August 2016
Bidding farewell to the salty seas of Croatia and to Stacey and Blair we set forth on the next leg of our adventure: Cinque Terre!
A cluster of five small villages clinging to the Italian Riviera coastline, the bright pastel-and-azure-blue-coloured destination had been on my bucket list for a long time. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. They did not disappoint.
Eager to stretch our legs after a week of blissful relaxation, we decided to catch the train from Florence to Pisa, then instead of a train from Pisa to Monterosso, went one stop further to Levanto.
The plan then was to hike the track to our hotel in Monterosso. A cracking plan! In theory. By the time we'd flown to Italy, caught our two trains and arrived in Levanto it was going on 4:00pm and still 33°c. Huh. Tired, (fairly unfit!) and saddled with our packs, this was a more challenging hike than we'd anticipated!
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| Our starting point, Levanto |
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| Follow the little markers |
The terrain was steep in parts, dusty in others and I was dying! Mike took it like a trooper. The beautiful flora and scents, and the view at the top of the hill of all five villages made the three hour hike well worth it!
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| Hard to see, but the next four villages are peaking out along the coast. |
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| Antipasto in Monterosso |
We picked our way down the hill, and made a bee-line for showers, antipasto, pasta and gelato. The Italians have a wonderful tradition where you order wine and get antipasto meaning "before the meal" - typically a spread of cured meats, cheese and olives.
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| Pasta! |
Day two was to be a big one: our intention was to visit each of the five villages. Having parted with a small cache of Euro we were in possession of passes to the national park for the next two days with the addition of unlimited train trips. Conveniently trains ran frequently between each of the villages and between Monterosso and the farthest town, Riomaggiore was only about 15 minutes.
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| Vineyards |
We had read about a mass of visitors expected in the high season but were pleasantly surprised – we often had stretches of the track to ourselves.
A couple of hours later, we got to Vernazza, and it was just gorgeous.
It felt high time for some gelato. After a wander around the cobbled streets and a promise to return the next day, we bought a hiking-approved, nutritionally-balanced beverage - Birra Moreti* - and set off for Corniglia.
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| Vernazza |
It felt high time for some gelato. After a wander around the cobbled streets and a promise to return the next day, we bought a hiking-approved, nutritionally-balanced beverage - Birra Moreti* - and set off for Corniglia.
*Beer. We bought beer.
On our way to Corniglia we happened upon a sign that said ‘Beautiful Beach’ and an arrow pointing off the track downhill to Guvano beach. We were hot and dusty so this seemed like a good idea. After about 10 minutes we came to the coastline, went through an old railway tunnel… and found we'd arrived at a nudist beach! Well, when in Rome, or Italy as it was!
Corniglia was nice but maybe our least favourite of the five villages because it wasn't on the sea, being about 100m up the hill. It was high time for wine and antipasto, accompanied by a pretty spectacular view.
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| Cornigia ahoy! |
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| Street in Corniglia |
In 2011 the centuries-old villages of Cinque Terre (‘Five Lands’) were deeply affected by torrential rains causing floods and landslides, killing nine people. The villages have since recovered but ongoing slips meant that the walking tracks between Corniglia and Manarola, and from Manarola and Riomaggiore were closed for our visit.
Unperturbed, we circumnavigated this problem by catching a train to the far town of Riomaggiore. Bring forth the gelato!
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Manarola |
Time for the fifth and final village, Manarola. A short ferry ride soon brought into view a rocky crevasse full of a jumble of little pastel-coloured buildings. A swim was in order followed by a drink. Table wine (house wine) in Italy and France is so underrated.
After the sun set we made tracks for Monterosso (train tracks) to make our reservations for a restaurant called Da Eraldo that we'd arranged the night before. This restaurant apparently had a great reputation for delicious, inexpensive food and friendly service. And it was awesome. The antipasto platter was so good and we probably could have/should have stopped there, but we had our eating pants on and we followed it with pasta – Ligure for Mike (allegedly the best pasta he's ever eaten, with a nice olive-y taste), Pesto for me. You'll be disappointed to hear there was no room for more gelato.
