Whistle stop touring: Paris, Marseilles, Genoa and Cinque Terre

 

So now we have crossed to the Continent, using our Eurail Pass. I am writing this at the home of Kirsty and Pascale (Abraham family friends), which sits on a hill-top near the town of San Casciano in Val di Pesa, about 30 km south of Florence, at the northern end of the Chianti wine region. In the beautiful hills of Tuscany. More of that in the next blog.

In the meantime, there is stuff to catch up on from the last 6 or so days, which have gone by in a bit of a blur. Every day has been so full, it has been a case of: find hotel-get something to eat and drink-crash. No time to write a blog!

First, the Eurail Pass.

The one we bought is valid for 22 days, on most train services in 33 countries. We plan to travel in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the UK – all being Eurail member countries. As many people have experienced, the rail systems in Europe are awesome: you can get to most major regions and towns/cities by rail, quickly and efficiently, and disembark near town/city centro, so close to the action. Plus, you see lots of interesting things as you travel!

With help from Hugh, Jen drew up an itinerary on the Eurail app which has us making ~ 25 train trips in total before we end up back in London on 9^th October. Hence the “whistle stop tour” – complete with train conductors still sounding their whistles to signal ‘all clear’ to the driver from the platform in most cases!

The Eurail itinerary is just a plan, it doesn’t mean anything is ‘booked’ or ‘confirmed’. What you have is a QR code on your mobile phone, which is your pass that, theoretically, can be scanned at the turnstile as you enter or exit the train platform. In practice, so far, we have only had to scan it once after about 8 trips. That’s because:

a) for some trips, like Eurostar from London to Paris, and many inter-city trips in France and Italy, you need to reserve seats in advance, which means doing this in person at ticket offices as you go along (SNCF in France, TrenItalia in Italy), which in tuen means you end up with a paper ticket and don’t need the QR code.

b) especially in Italy, there are no turnstiles guarding entry and exit. Once you’re in the station forecourt, and figured out which platform you need for the trip you’re taking, you just go there and get on the train when it arrives. Whereas in the UK in particular, you have to scan on and scan off. So, it’s been remarkably easy.

In short, despite misgivings before we left the UK, the Eurail pass has worked really well, and the issue of reserving seats hasn’t been as much of a problem as we thought. The Eurail app, unhelpfully, doesn’t give you links to buy reservations – just tells you that you need one on the service you’ve chosen! Figure it out for yourself …. We have, without too much trouble, just needs forethought and action.

Our first trip needing a reservation was London to Paris on Eurostar, on Sunday 18^th Sep – the day before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. To reserve our seats, we took a train from Worthing to St Pancras station in London 4 days before we left to go to the Eurostar customer service centre and get it sorted there. Which was fine but cost an extra £33 each (plus another £33 each for our final trip, Lille to London on 9^th October). Oh, and the £33 each return trip Worthing to London – all-up, ~ $NZ400.

OK, so you might ask, is it worth it if you’re still forking out as you go along? Well, the Eurail Pass cost us about $800 each (first class, with seniors discount!). Total ~ $NZ1,600. The full price London-Paris, and Lille-London, is about £230 each, for each trip – about $NZ1,800. So, roughly, every trip thereafter is a bonus. Reservations in France and Italy in total have cost about $NZ160, and no reservations are needed in Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands. So yes, it is worth it, and a very nice way to travel. Most trains have been far from over-crowded, so there is relative space and quiet.

Paris

Nothing to report – not because Paris is unremarkable (of course it’s not!), but because we arrived about 6pm, got to hotel about 7, then had arranged to meet our German friend Maria (who happened to be travelling in France/Paris – what good luck) for drinks and a meal. Which we did, and thoroughly enjoyed, before getting ready for the next journey early the following day, Paris-Marseilles.

Marseilles

Our first experience on a TGV fast train: soooo smooth, for a big double-decker train with 20-odd large carriages (nearly 1000 people on board). For the nerds, you can track your journey, which reached 300 kph + at times. 

Makes it very hard to take photos of the scenery!! Only one half-decent result, shown below: this was near Grenoble.

