So the trip to Cinque Terra didnt work out but we still made it to a beach. Cinque Terra is a place that needs at least one night to be properly enjoyed. Brittany didnt have a backpack or shoes to hike in, plus we got another late start, so we decided to go to a beach that was closer and save Cinque Terra for later. We decided on Via Regggio, a beach that is about thirt minutes away from Pisa and an hour and a half from florence. We walked to the train station at about 14:30 and started trying to figure out when the next train was. The Firenze centrale station is very busy and hectic. We spent about 10 minutes looking around before i found an automated ticket machine that had an english option. You can search through a list of Italian cities to find where you want to go, which makes things pretty simple, but there were no departure times. The machine didnt have change (something that it didnt warn people about) so after I put the money for my ticket in I recieved a little credit paper that said I had to find someplace and get my money back. It was only 6 euro for a ticket but now I had to find somewhere to get my money and figure out when the next train left. It took about 15 minutes to get that all sorted out and we discovered that the next train left in about thirty minutes. The train ride wasnt too bad, of course the scenery was great. We went through some pretty rural areas and if the architecture wasnt so different I could have confused some of it with the American south. Everything was so green and vibrant. We went by mountains that had been quarried almost halfway through, and lots of wine and olive groves. Pisa looked very nice from the train, although I didnt get to see the famous leaning tower.
Via Reggio was very different from Florence. It was a much smaller city but also looked much newer (which meant it was only a few hundred years old) I immediately felt the humidity and smelled the ocean. Every beach ive been to from florida to cali to hawaii and mexico had that distinct smell. We werent sure where to go, but with hills on two horizons and Florence behind us we went with the only option. The beach was a straight shot from the train station and only a five minute walk. In the open area between houses and the ocean there was a large fountain surrounded by palm trees. After that there was a little group of tents with people selling fresh olive oil, wine, cheese and other goods. For some reason there were two giant betty boops.?. The beach was a long section of sand leading up to an area with hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas. In the near horizon you can see many yachts and boats enjoying the sun and sea. We set up with a blanket on the sand and went in the water. There was a little breeze and we got there a little later than we should have but the water was still very warm and the sun was still out. The waves were pretty small and the water saltier than the other sea water ive experienced. After a while in the water we went back on the beach when we got out of the water I saw a large jellyfish that had floated up. Some girl that goes to my school has lond angry marks on her arm from coming into contact with a jellyfish. Im not sure if theyre a big problem here but im glad I didnt find it while I was in the water. While we were laying on the beach an asian woman came up and in Italian offered foot massages at five euro for twenty minutes. I declined but Brittany got one. We packed up as it got dark and headed in. There was a parade of some sort going down the street as we walked towards the train station. On the way there we were on the lookout for something to eat, avoiding the little pizza and pastry shops. We eat at those almost everyday and were looking for an actual restaurant. We found one near the train station with a turtle on the sign and sat down. It was a nice restaurant with a completely Italian menu. Many places will have english translations under the Italian names or a separate English menu. Not this place. The waitress didnt speak english at all either so I had to try and use what Italian ive learned so far. (not too much!) At all the restaurants water is not brought to your table like in the states, you have to order it either naturale or frizzante and it comes to your table in a large glass bottle. After ordering water we looked at the menu. While it had a few of the staples like spaghetti and ravioli we were at a beach town so most of the dishes were frutta de mare which is "fruit of the sea" or seafood. We werent sure what alot of things were and couldnt ask the waittress so we just ordered. Brittany ordered mare mista of the antipasto menu. In florence the mista is an assortment of sliced meats. i ordered spaghetti frutta de mare and a dish off the second course part of the menu and I cannot remember the name anymore but at the time I had no clue what it would be. The waittress first brought out some fresh, warm and soft bread. It was strange to eat bread that had salt in it as I had grown used to eating the salt less tuscan pane. (pane= bread in italian) I laughed when Brittany's plate came out (after the waittress left). She is a very picky eater and her plate was a mound of whole seafood mixed with lettuce, tomtoes and lemon. There were two whole (heads antennae legs and everything) giant shrimp (giant means thay were about 5 or six inches long) on top with whole little squid onderneath, large slices of octopus and tons of mussels and clams. She was definitely surprised but decided to be brave and dug in. My spaghetti was excellent. A light scampi sauce mixed with clams and mussels was perfect. Brittanys turned out very good also. She even tried some squid. They were bite sized whole squid that were pretty good when mixed with the lemon sauce on the bottom of her plate. After we finished our first course we waited on the mystery second course. When it arrived it was a pleasant surprise. It turned out i had ordered seafood and veggies fried tempura style. The breading had a little spice in it and was excellent. There was fried squid (the little whole ones again) octopus, a couple whole little fish heads included, zucchini, carrot and potato. Instead of the giant shrimp this dish had about 2o teeny ones barely bigger that my fingernail that were fried also.
I wasnt sure how to eat them because they were soo small but cooked whole it was hard to separate the tail section from the heads and legs. I ate a few whole but gave up pretty quick. Very different dish but pretty tasy. After that I ordered dua caffe con zuccharo por favore. Two espresso's with sugar please. The espresso here is soooo good. A little show glass of espresso is about three cups of american coffee. We make some in my apartment everymorning. We also ordered some dessert. What i asked for off the menu she said they were out of. I couldnt really understand what she was saying so I communicated that I wanted whatever she thought would be good. She brough out some tiramisu and a pastry filled with creme and covered in strawberrys and more cream. Very good. We hung out for a while coming in at a respectable two and a half hour dinner. We the walked a block to the train station and headed home.
