Denouement Diaries

Essentially the ramblings of two adults that probably require adult supervision.

As usual, follow along at:

And follow along HERE, of course…

Anyway, let's get into it:

9/11/23 - Day 274: Zaragoza —> Madrid

Had a bit of a sleep in.
Then rolled out, packed up and threw bags in to the car.
The garage, by the way, is in the middle of the old town through which I had to precariously drive yesterday to get there. Felt like I was driving down footpaths.
Went and had some breakfast at the cafe next door.
Tomato service. Forgot things from the order. Rude. Ahhhh, Spain…
Went for a walk up the Main Street and Casey did some funky clothes shopping.
Ended with a box full of empanadas for the drive.
Back to the car.
Got moving by around 1300.
Not as long a drive.
Found our place near the airport - interesting little hotel, we had to check in via the nicer hotel across the road. But it was clean and very good.
Got some food delivered.
Started watching ‘Ferdinand’ given we were back in Madrid.

10/11/23 - Day 275: Madrid —> Cinqueterre

Big travel day.
Up early.
Fuelled up the car.
Dropped the car off at the airport rental place.
In to the airport. Through security. Random shoes on/off decisions by security…
Coffees.
To the gate.
Tomato people lining up for hundreds of metres before the gate even opened.
Random seating arrangements for Casey and I on the budget flight - we are testing a theory that if you don’t pay extra to “choose your seats” the airline will purposefully seats you apart…
And lots of coughs and sniffles are showing up - so Casey and I wore masks for the first time in a long time.
Landed in Milan.
To the airport train station.
Our train had been cancelled - no reasons given.
So had some coffees and snacks for a minute. Then caught a different train to Milano Cadorna station.
And had to Uber across town to Milano Centrale station.
Where we had some nice coffees. The station is actually very nice.
Then jumped on the train after our originally scheduled train as the airport cancellation had us behind schedule. Except we didn’t have assigned seats for this train so we wandered aimlessly until we found some stools.
That train got us to the coast. Where we changed to the coastal line for a couple of hours.
And finally we stopped in Manarola by around 1930.
Just us and a little Italian Nonna got off the train.
Wandered through the tunnel into the little town.
And everything was shut.
We had decided to go straight for food because we thought this might be the case in the off season.
But the only place with lights on we could see told us they weren’t serving dinner.
So we walked up the hill and found our accomodation.
Bit bummed we weren’t going to eat.
Threw bags in and decided we may as well go for a walk in the town for a look around just in case.
And luckily found a restaurant open on the waterfront!!
And it was excellent.
Vey long day luckily salvaged by some food.

11/11/23 - Day 276: Manarola

Big sleep in. It is very dark in our cave accomodation…
We wandered the town and found some coffees.
More coffees
Wandered around the point along the coastal path.
Did some grocery shopping.
And had some takeaway pasta in the evening.
Read lots.
Sat on the terrace outside our accomodation and watched the sun and waves.
Was good.
I learned that Casey had not seen ‘Nobody’ so I figured that watching it on Netflix would be easier than initiating divorce proceedings so we did that…

12/11/23 - Day 277: Cinqueterre

Cooked up some eggs and pork for breakfast.
Then wandered down in to Town for some coffees.
Before heading up to the train station and rolling a couple of towns along to Vernazza.
Had a look around.
Went up the old fortress tower.
Had some coffees while waiting for the next train.
Which we caught one back to Corniglia.
Went up the 400 steps to the town.
Looked around. Lots of beautiful high lookouts.
Then found a nice restaurant for lunch run by lovely old women.
Excellent pasta.
Grabbed some ice cream for the walk - which probably didn’t meet Italian standards…
And back down the steps.
Caught the train back to Manarola.
Grabbed some more pasta for dinner.
And back up the hill to our accomodation.
Watched ‘Luca’ because we are effectively staying where it is set. Is cute.

13/11/23 - Day 278: Cinqueterre

Slept in.
Went down to the coffee shop but happened to just miss breakfast time. So had some coffees.
And then checked the times for the train to Riomaggiore.
Went to the station after some coffees and bought tickets from the machine.
The error here was not inserting the paper ticket into the hole punch machines on the wall to ‘validate’ the ticket that we had just purchased for a specific train…
Which meant that getting off the train in Riomaggiore we were fined about 100 Euros…
Very bullshit.
Our fault, I suppose.
But all based on a stupid tomato brained system - digital purchase, paper receipt of purchase, but without a hole punch in the paper, not ‘valid’ for travel…
Very annoying.
Much frustration.
Lesson learned.
Begrudgingly had a wander around Riomaggiore.
And had lunch at a little restaurant.
Before heading back to the train station to go to the main destination, La Spezia.
We hole punched the tickets this time…
Wandered down the Main Street of La Spezia, bit of a bigger town.
And did a bit of shopping. Casey upgraded a bag to a carry on size roller - which should combine two of her soft bags into the one.
And I got myself a coat.
Then wandered.
Had some coffee.
Originally the plan was for Casey to go to a Pole Class at 1830 but we realised we would be waiting around for a very long time with not much to do. So cancelled that and got a train back to Manarola.
And grabbed some pasta and watched ‘Better Call Saul’.

14/11/23 - Day 279: Manarola

Last day in Manarola.
Bit dull and overcast.
Sleep in.
Cooked some eggs for breakfast.
Then slow coffees in the Main Street.
Tried some ice cream - was surprisingly shit. I think something that unfortunately happens in destination towns like this is that poor quality and lack of effort can go unpunished - because there is nowhere else to get food…
Anyways went for a walk up the terraces. Very cool views down on the town.
Then retreated to the accomodation for a while for some admin time - Casey is sorting lots of Pole for next year…
Had a late lunch/dinner thing in one of the little restaurants. Where, unfortunately, I was clearly served microwaved pasta….
Otherwise retreated back to our cave.
Watched Disney movies…

15/11/23 - Day 280: Manarola —> Levanto

Up and packed out.
Had breakfast down in a cafe For a while.
Read for a little bit waiting for the train.
Then caught the train a few stops up to Levanto.
Very short trip.
We were a little early for check in so wandered down in to town. Had a look at the waterfront. There were actually some waves so there was what looked like the ‘surfers of Italy’ having a crack. They were not good. But they were having a go.
Stopped and had some fizzy drinks while we messaged the host to try and check in a little early.
Found our way to the crazy host lady waiting outside the building.
Up a few lifts and it is a pretty nice apartment.
It has a washing machine…
We wandered back down in to town to find some lunch.
Which is where we started to realise that ‘off season’ means something very specific in mediterranean Europe.
The kitchens are shut. So often just sandwiches only.
Or the restaurants are literally shuttered “…until next year…”
And unfortunately, the restaurants that are open don’t have to try very hard, so the food is honestly not that good.
The whole town is like this.
Shuttered.
We had a walk and some coffees and thought about it for a while.
We had 5 nights booked here. The weather today is nice, but there is nothing open and nothing to do.
Should we just go do a few days in Milan?
So we sort of planned to spend two nights here then bug out.
Went to the grocery corner store (when they woke up from their afternoon nap) and got some snacks.
Watched some ‘Better Call Saul’.

Stay tuned...