Ligurian coast - Doubtful pleasure
I dreamed of seeing Cinque Terra for a very long time, I just buzzed my husband's ears with this place! And now we have a vacation and we go first to the Cote d'Azur, and then to the Ligurian coast. Since the trip was planned quite quickly, then all the normal rooms in the suburbs were sold out, or the price for a room with a shared shower started from 150 euros per night, then we decided to stay in Genoa - as a starting point. We stayed at starhotels president 4 *, its main advantages for the period of booking were the location and price! (all reviews can be found on booking. com). So Genoa is a very contrasting city, everything is mixed there - beautiful houses with ordinary buildings, and ancient architecture with LED advertising of colorful flowers, mountains of garbage, gobies everywhere, the feeling that you will be robbed now, a lot of refugees from Africa, everything something not neat, after visiting this city there is a completely different opinion about Italy. Two years ago we were in Rome/Florence/Venice and then I fell in love with everything here!! ! And now everything was exactly the opposite. Restaurants in Genoa are something separate, we didn’t get into a couple recommended by tripadviser - no matter how they came, they were closed - either a siesta, or Tuesday is a hard day! Italians are generally lazy, but in this part of the country very much! Out of everything we've tried, the pizza is the best! Pasta is a dubious pleasure, vermicelli at home is even tastier !! ! There is a lot of ice cream everywhere - it's delicious! And there are a lot of lounge bars - they constantly drink cocktails, it is always crowded there, and not by tourists, but by locals. There was a problem with wi-fi in the city - in the hotel, in all the cafes where he was (wifi is not available everywhere, so ask! Even at McDonald's it requires registration through an Italian phone number or credit card !!!! ) now about the beaches of the city limits - their beaches are paid, the issue price is from 10-15 euros, in the entire bay near Corso Italia there is only one public beach of a very small size! And there’s just nowhere to spit, people are like sprats in a jar - a towel next to a towel, and by 12.00 there are so many people that there simply isn’t a passage to the water and everyone starts walking on your bedding with their feet and talking googly, while many smoke and all the smoke in your face!! ! That's just terrible! And I forgot to say, maybe someone doesn’t know under their feet everywhere PEBLES, stones, sand are nowhere to be found !!!
Now about transport it costs ~1.60 per 100min trip, you can transfer from one transport to another during this time.
So then we decided that it was worth leaving for the surroundings, as one more day in Genoa and we would go crazy. We left for Rapallo-Santa Margarita-Portofino. There is a completely different environment, quiet, clean, nice! We started buying Genoa-Rapallo tickets (3.40 euros one way), got off in Santa Margherita and took the bus 82 for 3 euros to Portofino, there we walked a beautiful place, a lot of greenery, clean air, many yachts, small colorful houses! Voobshem beautiful! We went back on foot at the siesta bus, but it’s not far to walk ~ 5km, especially since the views are beautiful, and many walk on foot (you can also rent a bike there, the price is from 8-12 euros, depending on the rental time) on the way back to the bay with they wanted to swim with a beautiful view, but again the beach is paid, but on a public piece of 3 * 3m where a lot of people didn’t want to, we went further, and on the way to Santa Margarita there is a large enough beach area between two paid beaches where you can lie down for a swim !! ! The town itself is very quiet, with no special attractions, except for yachts. Further trip to Rapallo is a port city, you can’t take much from it, the beaches are $.
The next day we left for a meeting with the Cinque Terra, this is such a reserve with five beautiful fishing villages between which there is a path of love! Monterosso - Vernazza - Corniglia - Manarola - Riomaggiore. We bought tickets Genoa - Riomaggiore (directions La Spezia, price 6.80 one way, drive about 2 hours). We went to Monterosso because we wanted to meet this five as soon as possible! The beach in the town is a very small pebble, it's nice to go into the water, it still shines very interestingly, flickers! The water is clear, beautiful shades of green and turquoise! We go further - the information center for tourists at the station, all tickets to the reserve are bought there, I communicate with this employee and he says that only one section of the trail is open, the rest are closed because a woman died the day before, fell off the path (Monterosso-Vernazza section, time on the way 1.5 hours, price 7.50 per person). To my question why the price of passage does not change, given that only one section is open, I did not receive an answer! We decided to take a boat that runs between the towns every hour and enjoy the views from the sea. A boat ticket for the whole day round trip costs 17 euros (day pass), after reading all the combinations, I realized that it would be better for us to take one way with stops for 12.50 euros. But in the info center they told us that we need a dei pass! Be careful at every step trying to cheat! The boat turned out to be a very good option, you can go out in any town except Corniglia (it is in the mountains, on a rock) for a walk and sit back to another village! We liked Manarolla the most, a very beautiful town, gorgeous views, charming lagoons, a delicious restaurant, seafood!
But even in the restaurant we were shortchanged by 5 euros, well, or we just didn’t understand something, they bring bread to everyone in a basket right away, we decided that this was a compliment from the institution, but in the check it appeared as a 5 euro compliment from the institution)) Be carefull! Our conclusion after the trip is that Italy is not a country for a beach holiday, there are too many inconveniences, and a little expensive! Like a gastro tour in any other region except Liguria - yes, but not anytime soon!
