It looked so close on the map... 280 km from Nice, France to Cinque Terre, Italy. Leave bright and early in the morning, a nice train ride along the ocean, and we’d be in Cinque Terre in time for lunch. Do not assume the Italian train system echoes the timely French system. (Our train ride from Paris to Nice was delayed by over half an hour, and the SNCF refunded us a portion of our ticket.)
Our ticket was purchased to avoid Monaco due to construction on the tracks. However, once we arrived at the train station in Nice, we found out we were going straight to Monaco on an early morning commuter train. There were so many people on the train, and it was so hot, we all found positions where we felt least like throwing up or passing out.
From Monaco, we hopped on a train to take us to Ventimiglia, on the Italian border. Welcome to Italy; things aren’t so organized here! We bought tickets to Monterosso, Cinque Terre by an attendant who was texting the entire time – not something that instils confidence that you just purchased a ticket in the right direction.
Three of us, plus six month old twins in a double stroller and all our luggage, found ourselves comfortably seated on the next train to Genova. Not so fast! The train to Genova was cancelled, we found out from an Italian train steward, rapidly waving her arms around. At least, we thought that's what she meant! We had to unload all our gear off the train and over to another platform. It should be noted here that Europe is not at all handicap friendly. All the handicap accessibility we enjoy in North America barely exists in Europe. Elevators are hard to locate, sidewalks are narrow, and you have to climb vertical heights to get onto trains. Lugging suitcases and a baby stroller up and down countless stairs and on and off trains in 30C heat is stressful, to say the least. So bailing off one train and onto the next is not a welcome exercise.
Once situated on the next train, we realized that this train was going to Savona, when we wanted to be going to Genova to transfer to the train to Monterrosso. Much Italian-English translating and sign language later, we found out we were still headed in the right direction and all would be ok.
You get what you pay for - our ticket from Ventimiglia to Cinque Terre was only 11 euros. In the end, it took us eight hours to go the 280 km distance from Nice to Cinque Terre. We arrived in Monterrosso in time for afternoon coffee. Walking out of the train station onto the beach in Monterrosso, all the heat and frustration was forgotten as we took in the magic of Cinque Terre...
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