Where?? I hear you all ask. Cinque Terre translates to 5 Villages. It is a UNESCO World Heritage listed National Park & it consists of the villages of Rio Maggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Varnazzo & Monterosso. The villages are all linked by a 9km long hike amongst the hills & clifftop vineyards.We were dropped off in La Spezia & caught the train a whopping 8 minutes to the first (or the last depending where you start) town - Rio Maggiore. It, like all the other towns, is a beautiful little hillside village looking out over the Italian Riviera...& when I say hillside, I mean steep, like mountain! We were lucky enough to be staying in one of many rooms owned by a local man which was only 50 meters from the beach.
Now, before I go on, I need to qualify the term beach. We are talking European beach, so not a grain of sand in sight. The beach was a small stretch of rocks...the kind of rocks that require a 2 inch thick foam mattress to be able to sunbake. That didn't seem to bother the hundreds of beachgoers who dragged their foam mats, rubber-soled neoprene "socks" designed for walking on the rocks without burning/cutting your tootsies & coconut oil (yes, still massive in Euorope - seems so 80's) & made a day of it. We did give it a go but all it did was make Andrew homesick!
So we headed to the shop grabbed some supplies & cooked a hot meal (yes, we had a kitchen!!)....very nice. The next morning we embarkerd on the 9km walk. We left early to try & get most of it under our belt before the heat of the midday sun. We caught the train to the last town, Monterosso. It was lovely to see the beach so empty & peaceful, just rows & rows of beach chairs waiting for the professional sunbakers to invade the beach.
There was quite a bit of cloud cover for most of the morning & the sea was eery & grey. Then the cluds lifted, the sun came out & the water glistened & shone. It was beautiful walking among the hillside vineyards & looking down at the ocean or over the rooftops. The trail took us through each of the little villages. I would have to say that Varnazzo was the favourite but really, they were all so charming & cute. The sadest part was that most didn't actually have a beach (not even a stone beach). Instead the locals would lay out on the boat ramps. How weird. Can you imagine doing that in Australia? "Come on kids, lets go to the "beach", lay our towels on the boat ramp & sunbake all day!". It just wouldn't happen! Another reason why we count ourselves so lucky to live in Australia!
Before we knew it, it was time move on again. This time, back into France....Nice, to be exact! The drive into Nice was pretty spectacular as it took in Monaco at dusk. All those super yachts bobbing in the harbour, you could smell the money from the bus! The first thing we did in Nice was our laundry. The machine in the laundry mat took our money & wouldn't give it back. We had to get the rather reluctant manager to come & reset it which ended up working in our favour cos it spat out ALL our money & started our machine aswell. Sweet, free washing! Now, it has to be said that Nice doesn't have the best beach in the world - sand wise. The water on the other hand was spectacular - the bluest I have ever seen. I could have sat & stared at it for hours but we had a date with Monaco.
Of course Monaco is famous for it's millionaires, mega-yachts & Monte Carlo Casino but we were also there to walk the Formula 1 track. The first thing I noticed is how steep & narrow the streets are. I have no idea how those cars get themselves around it let alone at the speeds they do. I can't wait to watch next years race to reminisce about the streets......you know, "oh my god, I've been there!!".
The track took us up to the world famous casino & before you ask, no we didn't even attempt to go in. Not only does it cost you 10 Euro, the security would have taken one look at us & kicked us not only only out of the casino but out of the sovereign state of Monaco! Remember, we are feral backpackers....& sadly getting more feral by the day!
It has to be said that the real show was out the front anyway. The money that breezed in & out of the place was mind boggling though. Every second car was a Maserati & we spent nearly 2 hours just walking round & round the roundabout infront of the casino checking out & drooling all over the cars. On second thought, if we had rolled up in a Maserati I'm sure the Casino staff would have let us in wearing a Borat man-kini or toga! It's not just the cars that made us drool, the yachts in the marina were equally impressive. We played that fun family game, pick your super yacht......sadly some random couple showed up & boarded the one I picked so I lost! It was pretty sexy though...sleek & black, complete with matching jet skis & a welcome mat with the name of the boat on it. Oh well, better luck next time.
On out last day in Nice, we actually went out on a little excursion (read: booze cruise) to St. Tropez. Well, cruise is a bit of a loose term. Of the roughly 9 hour excursion, 4 hours were spent on the bus getting there & back, 1.5 hours was spent at a random sea side town called Port Gramaud, 2 hours was spent in St Tropez itself & the balance was spent on the boat. So by my calculations we spent about an hour & a half on the cruise. However, the time we did have on the boat was cool. I mentioned it was a booze cruise & indeed we did get to drink all we could stomach whilst on board. We also had a running commentary of the mansions we were passing from some random Irish guy (who, incidentally, claimed to have been the guy that the photo of Princess Diana kissing Dhodi before the world even knew they were an item....bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!). We did get to see some pretty impressive mansions belonging to the likes of Bryan Adams, George Michael, the Hilton family, the Heinekin family etc and we were informed that staying in town at the time were Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson & Kristin Stewart. Sadly, we didn't manage to spot anyone famous but it cool to sticky beak into the yards of the rich & famous.
Once we arrived in St Tropez, we headed straight for the biggest yacht we could find - Lionheart. It was massive! At this point Andrew had a few beers under his belt & somehow he managed to coax out of one of the staff members to tell him what the yacht would set him back - should he ever be inthe market.....the guy looked around before leaning down over the side of the yacht & whispering "$1million per metre". "How many metres is it then?" asked Andrew.......60 came the hushed response! Holy Hell.....how does one ever have that kind of disposable income to be able to say "Hmmmm, think I'll go out the weekend & pick myself up a $60 million mega-yacht!". The scariest part was that tied to the back of Lionheart was a sleek little speedboat (called Lioncub - sweet right!!)......ummmm, $40 million!! We skulked away feeling slightly inadequate. About 20 minutes later we were making our way back past Lionheart when we noticed a leather armchair & matching ottoman set up at the bottom of the gang plank (I spose that's what it's called!). Next to the armchair was a timber box & it was all layed out on a lovely rug. As we got up next to it the "lady of the super yacht" walked off the boat, positioned herself on the armchair, selected a pair of sneakers out of the box, put them on & went running off down the marina accompanied by her personal trainer. Sooooo freakin weird!!
And so ended our small glimpse into the lives of the rich & famous. We frumped our way back to our boat (which was a dog) & consoled ourselves with the thought that at least we would be able to drink as much free "Captain's Punch" (a disgusting mix of cheap red wine & sangria) as we could stomach on the trip home!!!
Photo: A posh person's dog having a ball.....chasing a ball!!
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