The past few days have been quite a wild adventure!
After Pisa and Luca, I had a nice, flat, straight ride up the coast in the morning. I was feeling confident, so when the coast turned mountainous, I opted to take the scenic road through Montemarcello Park to Lèrici. For some reason my map didn't show the first 250m climb that was squeezed into 5km of road. Or the second ascent of 100m in 3km. Fortunately, the road was incredibly beautiful, with panoramic views of the Ocean, montains, Viareggio (where I had come from) and La Spezia (where I was headed). Even so, when I reached my campsite at Lèrici I nearly collapsed. Fortunately, the campsite was perched above a georgeous little Mediteranean cove, and there was a ladder down to the water. I didn't even bother taking my bike clothes off before diving into the water.
The mountains surrounding the cove were completely wooded, with only the tiny villiage of Serra visible 200m above. There wasn't really a beach, the mountains just plunged straight into the ocean. There were a couple boulder-islands in the cove, so I swam out to one and contemplated my trip. I decided that the coast was much more beautiful from the water, and that this might be the time to cheat a little: there is a boat service from Lèrici to Cinque Terre to Genova.
Lèrici is the most delightful town I've been too. It is built right onto the side of the mountain, so most of the streets are actually stair-cases. All the appartments and shops are pink and yellow and orange with dark green shutters, and they are stacked on top of one another so that I can barely believe they don't just fall into the ocean. Everyone in the city and at the campeggio was sooo friendly, and I made a couple friends who gave me lots advice on the logistics of seeing Cinque Terre by boat.
Porto Vedere and Cinque Terra are really spectacular. I don't think I will even attempt to describe them, but don't worry! I took about a bjillion pictures, so I will show you when I get back. I was enjoying the area so much I actually missed the last boat to Genova, but it wasn't a problem because the train also goes there, and it was a fair bit cheaper. I got a ticket for myself and my bike, and as I was struggling to heave my bike on board, the conductor came over and offered to help. Then he offered to let me sit in the passenger seat of the (air-conditioned) engine with him. He also offered to let me drive the train, but I declined, since that seemed to require sitting on his lap. I spent the rest of the trip into Genova pleasantly enough, talking non-stop about il mio ragazzo back in the states.
When I got to Genova I was discouraged to learn that the youth hostel is actually on one of the 'hills' that surround the city. 2km and 260m of vertical later I reached the hostel. It was 35deg celcius and I would estimate 110% humidity, and starting to get dark. And there were no beds left for women. I sat down outside to collect myself and try to figure out a plan when I saw two other girls with backpacks who had also been rejected from the hostel. Marie Sophie and Armelle were travellers from Paris, and had just arrived in Italy earlier that day. We decided to try to figure something out together, but all the other options were either too expensive or too far away. At this point it was quite late and we were all absolutely exhausted. So exhausted in fact that the park benches we had been sitting on started to look pretty comfortable. We all had sleeping bags, so we ended up having a slumber party on the piazza outside the hostel, overlooking the city and the ocean. We woke up early the next morning, quite shocked at how good a night's rest we had all managed. The three of us spent the day together exploring the city, which was really fun.
This morning I hit the road again, climbing over Passo di Giovi. I had been warned that it was 'impossible' by bike, but after managing the road to the Youth Hostel it didn't look so bad. Now I've made it to Novi Ligure, home of the famous Italian cyclists Costante Girardengo and Fausto Coppi.
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