We were all up in time to repack and have snack this morning, recalling our clean clothes from their drying perches and recoiling the charging cables. Soon we had our bags in the hall just in time for our hostess to come by.
The recurring conundrum of a travel day is that your check out time often does not align with your journey’s start time – in this case our check out was at 11am while our train was not scheduled to leave until after 6pm – often this can be resolved by leaving your bags in a storage area at the railway, but we learned yesterday that La Spezia Centrale no longer does this – despite what their website says. Fortunately our hosts were very gracious and offered a locked room in the building’s basement for our use.
On the corner of our block we found a wonderful cafe that appeared family run and catering to a local crowd. Caffetteria 2 Guigno had so many different types of croissants that we had to have them described to us – though the two we chose were so good that I doubt it would have mattered what we had. We sat and enjoyed our coffees and tea on the outdoor patio and considered our day.
We spent the day exploring La Spezia, which is a very quaint town nestled deep in a harbour in northern Italy. The harbour is so well protected in fact, that it has served as a major naval base for hundreds of years. We wandered south through town to the harbour and sat to watch the sailboats, yaughts and enormous cruise ships jockey for position, and enjoyed the warm and slightly breezy day on the waterway.
While we were downtown, we also enjoyed a walk through the covered market, and some time in the Giardini Pubblici. We also discovered the Naval Technical Museum of La Spezia where we spent the balance of our afternoon.
Here we got a history of Italian naval development from the inspiration of ancient fleets, designs by Leonardo Da Vinci, expeditions to the north, Marconi’s role in facilitating naval advantage through wireless communications, and 20th century warfare. The displays and explanations were very accessible and thoughtful – a worthwhile visit.
As it got later in the afternoon we set on a return trip north through the city and found Alice’s sidewalk cafe specializing in pizza slices – which was again a step up from what we are used to. Our delicacies included cheese and meat toppings but also broccoli and potato (not pineapple) used very well. Another win!
We made our way back to the condo just before 5pm and did not have to wait long for “a family member” to show up, and after some confusion with keys he freed our luggage from the basement. From here it was a short walk back to La Spezia station and our train to Rome.
The last train trip of our adventure was happily uneventful – it was a direct high speed run to Rome with a few stops but no transfers. Mimi had booked separately but we were able to see that there were enough empty seats around us that she was able to change seats and then beat us at 5 Crowns. We picked up some snacks to tie us over and the nearly four hour trip went by quickly.
At Rome Termini station we had a 20 minute walk through cobblestone streets to find our last “home” on the trip – a hostel run by the Catholic church, recommended by our in-laws who had been here before. We had secured a private room for the three of us and while the accommodation is basic, and we share a bathroom with a couple of other rooms on the floor, everything is very clean and the location is central to what we want to see.
We registered upon arriving and paid, and were shown to our room. We unpacked, put everything back on to charge, and then settled in for the night.
