I have no idea how I figured out the bus to Portovenere today. Perhaps a little intuition, a little travel experience, and a little guidance from St. Francis ( he may not be my patron saint, but I consider him so). I took the train to la Spezia, easy enough, but then I had to find piazza Garibaldi. Once again, no map. I walked and walked, not sure where to turn, but I noticed a busy piazza and turned toward it. Success. Now, where to find the bus stop. I saw a few buses go by, so I walked toward that street and eventually saw a bus stop. There were two different time tables, one listed Portovenere. There was a group of French tourists, so in half English half Italian and their broken English I found that they too were waiting for the bus to Portovenere. The bus ride was wild. I stood the whole time so I could see all the hillside views as we went along the coastal cliffs. It was a very steep and winding road and I was getting flung around every which way. We reached Portovenere and walked into town, lovely colorful buildings lining the water, backed with two churches and a castle. I walked along the water to the furthest church, Chiesa di San Pietro, an old stone building on the cliff. Also checked out the pretty little grotto below. Then I walked to the other church of San Lorenzo, and from there up to Castello Doria, with beautiful views of the sea and all the surrounding villages and islands. After that I walked around the little streets with all the shops. I ended up buying some pesto, but after buying found out it had to be refrigerated. Oh well, figured I'd just eat it today, even though I just had a sandwich for lunch. I decided to head back to Manarola, but even though I figured out how to get to Portovenere, I could not figure out how to leave. I ended up deciding to take a boat. A little pricier, but a different view of the area, which was nice. Refreshing to be out on the water too. Returned to the hostel to find closed, so I decided to buy a piece of greasy Genovese focaccia to dip into the creamiest pesto I've ever had. Very cheesy, salty, garlicky, lighter in color. Shame that I don't get to bring it back with me, but at least I had my fill. I think.
I attempted to hike up to one of the sanctuaries in the area. Took one hike which went toward Corniglia but then turned back into town, so I tried the other trail, which goes up the mountain and away from the coast, which was pretty tough, but I had no idea how far it went and I was hiking for quite a while before I decided I should head back. Hopefully tomorrow I can do some more hiking.
