Pointy Rock-Day 119-May 9th, 2018

Today was an early start, but not absurdly early like yesterday morning. My train from Milan to Monterosso was at 8:10. The station was also less then a ten minute subway ride from my hostel.

I got up a little before 7:00 this morning. I didn’t even need my earplugs or eye mask last night, all the people in my were quiet and in bed at normal times. Still, I didn’t get my best sleep.

The hostel offered a free breakfast which I took full advantage of after packing up my stuff. I find that hostel breakfasts are pretty universal regardless of what country you’re in. It usually involves: bread, a toaster, corn flakes, some crappy pastry, and coffee. I can’t complain about a free breakfast though. As long as I can get something in my stomach, it works for me.

After eating somewhat quickly, I checked out and headed to the subway station. I had a little trouble finding the right subway line at first, but made it to the rail station without any problems. I found an open seat on my train and quickly decided a nap would be nice. This would make my three hour train ride fly.

The Train Station

I used to think that no one could be louder than a group of American teenagers, but I am very wrong. Congrats Italian teenagers, you have taken the crown! There must have been a school trip or something because these teenagers were loud as heck. I drifted in and out of sleep as a result and gave up after two hours. The last part of the train went quickly and offered some nice views.

The Italian Countryside

Before I knew it, we had arrived in Monterosso al Mare, one of the five cities that make up le Cinque Terre. It was drizzling out, but not too bad. My cousin Karen texted me saying they had landed in Munich, but their flight to Pisa had been cancelled. They would be arriving around 10:00 at night instead of around 1:00 PM.

While sad that I was losing some time with my extended family, I am very used to travelling alone making it not a huge deal. I wanted to head to the hotel first and explain they would be arriving late, plus see if I could drop off my bag. I randomly found the owner outside and explained the situation. He was very understanding and gave me one of the room keys. He said that they were cleaning up the room, but I could drop off my bag for now. I also would be able to use the room once they finished cleaning.

With my bag dropped off, I went to eat some lunch before exploring for a bit. I didn’t feel like having a sit down lunch, so I got some pesto gnocchi to go from a random place.

My gnocchi

This stuff was delicious and I found a nice bench to sit at while eating it. With a stomach full of pasta, I set off to explore the tiny coastal town.

Here are my favorite parts:

Pointy Rock aka the main attraction of this town in my opinion

Some more beach pictures

Thought this was very cool, a pillbox from World War II

Tunnel Vision

Tiny Rocks (This was not a very sandy beach)

Pointy Rock Close Up

View from climbing to the top of the pointy rock

After a lot of wandering, I was getting tired and headed to the hotel room to take a nap and shower. The room was super nice and I can’t even tell you how nice the shower was compared to my sit down one. Starting off in a hostel on a trip is great for making hotels/airbnbs seem even nicer.

After a nice nap, I woke up feeling hungry again. I got changed and headed out to find food. The hotel is in the middle of everything, so I didn’t need to walk far. I ended up finding a place with cheap pizza and got my food to go. Why sit alone in a restaurant when I could find a bench with spectacular views. I ate my pizza with prosciutto while watching the sea.

Pizza and a view

The pizza was alright, but my overall dinner experience was really nice. I sat for a while once I finished.

I headed back to the hotel room to relax and type up my blog for the day. The hotel owner stopped by at some point to give me the key for the second room and explain everything else. Even though this technically a hotel, there are probably less than five rooms. The owner is super nice and the rooms even nicer.

Around 11 PM, my cousins and aunt finally arrived. I think the hotel owner was getting suspicious of me beforehand, because he kept coming to the room to ask me questions and take pictures of my passport. For all he knew, I swindled him out of two hotel rooms without paying. Luckily my family came shortly afterwards.

I found them by the parking garage and brought them back to the hotel room. The owner was waiting for us and frankly seemed surprise that I actually knew the people staying in the hotel. My cousin Karen joked that she had never seen me before, which was funny.

They were hungry so we stopped at a bar for some light food. This was the only place that open and I could tell everyone was starving. When we got back, everyone headed to bed.