At 8am our flight from Berlin landed at Bergamo's small regional airport. Bergamo is just to the east of Milan. We picked up our rental car and headed southwest towards our destination--the Cinque Terre. Surprisingly, no international drivers license is required, nor the command of the Italian language! No need to read or understand road signs guys--who needs that?! Welcome to Italia!Driving on Italy's autostrada proved much easier than one might expect. In addition, there are many Servicios where one can partake in the needed espresso infusion--affordable at .90eu per dose. The food is also amazing at some of these stops, especially in comparison with the crap they serve in the States at the comparable roadside Oasis.
After several hours on the autostrada and another hour spent driving down the mountain, we happily abandoned our rental car. Precariously, we parked it on the edge of the road. I emphasize "edge," Paul literally had to climb out of the passenger door because of the drop off. We were not far from town, already having driven down to the point where Paul hoped to find parking--forever the optimist. The area was manned by two tall and seemingly unfriendly locals who yelled something at us in Italian, which I interpreted as, "Turn around you dumb fuckers! For Christ's sake, can't you see the lot is full! Very animated, they gestured for us to go back from where we came.
Once back up the road, I donned my backpack and what I thought to be my essentials. This was not without a lot of lip from Paul and regardless of the fact that I was the one carrying the load. I am a devout advocate of every person being responsible for their own bags. Paul, however, insisted on leaving all his gear in the car until after we had secured a room. He wanted to be carefree and would return later to retrieve his bags. I preferred to have my stuff on my person, not feeling at all confident that the car would be where we left it upon our return.
After some serious feet pounding we reached Vernazza. I felt really self-conscious and like such a dumb tourist as we schlepped around sussing out the best possible rooms available. Eventually, we settled on a second floor flat with a kitchen. The Italians drive a hard bargain, unrelenting on price, very unlike the playfulness we experienced in Bali. There is no morning price or deductions for good luck. We booked 4 nights and were only able to get the price reduced on two of the nights from 85eu to 75eu. We were assured it was a very good price. The price was lowered only after the owner got permission from his wife.
