Solo Backpacking in Europe: A DIY Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre

I planned a day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre from Florence.
So, I woke up early (as usual ?). The train schedule to Pisa is 7:50 am from Firenze S.M.N.

I bought sandwich the night before, I mean, big sandwich, ?…As expected the train arrived in Pisa Centrale at 9:00 am. Now what?

Hmm, I can ride a bus or walk, but I can’t find where the bus is, LOL.. so I just walked..for 30mins ? it was a nice walk but too tiring, ?(again with the help of my GPS?)

And the weather is not so good, it was cloudy all day (at least it’s not raining)

Since I just planned to take a picture of Pisa and do the mandatory signature pose, I didn’t stay long, maybe just 40 minutes …then I went back to Pisa Centrale, again, for 30 minutes…whoa, that was 1 hour walk (morning exercise it is)

From Pisa Centrale, I bought ticket to La Spezia Centrale.
Don’t forget to validated your ticket. ? This green thing is all over the station, that you won’t miss it.

There’s schedule for each train. It is advisable to look for it ahead of time, well for me I guess, ’cause time is gold,?.

From Pisa Centrale, it will take 1 hour to get to La Spezia Centrale.
From La Spezia Centrale, you can buy Cinque Terre card (unlimited to all villages) or you can opt to buy individual ticket.

I just bought ticket per village, and I was surprise that it was just €2.10. When I was searching online, it cost €4 ?

Travel time from each village is just 5 minutes, but the interval time is 1 hour.

First stop Manarola.
Arriving at Manarola, the first thing that comes to my mind is, how will I go to the attraction where the houses are? because my GPS just said that I’m already in Manarola, wahaha…

So what I did, is I followed the group tour that were at the same train as mine,?

There will be a tunnel going to the village (well a small tunnel but 5 minutes walk). From there you will already see the houses, but not the view that I was looking for.

Again, I just followed the group tour ?
There will be a lot of food vendors, restaurant along the way…and oh! oh!, I see the ocean!, Am I here? And here it is..wow!!!! breathtaking view ?

I think I capture it more than enough, cause really, it is so beautiful..the rocks, the ocean, the houses…and the structure itself…just wow.

Again you can always stay or eat and enjoy the view, but of course, after 40 minutes stay in Manarola, I went back to station to go to another village

Again I just bought my ticket at the information center, you can also buy your ticket in self-service machine, some of them just only accept credit cards though.

Sometimes trains are delayed, like 10-15 minutes, so if you’re travelling in autumn season, make sure to have the appropriate outfit ?

Next village is Vernazza.

I’m not really a fan of Vernazza, or maybe I just didn’t climb the hill where you can see the top view and the beautiful scenery. Well because, it’s too cold to go up there,?, the weather is not that cooperative, LOL..and my feet are screaming already.

So I went back to the station.
I was looking at the screen, if this is my train, and the one that is blinking is not the station I need to go, but all the people are hopping in, should I? hmm.. maybe I just wait for the train.
When the train’s already gone, I ask the counter, what time will be the next train to Riomaggiore, and he told me that “you just missed it”, WHAT?!!!! oh shoot, now this is what I’m saying, so I need to wait for an hour for the train.
Maybe the Vernazza is calling me to go up there, but, oh my, I can’t really walk and it’s getting chilly. Aside from that, I don’t know where to start, cause there’s no tourist going up there, so I wait…and wait..oh this gonna take long ?

And 5 minutes more, I asked again the counter, if the train will be on the left side, and he told me, “yes..If you miss it again, you’ll wait another hour!”, oh I will make sure I will not miss this, because I’m running out of time, it’s already 4:00 pm, and the sunset will be at 5:00 pm, or looks like 4:30 pm.

So Riomaggiore…
Again there’s a tunnel going to the village..
ok which way? cause I don’t see any tourist walking by, hmm
Well, I just waste 15 minutes of walking uphill. Because I’m went in the wrong direction. Oh c’mon, am I also gonna miss this one .
I asked someone, but hmm, they don’t speak english. So, I just thank them and resume in walking. Some of the tourist also asked me for the direction. But I told them I also don’t know, LOL…
I went back..and then, I saw someone. But I’m not sure if she’s a local, because, she’s just standing there. But I asked anyway. Well, actually I point the picture in the wall, on how can I get there, and she told me to just go down the tunnel..hmm, go down? really? OK..

So I went down. There’s no other people except me, but I just follow the path.. and then there they are, I mean the tourists,?

So I know I’m on the right place, Hehe
Tada!!!, well it’s hard to capture the view since it’s already dark, haha

OK, time to go back to La Spezia..
I’m too HANGRY, so I bought a meal in McDonalds in La Spezia, while waiting for my train to Florence.
After 2 hours of travel time, and 15 minutes of walk, I’m back to my hostel. Oh boy, I really want to sleep now ?