Day Forty-Four - Hatton Cross, London - Manarola, Cinque Terra, Italy

We were up at five-thirty and caught the six o’clock “hop on, hop off” bus to Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. The bus was chaotic with people and bags scrambled throughout and one German chap having strong opinions about how disorganised it all was. The bus driver let everyone sort out their own problems and simply drove the bus. It took us no time to get through the self-serve check-in at British Airways and through security to the other side. It was about seven fifteen when we sat down to breakfast and had our first cuppa for the day. The flight to Pisa was an interesting one as it flew across central France, over the snow-capped Swiss Alps of which we had stunning views then turned to fly into Pisa. The pilot said there were on-going congestion problems flying in a straight line to Pisa.
Travelling within the European Union is easy and we were soon out of Pisa passport control with our bags and sorted out the train system. Thankfully, the train ticket seller within the Pisa Airport spoke English and we managed to get one ticket for the entire trip from Pisa to Manarola. We had to change trains at La Spezia and once again at Riomaggiore arriving at Manarola at three thirty. It was a sunny afternoon and the place was busy with tourists. We found our friendly, young Italian renting agent in the only main street and she walked us up a steep lane to our little apartment. Brian found this one on the internet and it is in a great position with views over the harbour out to sea and up the hills and the main street.
We spent a couple of hours just strolling around getting our bearings and taking in the wonderful scenery.
The agent suggested dinner at a trattoria called ‘Dal Billy’ (www.trattoriabilly.com) as it was the only place in town which made its own pasta. It was only five minutes away further up the lane, tiny with options for inside or outside dining. As it was a lovely balmy evening we opted for the outside area as it had stunning views over the sea. The recommended dish was a tomato based pasta with local lobster and I had the local Cinque Terra wine. The meal was exquisite. We went to bed happy, little bunnies.
Photos: The view from our balcony with the main street in the middle and the lane we walk up to our unit; Henk looking very Italian; Me with our unit behind. Our little deck can be seen above the pink house’s pointed roof on the left.