Day 1 Schaffhausen!

Today was a well earned rest day. I am a firm believer in having days off while travelling. If you spend every second leaping at out of bed at the crack of dawn and sightseeing all day then you exhaust yourself and stop caring about what you're seeing. And especially when one has her own king size bed and should be indulged! So after a sleep in (by which I mean 8am-incredibly late by my current standards) I organised the rest of my day. I found a supermarket and picked up some fruit, breakfast stuff, and ham, cheese and tomato for lunch. My hostel doesn't have a kitchen but if I propped the window open in my room and put the cold stuff on sill it was as good as a fridge!

My second problem was washing. After investigation on the net, I discovered Schaffhausen doesn't have a laundromat. I asked the hostel for suggestions, this caused much consternation. I think they were already fairly bewildered by having an Australian English speaking tourist in their midst, I've discovered that this hostel caters mainly to bike riding German speakers or construction workers (there are big works going on next door). They were looking somewhat askance at me for leaving home without washing my clothes (which to be fair was 5 weeks ago!). Eventually post negotiations they agreed I could use their machines (the pub ones) for a brilliant price ($12 AUD which is a steal by backpacker standards!) 

I then investigated the tourist information place which I'm happy to report is the best I've ever been to inspite of the fact that it doesn't open til after lunch. The lovely lady planned my whole stay and I'm super excited!! 

After putting on my washing on I went and did a self guided tour of the Old Town;  marvellous buildings with renaissance frescoes and Gothic facades. Lovely fountains, a few obligatory statues and magnificent views from Munot an impressive city fortification which sits over the city and the Rhine built in the 1500s. It has a moat filled with deer!

A few words about Schaffhausen itself. The old town is paved and pedestrian only. The people are lovely, really friendly and obliging and LOVE saying hello to you at every opportunity. It's like a small country town everyone is calling out to each other and hugging everyone (either they know everyone or they are super friendly to strangers). They all speak English which is excellent because so far I have mastered hello (which is hello), thanks, please, beer (which is also beer) and staring blankly at people (which is the face I make when I'm trying to figure out if they are speaking English, Italian, German or French and then once I've got that, what it is they said and then realising that I haven't said anything in a really long time). 

They are also super proud of being Swiss and really good behind the wheel. They very nicely always stop at pedestrian crossings and give a gleeful wave in a "go on, please cross it'll make me so happy" kind of way.

In fact the only thing I don't love so far about Schaffhausen is the smoking. I can't remember if when I was previously in Switzerland that they all smoked so much or maybe it was the areas I was in and they were more populated by tourists (yes by the way I'm the only non German speaking tourist here). Anyway they all smoke and everywhere. In pubs, cafes, bathrooms, houses, shops everywhere!! As an Australian of my generation this is quite bizarre. Not only that cigarettes are advertised everywhere!! I cannot remember when I last saw cigarettes advertised in Australia. The other astonishing thing is the smokers are all youngish (TEENS -openly smoking, 20s, 30s, 40s). In fact it was hard to find older people smoking, I can only presume it's because they are all dead from lung cancer. I guess it's so surprising because I would be hard pressed to find many people my age in Melbourne smoking, and if they are then they are hiding away in corners. The Swiss are standing on street corners chain smoking. 

Anyway enough of all that I'm currently sitting in the pub (again) although this time it's because I'm waiting for my clothes to dry. Yet again I'm watching the soccer, France are playing now (people aren't as excited as yesterday), really should've brought Conor with me, he would've appreciated all this endless soccer. (Honestly the way they carry on when they fall over is so annoying, seriously man up! That and the lack of scoring, but I'm keeping my views to myself). 

So this incredibly long blog is what one does when then have excellent WiFi and a slow dryer. I have also a plethora of 90s music to entertainment, just heard mumbo number 5 and now spice girls! Have also just realised they serve Guinness, this needs investigating!

Romanesque Cathedral Tower built in 1200s (courtesy of the walking tour)

The Swiss are out and proud!

Church built on a fish market site, described as Gothic with various styles but is 34m wide!

The most awesome tourist information centre ever

A cute frog (you can never have enough of those)

Cigarette advertising!!! ( funny that it's the sort of thing a tourist would take a picture of these days)

Italy then Switzerland

So an early start and I'm leaving Italy after 3 weeks of awesomeness and saying goodbye to Mum and Linda.

