I went a bit overboard at sunset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157622726192848/ videos too!
5:00pm: sitting in the room with the windows open, listening to the sea slap against the breakwater and the people below enjoying a cloudy and drizzly but otherwise nice late afternoon while I snack on some olives.
Started the day at Il Pirata again, this morning with a croissant bisected and stuffed with nutella. Went to catch a train around 9:30 to Riomaggiore but it was delayed 25 min. So it finally came at 10 and we started there. Riomaggiore is quaint with some lovely views. There was one shop in particular where a lady made dolls out of mohair and stuff. They were adorable. I almost bought a mouse but it was small and 20 euros. Around 11:30 we went to a snack place and got some focaccia pizza. Mine was covered with a couple slices of salame. They heated it for us and we got cans of Lemon Soda and ate it outside on a bench. Around noon, we did the via dell'Amore to Manarola. It was an easy level stroll but I was not particularly thrilled with walking 20 min on the side of a cliff :) the views were quite amazing though. In Manarola, we stumbled upon a wonderful ceramic shop I'd read about and I bought a couple small things. Then we did the Rick Steves walking tour, stopping at a gelateria where I had the best dark chocolate ice cream/gelato I've ever had. From this point forward, all chocolate ice creams will unfortunately be compared against this one :( I also bought my obligatory cheesy magnets.
We made it to the top of the town to a church and some amazing views, then we did this great 20-30min or so vineyard walk which was high but not too scary. It ended in the town's cemetery which is pretty unique and interesting (I guess they all look like this). There are pictures of the person outside the tomb, which I find to be a little creepy. We made it back to town and went to the train station where we had to wait almost an hour for the train back to Vernazza. What I'll really remember about this walk is the smell - of rosemary, lemons, and grapes (even though they'd already been picked). Really amazing.
Once back, I picked up something and we went to the "Internet Point" but the internet was down. Awesome. So we went to the Blue Marlin Bar where they also have a couple computers and we checked the train schedules for going to Pisa tomorrow. The guy/owner was hilarious. I didn't even notice but I was kind of half sitting on the stool and half standing and he was like "why don't you sit with your whole ass on the chair? Do you prefer the left half of your ass to the right? I like my whole ass." We were dying of laughter. So we confirmed the train schedule and got our tickets to La Spezia tomorrow. Then came back to the room to pay the owner since we'll be leaving early tomorrow. We buzzed from downstairs and he (the dad) casually just shows up and we pay and just will leave the key in their box tomorrow. So casual.
10:05pm: So around 5:30 we went down to the water to see if there'd be a visible sunset. Though it was drizzling a bit on land, there were clear skies in the distance, so we figured in a little while the sky would be quite beautiful. We wandered around a little bit. I got some money from the ATM which is just next to the Blue Marlin Bar and the hilarious guy saw me and came up and started joking. What a character. Anyway, we went back down to the breakwater and along with everyone else took tons of pictures and enjoyed the sunset. It was gorgeous and around 6:30 or so the sun was finally set. We moseyed up to the Il Pirata restaurant once again and it was almost full just before 7. They're one of the few places - maybe in all of Italy - that serves dinner starting at 6pm. Maybe it's an off-season winter thing but I doubt it. Anyway, our buddy from the morning has a brother (twin maybe?) and it was quite funny. The brother we'd seen in the morning was telling stories about what job he does when they close from December to March and which people from which cities request bacon and eggs the most (the two I remember were DC and Chicago). Anyway, I had risotto and it was pretty good. We tried to order tiramisu for dessert but he made a face at us and went into a long diatribe about how bad it is and they only make it because people requested it and how we had to have the panna cotta with strawberries. He didn't really give us a choice actually. It came out wearing a pink cocktail umbrella. It was pretty tasty but not what something chocolate would've been. Then we asked for 2 pastries to take tomorrow on the train. He was trying to convince us to come back early tomorrow morning because they'd be fresh, which is great but we explained it'd be early and we wanted to just get on the train and it'd be easier. So we got 2 nutella twists and he just gave them to us for free. He also went into a whole diatribe about how Mike's Pastry - so he's heard - has nothing on their cannoli. I'm sure that's probably true ;)
Then we came back here and looked at some of the pictures I took and watched some downloaded TV shows. Ah, stuff in English!!!!!!
Gotta go to bed early - or at least try to - tomorrow I finally see the leaning tower - and also have my first experience driving in italy - yikes! I am especially nervous since I turned on the GPS here today and couldn't get a satellite signal. Hope it's OK in Tuscany tomorrow…or else we'll be in trouble and I'll be pissed since this is the only reason I got it!!
Showing posts with label Cinque Terre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cinque Terre. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Cinque Terre October 22 - Blog and Pictures
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!
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!
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