Vacay, part 5 - Cinque Terre-ific!

Monday, Oct. 1
We took the trains from Florence to Cinque Terre, a collection of five towns nestled in the hills of the Italian coast. We arrived in the afternoon and rolled through the tiny town of Monterosso, from the new part of town to the old part where our hotel was. We checked in at Hotel Margherita, a bed and breakfast with friendly staff and modern decor. Our room was small, but we didn't need a lot of space. And the shower rivaled the water pressure of our shower at home, which was amazingly nice.

We checked in then stopped for a quick bite to eat a little nearby place. I had a focacia sandwich and Brent had bruschetta with sardines, which we both enjoyed.

We strolled through the small town. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Perfectly sunny, not too hot, not too cold. The beaches were beautiful and a bit rocky. Brent went on and on about how clear the water was.

We stopped for some gelato (lemon for me), explored the town some more then rested up. We had reservations that night for a popular restaurant called Miky. We met an older couple from Seattle who were quite pleasant. Their food looked amazing, so we were excited for ours.

I started with a shrimp mousse crepe while Brent had a squid salad.

My main dish was spaghetti with various seafood. Brent had a mixed fish platter.

We ended our meal with some lemon sauce puff pastries and a fig hazelnut torte.

Everything was perfectly delicious!

Tuesday, Oct. 2
After breakfast at our hotel, we bought hop-on/hop-off tickets for the trains that run between the five cities. You can do a hike between the five cities, which takes five hours, but we opted not to do that as we only really had a day and a half to really explore.

We started in Riomaggiore, the town furthest to the south. We did the walking tour through the town recommended by Rick Steves, which took us to the highest point of the town for a beautiful view.

We stopped for lunch at a pizzeria, where we had a delightful and quick meal. I had a spinach and egg torte (recommended by the staff) and Brent had a frenata with pesto.

This region is the birthplace of pesto, so we couldn't visit without having some.

After exploring the town some more, we hopped on the train to Mannarola, where we did another walking tour through the town. This included a short hike along the town's hillside vineyards and a spectacular view of the coastline. Stunning, isn't it?

We then moved on to Corneglia, which we knew was the least exciting of the five towns. However, you can't really go to a region known as "5 towns" and not see all five towns. So we took a quick shuttle to the top of the town, checked out the view and headed right back down to the train station.

Our fourth and last town before heading back to Monterosso was Vernazza. We didn't explore this town too much. By then we were pooped, so we grabbed some gelato and sat near the town's harbor to people-watch and rest our tired selves. Brent also picked up some fresh focaccia, another regional speciality.

After we caught our last train to Monterrosso, we ran back to our hotel, changed clothes and ran back down to the beach so Brent could swim in the Mediterranean. I vegged on the rocky sand, accidentally saw a topless German woman (hey, it wasn't a nude beach - she just decided to dust herself off), while Brent lounged in the water for a bit. After the sun disappeared behind the cliffs, we headed back and got ready for dinner.

We had reservations at a restaurant near our hotel called Ciak. I made the reservations in my maiden name, which is straight up Italian, and I think the waitress assumed I was native Italian and therefore didn't speak any English to us. As a result I accidentally ordered a $45 bottle of wine instead of the cheap stuff. Oops! But it was yummy and worth it. It was a locally made wine, too.

We split a giant order of shrimp raviolli then another giant order of fritto misto (mixed fried fish). We knew this place was known for its giant portions, so our splitting strategy was a good idea.

Here is where we met a couple our age from Minnesota. I asked if they were on their honeymoon or just a fun trip. The wife explained that this was there 10-year wedding anniversary! She noted that they got married young - at age 19 - and they left their three kids at home so this was indeed a big trip for them. We also met a couple of Australian girls who were famished, having completed that five-hour hike through the five cities. One girl said it was sooo easy, while the other complained that she thought she was going to DIE. (I would have probably been in the later camp myself.) Exploring the cities via the trains was tiring enough, but so absolutely worth it.

If you go to Italy and you can swing a visit to this region, I highly recommend it. It's a glimpse into an even slower-paced Italian life, filled with tantalizing food and friendly people.

There's so much more I could tell you about our visit here and so many gorgeous pics you should see, so check out my Flickr set for more jaw-dropping views and fun Cinque Terre tales.


Next up: Venezia!

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Miriam Beard