Riomaggiore!!

We really wanted to go to to Cinque Terre but like I said before, there was apparently flooding... We went to the train station in the morning to see what we could do and figured out we could go to Riomaggiore. The 5 towns from west to east are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manerola, and Riomaggiore. 

 Vernazza is the idilic most recognized towns of the 5 so we really wanted to go there. As it turns out, this was the town most affected by the flooding. It is build between 2 hills in a tiny valley.

 It rained so hard for 10 hours that it caused mudslides that flooded the small town in 3 meters of mud. Two buildings collapsed and 13 people died.

 The picturesque beach was gone. The little of the town that we passed on the train looked destroyed, cars rolled over and windows under mud. We couldnt believe it. None of us had any idea that it even rained, let alone flooded like that.

 Thank god it is slow season, but that down lives off of tourism and the train station is completely closed. They were using boats and helicopters to shuttle mud and debris out of the town. We were definitely humbled and stopped complaining about the trains being closed right away...

 So the first 3 towns were closed, but we could go to Riomaggiore and Manarola. We really wanted to walk the Via del Amore which is a 20 minute seaside walk between those towns but that was closed as well. So we wandered the village and explored until passing a restaurant that we could not pass up.

 The other 2 werent hungry and I wasn't famished either, but when was I going to be in Cinque Terre in slow season with the best and freshest seafood at the doorstep...

So we went in and I ordered a seafood spaghetti that was cooked in a tin foil bag thing. It had mussels, clams, whole shrimp, pine nuts, tomatoes, and white wine. 

 It was hands down the best seafood pasta or seafood dish I have ever had. I am drooling a bit describing it right now.

 It was so good that Anja decided she wanted one too when I was halfway finished with mine. I was so completely happy with the meal that I almost wanted another one.

  But no, one was enough, washed down with a glass of local wine and gelato. We walked out onto the rocks and digested our meals in the heat of the sun, just winding down after a great day.

 We caught the train home and made an apple tart tartin for Tina which looked delicious, then called it a night.