Off on the 730 train to Milan, only 2 and a bit hours (slight issue when my suitcase took off along the corridor but it's OK I got it back with minimal bruises) and then successfully found my train to Zurich. Managed to get my suitcase in an excellent spot with no lifting required and avoided to scary people who "help" you with your luggage and then demand money. It was all going smoothly until the lady on the loudspeaker informed there were criminals afoot and the police needed to search all trains. So we were delayed somewhat (a policeman came and looked at me suspiciously which immediately made me think of all the things I've done wrong but he didn't arrest me which was nice) and then on our way!
It was 4 hours to Zurich and it was cloudy cold and raining pretty much the whole way. However it didn't prevent Switzerland from being absolutely gorgeous and the having giant lakes and never ending waterfalls! A very pleasant journey.
Luckily for me I arrived in Zurich in time to catch my final train to Schaffhausen my destination for the next 5 nights. It was close call what with the delays and the Swiss efficiency. Another 40 mins and I had arrived.
On the banks of the Rhine river Schaffhausen has an old town and a castle (is there anywhere in Europe that doesn't have a castle??).
My hostel is conveniently opposite the train station and inconveniently my room was on the top floor (no lift sigh). However I have a giant room to myself with a king size bed which after sharing with women for 5 weeks is absolute bliss!
I do appear to be the only person in the hostel which was quite surprising but it is a Sunday.
I had a quiet evening, went out and explored a little of old town and had a dinner in a pub. Actually outside it they can still smoke inside in Switzerland and ohhh boy do they! Much fresher outside.
Has a rather funny conversation with the waiter in an attempt to learn a bit of German ( the main language in Schaffhausen) but it turned out he was Czech and kept trying to teach me French. However there was beer! I did manage to order dinner, schnitzel and noodles (actually pasta quite hilarious considering that's all I've eaten for the past 3 weeks).
The hostel I'm staying at has a pub underneath and I saw the end of the Netherlands v Mexico game quite exciting for the Dutch in the pub. Then quietly to bed!! Hello Switzerland this will be fun!!

Cinque terre day 4

Today began with a coast walk from Levanto to Bonassola.

It is a lovely walk through old railway tunnels.

Bonassola had a lovely market on as well as some good coffee.

From there it was back on the train and onto Sestri Levante.

It had lots of beautiful streets and houses

 

We took a train from there to Santa Margherita which is our base for the next three nights.

Last day before travel

The day started with a very pleasant walk to Portofino.

We passed a tree with a great deal of tenacity.

And passed the little village of Paraggi.

Our first glimpse of the harbour of Portofino.

We walked up to Castello Brown. This was where the movie Enchanted April was filmed. The author stayed there in the 1920's

A glimpse down into the harbour.

Can you see our yacht moored?

If you have a spare 149,000 euros you can hire it for a week. It sleeps 10 people and has a crew of nine.

It would appear that pink meerkats are in 

Vogue this year!

We left Portofino by ferry

It was a lovely trip back to Santa Margherita.

Cinque day 5

IToday we took a bus to Ruta and then walked to San Rocco. This is the view down to Camogli.

A close up of the church on the point we would be visiting later.

I found some alternative transport along the way.

We walked down to Porto Pidocchio and caught the ferry to the abbey of San Fruttuo.

This was our view while having lunch.

Linda has a delicious spaghetti with pesto, while I had pesto lasagne.

Of course there was olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip your bread in.

This is the view back to the abbey as we left on the ferry.

This is the landing stage at Porto Pidocchio where we caught the ferry from earlier.

The church in Camogli.

Castle Dragone.

Harbour view

To get an idea where we walked, Ruta is where the tower is you can see at the top of the photo in the middle.

We walked along the ridge to San Rocco that you can see in the middle of the picture.

You can just see the Church of San Nicolo in the middle if this picture and Porto Pidocchio is on the far right at water level.

Many of the buildings in Camogli have faux details painted on them.

The weather was hot but this time we had fresh fruit sorbet, very refreshing.

The day finished with a train ride back to Santa Margherita and dinner at a local restaurant.

Cinque Terra day 3

The day started a little overcast as we headed to the station.

For Linda and I our first stop on the train was Monterosso.

The beach was deserted.

The weather was threatening.

This old castle was built in the 17th century

While this emplacement was used during WW2.

We got a good view of the town from here.

We sat in the old part of town and had a lovely cappuccino.

This fellow was walking down the street with a bucket of fresh fish.

There were beautiful flowers.

And winding alleyways.

Then it was back on the train and onto Vernazza.

There were lots of fishing boats

It was washing day for some.

I hope it was pegged on tight.

After lunch in La Spezia it was off to find the bus for the ride to Porte Venere.

I think we may have left our yacht moored here.

Or it might have been our boat that was here!

St. Peter's church was at the top of a hill.

It was built in two stages. I love that theodern part was built in the 13th century!

Rumour has it that Gelato was to be found.

I think rumour was correct.

We were supposed to take a ferry back around the coast to Levanto but it was cancelled because of the weather so we returned by bus and train.

Dinner was at a seafood restaurant.

This plate has on it ( anti clockwise from bottom right)

Salted anchovies, marinated anchovies, smoked tuna, stuffed baby squid with potatoes cherry tomatoes and olives, shrimp salad in pink sauce and marinated swordfish.

Octopus salad

Stuffed baby squid

Stuffed vegetables

Stuffed mussels.

Ricotta and spinach in filo pasta at the front and fish croquettes at the back

I missed getting a photo of the stuffed anchovies and of the desert, which was Panna cotta with caramel sauce or chocolate tart, followed by Limoncello.