The main objective of going to Marseilles was to get as far south as possible on the first day, so we only really had ½ a day to explore the city – which is stunning. The views from the basilica Notre Dame de la Garde are breath-taking – see below.

The Old City surrounds the marina, which is the thin strip of white (boats and sails) in the middle of the photo. The shot below is looking back from the marina to the basilica on the skyline.

Ambling the streets and alleys is, as with most of the European cities, an absolute delight. There is a rich culture and history to all such cities, for which a whistle-stop tour does no justice. But as a taster, it gives a definite sensory ‘high’.

Genoa

Another historic, cultural and economic centre on the Mediterranean. Very vibrant and beautiful in the older parts of the town (the newer, suburban areas, of which there are vast acreages, of course we never visit). Genoa is a big city, much bigger than Marseilles. We had only one night here, like Marseilles, and arrived quite late after three separate train journeys.

We were further delayed by a pompous ticket collector on the last journey into Genoa who (correctly) spotted weren’t wearing masks (mandatory on public transport in Italy – which he gladly pointed out) and ejected us from the train at the next stop! Where we had to buy masks and catch the next train, 90 mins later! All part of the Italian experience  expect the unexpected.

The Genoa waterfront is spectacular.

The architecture (modern and old, which is 12^th and 13^th century) everywhere is eye-catching.

And the lanes and alleys are jaw-dropping (or, in Jen’s case below, jaw-raising and neck-wrenching!). 

Cinque Terre

I’m sure many of you have been to the Cinque Terre tourist area, so may know this story well already. But here goes with our take (albeit, just one day’s worth, and no time to do any of the famous walks that we would love to have done, though some are closed because of excess rain-storm damage in recent times):

-         -  definitely go, if you can. It is sensational.

-         -  Cinque Terre tourism-central comprises 5 old fishing villages perched along and above inlets on near-vertical and continuous cliffs south of Genoa. Closest major town is La Spezia at the eastern end. From west to east, the villages are: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

-        -  they are best reached by trains which travel between Sestri Levante and La Spezia regularly. You can buy a €16.50 per-day, per-adult Cinque Terre card (‘5Terre’) and hop-on/hop-off from village to village as you please. Along with a throng of other tourists - be prepared!

-        - the whole string of villages is absolutely heaving with people – even in late September. Hate to think how it would be in July and August. his is partly driven by cruise ships: there was one in Genoa and one in La Spezia on the day we went. We heard lots of American accents!

-       -   there are myriad gorgeous, seemingly overhanging houses, linked by little laneways and steps that always entice you to turn off and explore!

-       -   be prepared to walk and climb/clamber a lot: for us, this was a 18 km, 350 m altitude gain day, just visiting the 4 eastern-most villages. This is ground covered usually by very uneven surfaces, and up steep steps. Wear good walking and climbing shoes!

-        -  don’t bother trying to buy lunch/have a beer (we managed to get one, at Riomaggiore)/have dinner (we failed, in Riomaggiore – long story): there are just too many people, and the prices are hiked accordingly. Head back to La Spezia, which is the best place to stay, instead (which we did – nice town, good pizzeria restaurants).

-      -    be prepared to have your breath taken away by the sheer wonder of these villages, the seemingly impossible positions of the buildings sometimes butting directly into the cliffs, the colours of the houses, the deep green of the Mediterranean, and loads more. The villages are part of a larger Cinque Terre National Park, dedicated (among other things) to preserving the marine environment along this stretch of coast – which, by all accounts, is reaping great results. Bravo!

-       -   expect to be pretty-damn-close-to-knackered at the end of a full day, but buzzing with a sense of wonderment and delight at everything you’ve seen and generally experienced all the same.

Vernazza

Manarola

Riomaggiore

These photos are just from our mobile phones, which aren’t the latest and greatest. Due to luggage space constraints, we’ve left behind (with Hugh and Anna) gear for downloading photos from our camera. This will have to wait until we get back to the UK. Google the villages and you’ll get some spectacular images.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are taking a balloon ride over Tuscany (exactly where – don’t know yet) with Kirsty and Pascale who run a business called Tuscany Ballooning. They have flown from central Florence, among other amazing places. We’ll see. I bet you won’t find as many photos on the ‘net for this one!