After the sun set we made tracks for Monterosso (train tracks) to make our reservations for a restaurant called Da Eraldo that we'd arranged the night before. This restaurant apparently had a great reputation for delicious, inexpensive food and friendly service. And it was awesome. The antipasto platter was so good and we probably could have/should have stopped there, but we had our eating pants on and we followed it with pasta – Ligure for Mike (allegedly the best pasta he's ever eaten, with a nice olive-y taste), Pesto for me. You'll be disappointed to hear there was no room for more gelato.
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| Mike's Ligure. |
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| My Pesto. |
The next day we followed through on our promise and went back to our favourite village, Vernazza. Incidentally it was our seven year anniversary and a gorgeous place to spend it. We swam in the little rocky harbour, ate more gelato and went to a small bar and enjoyed a wine degustation.
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| Back in Vernazza |
It was time to head back to Monterosso to catch the train to Firenze later that afternoon.
But not before stopping for some of the freshest calamari of our lives from Il Bocconcino, a hole-in-the-train-station in Monterosso, complete with ear-splitting club music.
Dinner for our first night in Florence was at a small restaurant we stumbled upon by chance after our first two choices were closed for Summer. What a magnificent stumble; Il Borro Tuscan Bistro. We started with a pecorino cheese pie. Good Lord. Imagine if you will, a cheese soufflé, grilled to perfect cheesy crispness on one side, on a bed of fresh pear slices and covered in thin slices of truffle. That description does not do it justice. It was divine. The rest of the meal was beautiful as well, but really not quite up to the pecorino standard - but then, few meals could ever really match that quality.
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| Il Borro. It does not do it justice. |
Saturday dawned bright and clear, another perfect Italian day.
And also Mike’s birthday! Our hotel had taken our passports on arrival, noted it was a special day and surprised Mike with a tart complete with candle!
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| Cathedral and Duomo |
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| Clock tower and Duomo. |
And also Mike’s birthday! Our hotel had taken our passports on arrival, noted it was a special day and surprised Mike with a tart complete with candle!
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| Birthday fruit! |
I'd organised a wine tour of the Chianti region. Along with a group of Yanks and a French guide, we spent a lovely day visiting two vineyards and learning all about the Chianti wine and region. We drank a lot of wine. Of course, there was a spit bucket, but never one to shy from a challenge and waste perfectly good wine, we drank it all. We sampled beautiful cheese, bread and prosciutto at each stop. And gelato, naturally.
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| Sweet, precious grapes. |
Lunch was a visit at the Mad Butcher, Dario Cecchini, in Panzano This entailed a welcome shot of grappa. Nasty stuff! The butcher gained his reputation during the mad cow disease crisis when 'bistecca fiorentina' or t-bone steak was prohibited for health scare reasons. He organised a funeral for the bistecca fiorentina complete with a plaque to commemorate the ceremony. He's since put the small town of Panzano of the Cianti region on the world gastronomic map, and for good reason. The food we had there was delicious.
When we got back to Firenze it was time it was time for a change of pace, so after a wee wander along and around the Ponte Vecchio (a medieval bridge lined with shops), we had a beer.
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| A wee bit over-stimulated. Or maybe mad cow. Hard to tell. |
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| Beer! |
Our final full day was a busy one spent visiting the Uffizi, Academia and the Cathedral. Seeing David at the Uffizi in person after a lifetime of seeing him on TV (oft parodied) was brilliant. You could see so much expression in his face that we didn't know was there.
The Acadamia was full of grand paintings including the Birth of Venus.
Lunch. Lunch was amazing. Lunch was pizza from Mangia.
The Acadamia was full of grand paintings including the Birth of Venus.
Lunch. Lunch was amazing. Lunch was pizza from Mangia.
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| Serious concentration required at Mangia. |
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| Inside the Duomo |
It was gelato o’clock. Which we chased with more gelato, as you do. We wound down the day with visit to the Bobili gardens to get a good view of the Duomo at twilight. Followed by more pizza.
A perfect end to a brilliant holiday. It was time to go back to work. For four days. Before we went... to Turkey!
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