We are staying in Riomaggiore – one of the Cinque Terre. We rented an Airbnb from Rosanna & Sylvestre. They call the place Guilia (pronounced similar to Julie’s actual name – Julia) named after there daughter.
They are the nicest couple. Neither spoke very much english but they were extremely friendly and helpful. Rosanna was born in Riomaggiore – don’t know about Sylvestre. In any case, Sylvestre met us and carried the suitcases up and down the steep stairways to the apartment. They then spent quite a bit of time with us. They left us with a lot of snacks, a bottle of Prosecco, some water and a large beer.
I generally use Google Maps to find my way around but it doesn’t work here. First of all Google Maps only shows the main roads. It doesn’t indicate all the alleyways and stairways that thread through this town. Secondly, when you are in those narrow pathways the satellite visibility is limited. Google Maps only has a rough idea as to where you are and you often appear to be wandering around on the map even when you’re standing perfectly still.
Needless to say we got lost the first evening we were here. However, we happened to pass three elderly (probably younger than us) Italian women, sitting on a bench. When we mentioned the name Guilia, they knew exactly who we were talking about and one of them got up and showed us the way.
We spent our first day (today) in Riomaggiore. It threatened to rain all day but nothing until around 3 pm when we got a message from Rosanna & Sylvestre. They said it was going start storming around 8 pm and suggested we either get takeaway or go to one of 5 restaurants that they listed – because those restaurants would be open but others might not. It turns out we had tried to get into one of the 5 restaurants the night before but needed a reservation so made one for 6:30 pm tonight – the night of the storm. Just as we finished and paid our bill it started to rain; we managed to get home before the rain got really serious.
WR Foster 