Pigon's and Pisa

Today was the start of a new adventure. We would be leaving Florence and I would be off to Cinque Terre. The next 3 days were allocated to exploring on our own and navigating through Europe without Pascoe. We had our own itinerary and would make edits as we went along our own way.

We had to leave the apartment by 7:15 A.M. which meant no breakfast for me! I was up at 7:00 and the car came to pick us up and take up to the train station by 7:15. Our group's first stop would be to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The other group would head to Rome! Once we made it to Pisa, we had the opportunity to sit down and grab a bite. Due to the stressfulness of trying to catch our train along with finding out that there was a 24 hour train strike that would fall on our schedule leave date, we were all anxious and needed to chill. So, of the 7 of us, 4 went to see the tower and the rest of us sat a cafe by the train station. I ordered an overpriced bottle of water (3.50 euros) while Paige and Matt both ordered cappuccinos and Matt a panini. I had been snacking on Archer Farms trail mix from Target so I was filled up from that and left over dried fruit.

When it was our time to head to the tower, we stayed for maybe 30 minutes and had seen everything. There wasn't really a ton to see besides the tower and a couple of other old buildings, perhaps churches. It was fun taking touristy pictures but once we got those, we were ready to head back.

By the time both groups had seen the tower, it was time to leave Pisa and catch the train for Cinque Terre. Once we finally got there, we settled in and got the grand tour of the house. The house was huge and the view was even more amazing. We were at the very top of the mountain where the air was crisp and the most awesome scenery of the city. Once we had gotten everything in the house, we tried to figure out the bus routes and times so that we could check out what was below. However, we failed at figuring that out so we walked a 2 hour walk down the hill and into the town in search of food.

Thankfully, we found a small market where we bought a few essentials for the house. I bought toilet paper for the bathroom upstairs and then grabbed a box of Special K bars, knowing that we'd be hiking one day and that it might be a good idea to have snack on the hike. I also bought some strawberry strudel pastry things; there were like 12 in a pack and looked like they might make for an easy breakfast option. Bananas were also bought along with a couple of bags of cookies.

We ended up at this place called Pigon's Pub which ended up being quite the experience. No other restaurant was open since it was around 6:30 so we waited until 7:00 and this was the only spot we could find that was open. The first odd encounter about this eatery was that the menu wasn't even a menu. There was just a piece of paper on the table that read: "all you can eat 12.90 euros"- sketchy. This older woman came out and brought us an assortment of breads and a small variety of meats but never clarified what the meats were. We figured one was definitely prosciutto, another perhaps salimi, and the final one was still in the casing; we presumed the mystery meats was a sausage maybe?

Next, she brought out pita bread with a strange cheese and a jam. The cheese was in the shape of a rectangle and was very soft. It reminded me of a cream cheese block, but we never could figure out what it was. Also, there was a jam sauce too, I'm not exactly sure, that was served with the pita bread and cheese. It was fruity like a preserve but again no one was completely certain.

For the first main meal, we had a ravioli with a ragu on top. It was pretty unoriginal and just alright, better than the preceding plates but not fantastic. This place was just strange. The restaurant was dimly lit and didn't have much decor. It was connected to an abandoned or vacant, maybe, furniture store- tattered chairs were in the room and a curtain hung where the door was. It was musty and there were odd pieces of wood laying around and no sign to signify the reason for its existence. I only knew this because on the hunt for a place to eat, I was the one who volunteered to walk around and see what places were around for options to eat. I accidentally walked in just trying to open doors and find an open restaurant. Who knows if they were really connected, but Pigon's was the next door down.

Anyways, for the second dish, we were brought gnocchi with a cheese sauce on it. Again, it was just mediocre but at this point, I was just glad to actually be able to identify what the food actually was. Finally, we just got to the point where we told her to stop bringing us food and that we were getting full. Afterall, she prefaced that we warn her when to quit bringing out food because she would continue serving food. When it was time to pay, no one had exactly 12.90 eruos to pay and they didn't have change to break any of our bigger bills so Brighton and I paid for the bill. This was probably the most stressful experience I'd endured- never again.

We tried to catch a bus back up the hill but the girls at the restaurant didn't speak English very well so we were on our own at this point. Eventually the group separated in search for any substantive information on bus times. Finally, Paige and I just called it quits and took a cab. We beat the other 5 up there but after a little bit of texting back and forth, they caved and did the same. My had this been quite the eventful first day!

Unfortunately, through all the frustration and confusion throughout the day, I am lacking in pictures. This was truly an overwhelming experience. I am to this day still traumatized but definitely learned A TON! If you are interested in seeing more and are brave enough to check it out, look online for pictures. I did and the vacant space I was talking about earlier looks identical to the pictures that other customers have posted on TripAdvisor. Maybe they were in the middle of renovating, expanding, or changing locations.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187824-d10430434-Reviews-Pigons-La_Spezia_Province_of_La_Spezia_Liguria.html