for me as that is my holy day and I knew the alcohol would flow fairly freely on this tour and while I have no problem with that at all, it just doesn’t work for keeping a day “holy”. One of the biggest temptations I have had to face in a long time, I tell you. But knowing that there’s no point in calling yourself Christian only when it’s convenient and letting your standards fall just because you really really want to go on a trip makes you a hypocrite, I eventually made the agonizing decision to forgo the trip,

But wait! There’s more! Brenda, who does the scheduling, knowing my bitter disappointment came up with a great suggestion. She had some spots left in Friday. Was there any way we could be at the harbor by 11 a.m. when the boat would leave. I did some frantic recalculating and found that by getting up at 4:30 a.m. and catching an early train from Rome, we could make it! Ken was very glad to do it as he knew how much it meant to me.

So--we dragged ourselves bleary eyed onto the train that Friday morning. We were almost the only people on the several hour train trip--at least when it started. The train rolled into Monterossa at 10:05 and we raced to find the harbor and the tour. Now it must be said that Ken kept trying to warn me all the way on the train that it did look like rain. But I refused to believe that this tour could possibly be cancelled. I wanted it too much!

But we we arrived at the tour start place, we were the only ones there. We had dragged our suitcases along as there had been no time to check into our hotel and still get to the tour. Brenda had told us that we could leave them on the terrace during the tour and they would be safe. So there we were in beautiful--and I mean beautiful--Monterossa standing forlornly at the tour sign. Ken suggested that I ring the bell at least which I did. An extremely friendly lady came out with an adorable dog at her heels. Turned out she was Paula, the American wife. She said they had emailed us earlier that morning that the tour was cancelled due to stormy weather. Of course Ken and I had been on the train with no email access. She could see my almost tearful disappointment and immediately became sympathetic. “Believe me, we don’t like having to cancel either,” she said. “We lose a whole day’s income.”

We stood there a minute or two watching the sky which was becoming sunnier by the moment. Suddenly another man popped up. Pierre (his name) had come to sort of beg her too--pointing out that it was looking nicer out. Seems Pierre had a group of four who really wanted to go, So after a minute or two, Paula called Angelo who was out in his boat. Great news! Angelo said if it continued to improve and wasn’t raining at noon we would go then! I was THRILLED! Paula told us to drop off our suitcases on the terrace, wander around a bit and come back at noon.

Promptly at 11:50 we were haunting the area. We sat on a sea wall and watched Angelo and his brother-in-law (I think) scrub the boat. We watched as Paula started carrying snacks and drinks out, dog still at her heels. I was sure now that we were going to go! The weather was a little iffy but I wanted it so badly that I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t happen,

At noon Paula said the happy words. “We’re going!” She advised Ken and me to get rain jackets if we had them just in case and to hurry as Angelo thought we better get the show on the road as he didn’t like the weather reports for later in the day. Ken and I raced to get our jacket and we were ready to board! Brother-in-law helped me on board (a bit of a feat but I did it) and Ken got on easily. We sat there with the biggest grins you can imagine on our faces. We were going!!!!!!

And then it all fell apart. It seemed that Pierre and his little group weren’t too sure about the looks of the weather. They had seen me ungracefully get into the boat and since one of their number had had a stroke recently, they weren’t too sure about him trying to get aboard. They dithered and dithered. Finally I heard Paula say---”so none of you want to go?” “I guess not,” said Pierre. My heart felt like a rock had been thrown hard into it. We all stood there uncertainly and then Angelo looked at me and said unenthusiastically “So, do you want to go--I can take just the two of you,”

Now, YES, I wanted to go. More that I can say. I had looked forward to this for weeks and weeks! It was my big event for this trip. But how could I make this man take just Ken and me out?? He would lose a huge amount of money doing the tour for just two people. So Ken and I did the right thing and told him we couldn’t let him lose that amount of money. He looked pretty relieved and didn’t try to argue with us at all--for which I don’t blame him a bit.

So it was over. We weren’t going. Paula did try to make up for it the best she could though, She brought the snacks out and put them on a bench and we all gathered around and ate them and chatted, Even Ken, the most charitable of men, said he couldn’t believe that she served them to Pierre and his group--the ones who had assured her they were going and caused her to race to make them. I was shocked that Pierre and his group ate them! I would thought they would make an excuse and leave. But nope, they stood there merrily eating and drinking away, I must say it was a pretty good time on the beach laughing together and listening to Paula’s stories (Angelo had gone to take the boat back out for some fishing), She filled us in on how she, a girl from San Francisco, came to meet Angelo, a lifelong Italian and marry him.

Paula did tell us something that became vitally important to us though--she told us there would be a train strike on Sunday. That piece of information was God-sent. Even though it was announced at the train station, Ken and I can’t hear the announcements that well, and when we can they are often almost unintelligible with the accented English. Had we not known this piece of information, our entire Cinque Terre trip would have been spoiled. More on that later.

With the tour off the schedule, there really wasn’t much else to do but get our bags from Paula and catch the train to Deiva Marina and find our hotel.

That turned out to be another of our horrible experiences in trying to find our lodging. By the time we got to Deiva, it was raining cats and dogs. Blessed Ken (still recovering from his horrific cold) left me under shelter and went off to try to find the place. I stood for what seemed like hours before he came back and said he had found it finally. He had walked and walked and walked---through pouring rain--only to find that it was only a quarter mile or so from where he had left me (he had misunderstood directions bypassers had given).

We arrived at the hotel to be greeted as though we were family by the absolutely wonderful lady at the desk who spoke almost no English but managed to portray her distress at our wetness, her desire to get us dried off and comfortable, and instructions that we were to come to eat pretty soon but get some sleep first!

We were to find that this treatment would be the norm at this absolute dream of a hotel.

After cleaning up a bit, sleeping a little, we went out to find that the hotel no longer served dinners as their season was over, but we were directed to a very nice restaurant where we had a decent dinner.

It had been a heartbreaker of a day, but the hotel was going to prove to be an experience that would make up for a lot of disappointment before we left.

End of Day 22