including Monterosso, Corniglia, and Vernazza: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157622590291715/
9:25pm: Whew, long day! Renee finally made it in around 10:30pm last night and all was well. Still was raining on and off.
This morning not long after 8, it was raining but we set off to the Il Pirata place at the top of town - it's owned by Sicilians but they make pastry there OH DO THEY MAKE PASTRY. I had a "twist" of flaky pastry and nutella and a cappuccino. It was melt in your mouth. Renee had a croissant filled with lemon cream. The problem is that they offered us a "latte" which is simply milk in Italy. They also have freshly squeezed orange juice - which is fine, but not particularly Italian I don't think. The owner or whoever was there is quite a riot and a funny guy, but I just hate that this is like an English-first town.
Just before 9 we bought tickets to go to Monterosso - the biggest and furthest north of the 5 villages - but the next train wasn't for an hour and a half. So we just wandered around Vernazza in the rain and caught the train when it came. It was raining pretty hard in Monterosso, which is the biggest most resort-y of the towns. There was the weekly market which, after Bologna's emporiums of inexpensive fresh food, was a little disappointing. We went into several shops, most of which seemed overpriced, touristy, and all selling the same thing (but which were good respites for the rain). In fact, I didn't really like Monterosso at all. There were bigger tour groups, cars, etc.
Around noon, we went to a place off the beaten track called AltraMarea, or something. I tried the troffie with pesto, which I liked more than I thought I would. The troffie was homemade and fresh, but very al dente and the pesto wasn't as "basily" as I was expecting. All in all a good meal, til we were almost done and the place FILLED UP WITH A GERMAN TOUR GROUP. Holy shit they were obnoxious and everywhere. Then we were kind of over Monterosso and the weather was bad (it thundered loudly while we were eating lunch) and we caught a 1:30 or so train to Corniglia. It was raining when the train left Monterosso and nearly sunny by the time we arrived in Corniglia 10 minutes or so later!!!!!
We had to wait about 45 min to the bus up to town, because neither of us was excited about walking 365 steps (which the sign said would take 15 minutes!!?!?!?!?!). No problem, because we weren't in a rush, and the weather was improving by the minute. So we got up to the town, which is smaller than either Vernazza or Monterosso and has more alleys and winding streets. I think we both agreed that this is why we came here, for views and towns like this. With the blue sky and puffy clouds surrounding the cliffs of vineyards and olive groves below (and the tiny town of San Bernardino up high, eek), we took tons of pictures and just took it easy meandering through the town. We were going to have a gelato break, but it was closed. So we ended up having a focaccia break instead. There was quite a selection and the owner was quite a nice fellow. We ended up having focaccia with bits of black olive and diced fresh tomatoes. He heated it up and cut it in 2 and it was AWESOME. I also introduced Renee to "Lemon Soda" which I fell in love with 2 years ago and she agreed it's AWESOME. It has 12% lemon juice and actually more lemon than sugar, so that's probably why it's so good. Anyway, it was a satisfying snack indeed. So a little more wandering and photography and we came back to Vernazza shortly after 4pm. The weather was so much nicer that I wanted to take some pictures of the same things I did yesterday since the lighting/coloring was so much better against a bright blue sky. Did that, wandered in and out of the lovely little shops, and picked up a gelato, which was creamy and delicious as always. Saw my British friends again, who also had a gelato.
Went into this art store I had spotted yesterday and I bought a print of one of his paintings. The artist was the shop owner and he signed the print for me. It was only 15 euros but I tried to pay with a credit card and it was either denied or just didn't go through - twice. So I will try again tomorrow and call CapitalOne if I have another problem. Hopefully not :( But - and you all know how much I don't really like art - the print is quite lovely indeed.
Came up to the room and took a load off for a little while before setting out around 7 for dinner. We looked at a few places and went up to the Sicilian place but it was small and already full, so we came back down and ate at Gianni Franzi, which was a bit more expensive but very nice inside with all the stone arches and good atmosphere. I had "spaghetti scarpara" - a local dish a bit like arrabiata I guess, but with oregano? It was quite tasty, and spicy!
No comments:
Post a Comment