italia part 2

cinque terre/manarola

giorno cinque
all 4 of us were up at the crack of dawn to go to the train station and make our way to our next destination. we were all on the same train to florence and from florence p&l were renting a car and driving to todi, josh and i were catching another train to la spezia. we took the vaparetto to the train station and then a 2 hour train ride to florence. we said ciao ciao and got on our next train. it was a pretty long train ride, the part that ran along the coastline was pretty, we rode through carrera and saw piles upon piles of marble. upon arriving in la spezia we had to catch the local train to manarola where we were staying.

cinque terre is 5 little towns built into the cliffs that are a few minutes away from one another by train and have hiking trails that go in between all of the towns. it is a national park and you can buy a day pass that lets you take all the trains & hike all the trails. we did that and hopped on the train. manarola was the 2nd stop. when we got off the train i realized that i did not have an address for our apartment. we tried to call the landlady, no answer. i asked for directions to the hotel that they also own and we headed in that direction. we were met by one of the owners who spoke no english, she let us in and showed us around & we tried as best we could to follow her italian.

the apartment is amazing, small cute, clean. the bathroom is all tiled in red and has one of those big shower heads (the shower in venice was not so much a shower as it was kind of like being spit upon with luke warm water). the view was incredible. the ligurian sea is an amazing green blue color. the sky was blue, it was sunny and warm...idyllic. we dumped our stuff and scurried back into town to buy some supplies from the co-op grocery. they were closed & didn't open for a half hour, so we went down to the bar and had some beers and watched people. when the grocery store opened we bought some wine and snacks and headed back to the apartment. we both had long hot showers and cracked open a bottle of wine.

it was late afternoon at that point, the sun was just staring to set. it was so beautiful. we decided to go have dinner in the next town over (riomaggiore). the hiking trail in between manarola and riomaggiore in called via dell'amore and it is the local lover's lane. parts of the trail has walls that are covered with lover's graffiti & there is a spot where lovers attach locks and throw the key over the cliffs into the water as a symbol of their love (cheesy, no?). so we walked the trail and watched the sun set and found a little restaurant near the harbor for dinner. i had some very unsatisfying gnocchi and josh had some yummy pesto lasagne. on the walk back to manarola we discovered that they do not light the via dell'amore after the sun goes down (so that lovers can smooch and such in the dark) it was really dark.

giorno sei
in the morning we went into town and found a cafe for macchiato's and pastries, and made a plan for the day. after breakfast we took the train back to riomaggiore and explored the town, had some foccacia for lunch, and then stopped at a cliff side bar for a glass of wine, a caprese salad and a game of dominoes. we walked the via dell'amore back to manarola and changed into clothes for swimming. we walked down to the water where there were big rock where people sunned them selves and there was a swimming hole. the water was cold at first, but delicious once you got all in. we splashed around for awhile and the we went back to the apartment and showered up and went for another walk, this time we did the scenic walk in our town which included a path through the terraced hills planted with grapes and orange trees. very pretty. the sun was setting again and the hills looked all glowy and warm in the light, postcard perfect.

after our walk we took the train to vernazza for what was supposed to be a really good meal at a restaurant built on the cliff side with a "commanding view". unfortunately it was a cold night so the "commanding view" was covered up by plastic sheets, and the food was just so-so. we took the train home and to bed.

giorno sette
macciato and pastries at our morning place. and then we took the ferry all the way to the "end" at monterosso, we walked around town and then stopped at a waterside joint for one of the best meals yet, which was just a simple grilled panini with mozzarella and tomato, it was perfecto and a piccolo beer, then were were ready for our big hike to vernazza. the hike took about and hour and a half, it was really sunny and warm and the views were amazing we were climbing all along the edges of these cliffs and it was the perfect way to spend the day, we were seriously rubberlegged by the end though, so we stopped in vernazza for a gelato (pistachio & coffee) and then we stopped into a cute litttle pizza counter for a slice and we sat by the water to eat, enjoy the view, and make up back stories fr the people we were watching.

we took the train home from vernazza and went down to the water for another swim. home to clean up and then we went shopping for a picnic dinner. we walked the terraced cliff walk agoin to a scenic viewpoint to watch the sunset and ate our salami, cheese, olives, foccacia and a jar of pesto for dinner and lavender cookies for dessert, all washed down with some vino rosso. one of the best dinners we had.

giorno otto
we really didn't want to leave the cinque terre, it was so beautiful and relaxing we could have easily spent another day or 2 here, but we had reservations in florence, it was time to go. our favorite morning spot was closed on tuesdays so we had to have our morning jolt at a new place.

i was obsessed about getting some foccacia at this little counter place we had walked by earlier, it had been closed on monday and it didn't open until 9:30. we wanted to grab something to eat on the train so we were waiting for them to open up before we left. when it came down to deciding which flavors to get it was really hard, they all looked amazing. we bought a piece of some thin farina pizza thing laden with pesto to eat right then and then bought 3 pieces to take for later. the foccacia i really wanted was smothered with a pool of pesto with a big puddle of soft cheese on it, but we decided it would be too messy to travel with so we got a potato, an olive, and a meaty one. and then took one last walk around town before we had to go catch the train.

we arrived in florence around 2:30 and got lost looking for marcella's house. we got checked in and settled, freshened up and then went for a walk, we walked down to the duomo and visited the duomo museum and then climbed the 463 steps to the top of the duomo and watched the sun set, and enjoyed the view from above. we went and had a glass of wine and a snack at an adorable wine bar and then went to dinner at a so-so restaurant. home and bed.