The weather was terrible (again!) with rain and thunderstorms yesterday and the marinas we called ahead to advised us to stay in Genoa so we decided to leave the boat in Genoa and catch a train to Monterosso, the first of the villages of the Cinque Terre, to stay the night. That was a great decision as we loved the village and also had a fabulous dinner last night at a restaurant set into the cliff overlooking the waterfront. Today we caught the train to Vernazzo, the next village, and then the ferry to Riomaggiore, and then the ferry to Portevenere at the head of the Bay of Le Spezia. The sun finally emerged so we had a very enjoyable day, with a late lunch at Portovenere, a water taxi ride to La Spezia at the other end of the bay, a train ride back to Monterosso to collect our bags, a mojito at a waterside bar and then the train back to Genoa.
Our plan is to take the boat to Portovenere tomorrow if we can get into a marina there. Ray and Simon leave us to head for home via Milan but Fred will stay a few more days. We desperately need to stop for a rest, have haircuts, massage, etc and make some forward plans. If we don't book ahead at marinas at Elba, Corsica and Sardinia we will just anchor at suitable places, which can be more restful.