I Met a Lady at the Shower

We venture to the new village for the beach. We notice a sign and some swim netting. The sign indicates that within the swim netting it’s maximum 1.3 metres deep. Beyond that is the “drowning zone”. What on Earth? Many swimmers are using this area. We comment that Australian kids are very lucky they have access to swimming lessons from a young age. We are there to hire a pedalo with a slide on the back. Captain Max is pumped! We force Isla into the boat. She’s scared. But would be more scared to be left behind on the beach. We rented the boat for €20 euro and leave my drivers license as a deposit. Other visitors shout out to us as we pedal past. They can hear our Aussie children excitedly pointing things out to each other. They’re from Australia too! They bid us bon voyage!

The water is amazingly clear and the backdrop of the umbrellas and buildings covered in vines and bougainvillea makes me risk my phone getting splashed to get photos. We take turns using the water slide, jumping off the boat and pedalling. It’s hot out there so we lay like lizards on the front of the boat one minute and seek shelter under the towels or in the water the next. Isla

decides she can get in the water with the encouragement of everyone. She doggy paddles around and naturally stretches her arm. It’s water therapy we tell her. And she’ll resume her weekly swimming lessons when we get home, it clearly helps her. Before we know it our hour is up and we return the boat. The life guard hands me my license and says “you’re a Rossi!” They love it and ask about Mike and his family history. The lifeguards are young and are from the village of Monterosso. They say they work all summer but winter is hard. They’re studying at the local university.

Another Aussie approaches us at the showers. She said she overheard our accent and tells us she also travelled to Italy when her kids were a similar age to ours. She now lives part time in Tuscany in a walled city called Lucca. When she’s not there, she air bnbs it out. Lucca is exactly where we are heading in a few days! She gives us her number, she’s free to catch up when we get to Lucca or at least point us to some good restaurants! I’m in awe. It’s exactly what Mike and I would like to do in the future. My girlfriend who

shares a mutual dream to one day live part time in Italy tells me I must meet her for coffee and find out how it all works. Maybe I will!

We head home for another focaccia lunch and siesta. It’s really hot and we decide to visit one of the other villages. It’s probably too hot to do this and it’s not very enjoyable. Cruise ships are a big problem in CT. 10,000 visitors arrive each day. It’s insane seeing them in big groups moving through the area. Luckily for us, they tend to steer clear of the old village. But at the train station it is bedlam. They’re all leaving at the same time to get back to their cruise ships. I glare at Max for ignoring me when I tell him to stand up and give his seat to an adult. It’s tense. When we get off the train I give him a lecture and make him hold my hand while I try to calm myself down.

We arrive in Manarola and watch the cliff jumpers. We hike up to a point to take pictures and admire the view. The kids all say “our village is so much better than this”. And they’re right. I chose Monterosso for our family as it was flat. The kids wouldn’t have coped as well in the heat with the steep streets in this particular town. As pretty as it is. The train cost us €32 euro to ride. We decide we’ll just stick to Monterosso from now on. The kids can come back when they’re older to hike the other 4 beautiful villages. On our train trip home Max comes to sit next to me in a relatively empty carriage. He reaches over and holds my hand. We do our special hand squeeze that we do and he gives me a little smile. All is ok once more.

For dinner we head out for pizzas for the kids and Mike. The bill comes in 50€ cheaper when 4/5 eat pizza. Everyone wins! When we are all nice and full the two older boys go back to the apartment and Mike, Isla and I go for a walk. Isla is on a mission to buy a toy or some earrings. We come up trumps. Maybe the next place we visit.

The next day we woke up and headed out for breakfast. Except this time we left the kids at the apartment. We ordered them takeaway croissants and they were pleased to have them delivered in bed!

Mike and I then headed back out again to find a chemist. I’ve been slowly getting more and more hives on my legs that are slightly painful, hot and itchy. As we head further south over the next few weeks it’s going to be hot. So I’ve been researching what to do. Polaramine every 6 hours might have helped but google tells me I need Zyrtec. I also can access antihistamine cream here in Italy. I’ve not seen that in Australia? Should I stock up? I’ve got my google translate and expert charades moves to explain my problem. But the chemist speaks ok English and happily gives me what I go in there for. Fingers crossed it works!

We then collected the kids and ventured down to the beach to enjoy some fried squid and chips under the shade of the boardwalk. After this we went for a swim on the free beach and the kids enjoyed attacking each other in the water while Mike and I layed in the sun. Max got stung by a jellyfish which quickly ended our afternoon relaxing. We made our way back to our accomodation and doused him in the polaramine cream. He bounced back

quickly and we resumed holiday mode with a post swim gelato. It was the best we’ve tried so far and I enjoyed a basil and lemon sorbet.

Mike and I went for an afternoon stroll for coffee, beers and some lovely souvenirs. We chose ceramic or plaster type bricks designed as two of the villages we have stayed at in Cinque Terre. Let’s hope they make it home safely.

Dinner was a major flop as there was debate over what to eat. We left it all too late. A table for 5 is not easy to get without a reservation or lining up early. We did neither tonight and ended up pretty disappointed with the restaurant we chose. Although I must say the red wine has been fabulous for my taste buds at least. To make us feel better we went back for more gelato. The gelato man recognised us from a few hours earlier. He was excited that I loved the lemon and basil sorbet and he had also made the ricotta and fig gelato I requested earlier. His pistachio gelato was also to die for!

We all stood on our balcony to finish our gelatos and then the mosquitoes came. Our family doesn’t need anymore itching today! Goodbye Monterosso and the Cinque Terre (five lands). You were the holiday within the holiday that we will not forget.