When we arrived in the Cinque Terre, we found our hotel in Riomaggiore, and got settled in. First I should tell you that the Cinque Terre is a national park in the region of Liguria on the northwest coast of Italy between Genoa and Pisa. There are five towns in the Cinque Terre (hence the cinque) and they are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. We stayed in Riomaggiore, which turned out to be one of my favorites along with Vernazza and Manarola. It's really easy to get between towns as they are trains that run very often and they are coastal walks and ferries as well.
Our hotel ended up being a cute little apartment right above a restaurant on the main street in Riomaggiore. The towns are really small, but our location was prefect, and for finding something cheap and last minute, we had a really nice apartment with a kitchen for the three days that we were there. For lunch that day, we had fried fresh seafood, some of the best I've ever eaten. Being on the coast, I only had seafood the entire time we were there. So we took our lunch and a bottle of wine down to the marina and sat with our toes in the water and soaked up the sun.
Birthday Lunch! Mixed seafood and red wine!
First drink on my 21st :)
The harbor in Riomaggiore.
Riomaggiore
After lunch we had intended to walk to Manarola, the next town along the coast on what is called the Via dell' Amore, or the Walk of Love, but for some reason it was closed. So we took the train, explored Manarola, had a drink (it was my 21st birthday!) right on the water, and then headed to the next town, Corniglia. After exploring, we headed back to Riomaggiore for an afternoon swim before dinner. We found a beach (they're rocky, not sandy) and laid in the sun and swam in the Mediterranean for the rest of the afternoon. Bumming on the beach and in the water was the perfect way to spend my birthday. We freshened up for dinner and headed to a nice restaurant with salty hair and all.
The walk up to Corniglia. Corniglia is the only town that isn't directly on the water.
The harbor in Manarola.
Manarola. We ate at the restaurant on the left the next night.
Drink #2 in Manarola!
Birthday swim!
The beach in Riomaggiore.
We split a bottle of wine, had homemade pasta with mussels, and then a seafood main course. Once again everything was delicious. After dinner, we grabbed a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano wine, a bottle of limoncello and headed back down to the sea. We had to celebrate with at least a few drinks! Before long we met some Italian sailors that kept us company and I went for a night swim in the sea. It was my favorite birthday yet.
Birthday dinner in Riomaggiore!
Limoncello and a bottle of wine seaside was better than any bar crawl in America could've been.
The next day we headed to Monterosso, the furthest town north and fighting a little bit of hangover, got a pesto focaccia, and walked around the city. There are beaches in Monterosso, which makes it one of the more popular towns, but you have to pay to get in and Thea and I were just fine finding a huge flat rock to sprawl out on. So after walking around a bit, we started our hike to Vernazza. Probably not our smartest idea with the state we were in and the hot sun beating down us, but we got over our hangovers right away and took in the beautiful views surrounding us. The water is turquoise blue spotted with cute Italian boats and sailboats, the cliffs cut right into the sea, and then there are even vineyards cut into the cliffs. The Cinque Terre is one of my favorite places in the world, so beautiful. It took us about two hours to hike to Vernazza and when we got there we went straight for a mojito and the water. The hike was worth it though, and the super strong mojito we had was the perfect way to end it. We spent the rest of the afternoon passed out on the rocks and swimming in the sea. It was perfect. Vernazza was one of my favorites.
In Monterosso.
The hike to Vernazza.
Looking down on Monterosso.
Looking down over Vernazza.
Vernazza.
A mojito and the Mediterranean.
That night we went for dinner in Manarola and had a delicious tiramisu dessert. He had wine and seafood again. After dinner, while waiting for our train, I decided to jump back in the harbor and we swam and watched the sun set, it was beautiful. (We lived in our swimsuits and our hair was always salty, if you can't tell.)
Tiramisu in Manarola.
Our waiter took a picture for us and then invited us on his boat for a beach party, haha.
The next day, and our last in the Cinque Terre and in Italy, we got up early, rented a kayak and kayaked to Manarola. That was a lot of fun, even though Thea was worried about me dumping up the whole time (we had mom's camera, haha). We spent the rest of the day laying on the big rocks in Riomaggiore and swimming. That night we had reservations at a wonderful restaurant in Vernazza, so we took the train and spent a while walking around Vernazza and shopping.
Kayaking by Manarola.
Manarola from our kayak.
Riomaggiore from our kayak.
Beachin' one last time in Riomaggiore.
Seafood and the sole beer of the trip at Mamma Mia!
Shopping in Vernazza.
Sat and enjoyed the views in Verazza. Shorty after we were harassed by an old man in a speedo about why we were drinking water and not wine :)
In Vernazza, we stopped for a drink during happy hour and just sat on the harbor taking it all in. This was the trip of a lifetime.
Happy hour drinks.
Found an anchor so I had too.
For dinner, we ate at this fancy restaurant up on top the cliff right on the sea. The views were beautiful and the food was amazing. I had squid ink pasta with shrimps, and Thea had trofie al pesto, another local specialty with fresh trofie pasta. We split a liter of wine and had our last tiramisu for dessert. Everything was so delicious, and they even brought us free limonello shots as we sat and just talked and took it all in. We got back from dinner late and since we had to be up at 4:00 am to catch our train to Milan, headed to bed.
My dinner and a glass of wine.
Our last tiramisu in Italy.
Limoncello!
4:00 am the next morning was rough, but our time in Italy was absolutely perfect. We were minutes from missing our flight, and we were still on the airport shuttle five minutes before our gate closed. Thank god Thea was gutsy enough to cut through the line for security or we never would've made it. In the craziness of everything, I even had her passport going through security and she had mine. Not sure how I got two jars of pesto, and even some kitchen utensils I had bought through security but thanks for leniency Italian TSA :) We had to take off sprinting for our gate and with our huge backpacks and Thea wearing a dress that's a whole different story, hahaha. But we made it thank god!
Our time in Italy was everything I've ever imagined. The food and wine is so so special and the way of life is just completely different from what I've seen so far. I can't wait to return next spring and see Venice and Rome. But really, I'll never forget all the memories with Thea and I'll never forget my birthday in Italy. It was all just amazing. Ciao bella!
No comments:
Post a Comment