Cinque Terre, Italy
/(May 6th - May 9th, 2015)
We took three trains to get from Nice to Cinque Terre and started our journey by getting on the wrong first train. The train wasn't labeled and we made a last minute decision to just follow the crowds of people getting on the train around the time that ours was scheduled to leave and then did the same when getting off. We ended up arriving at the correct station, just a few minutes early so we got really lucky. On the second train we met two older couples who tried to speak to us in Italian and then resorted to sign language to communicate with us the best they could. They offered us sandwiches and beer once they started eating and wouldn’t take no for an answer. They helped us figure out which stop we needed to get off at as we struggled to figure out the Italian train system. On our third train we met a fellow backpacking traveller from New York and shared stories and tips. By the time we finally made it to Monterosso we knew it was going to be one of our most memorable stops.
The weather was pretty dreary during our train rides, but upon arriving in Monterosso, the skies were blue and the sun was out. We checked into our hotel, dropped our bags, took in the amazing view from our room window, and set out to explore the town of Monterosso. As we wandered around we decided to have an afternoon snack in the sun. Our Trip Advisor app wasn’t working so we just went to a place with tables outside and a large crowd of people. We got a ½ litre of white wine (for 6 euros) and the worst bruschetta we’ve ever had. Once our wifi started working again and we looked up the place on Trip Advisor and saw that it was rated #58 out of the 60 restaurants in Monterosso (whoops!). To redeem ourselves, we found the highest rated gelato spot in Monterosso (Il Golosone) and very much enjoyed it! Afterwards we went down to the water, walked along the beach, and took some photos of Monterosso and the nearby towns of Vernazza and Cornigila. While exploring we stumbled upon L’Ancora della Tortuga, a restaurant built into the wall of a cliff with an amazing view of the water where we decided to have our first dinner in Monterosso. We enjoyed a nice bottle of local wine, had a cod and purple potato appetizer, orecchietta pasta with muscles and broccoli, basil and shrimp risotto, and finished off the night with some Tiramisu. We still preferred the Oliviera's Tiramisu, but were very satisfied with the meal.
On our second day, we did the Cinque Terre hike through the five towns from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. The stretch between Monterosso to Vernazza is supposed to be the most challenging, but as usual, we assumed people were exaggerating and set out at a brisk pace climbing hundreds of stairs up through nearly vertical vineyards and olive orchards. Within minutes we were panting and sweating profusely. We took several breaks during the hike, but used them to enjoy the views and take several photos as we climbed high above the towns. While we were hiking, we decided to taste each town’s gelato to find the ultimate gelateria in Cinque Terre. We knew we’d be burning a few extra calories (and I work best when I have food to motivate me), so even though we arrived in Vernazza around 10am…we set out to find ourselves some gelato. The #1 rated gelateria was still closed so we went to the next one on the list (Gelateria Vernazza) and shared salty peanut and nutella gelato. We found a bench in the sun and enjoyed our second breakfast. We spent some time walking through the small town and taking plenty of photos before heading out to the next town.
The next portion of the hike wasn’t as challenging as the first leg, but took about the same amount of time. Corniglia is perched on top of a cliff and is smaller and less touristy than Monterosso and Vernazza, but sure has great gelato. The #1 restaurant in Corgnilia is a gelateria (Alberto Gelateria)! Allen enjoyed dark chocolate and mint chocolate while I enjoyed fresh lemon and fresh mango. We both loved our choices and sat down for awhile to rest our legs, rehydrate, enjoy our gelato and people watch for a bit. We decided to hold off on lunch until the next town and headed down a crazy amount of switchback stairs to set back on the trail. There were signs that said the trail was closed between Corniglia and Manaorla, but all day we had seen signs that said other parts of the hike were closed, that hadn’t been, so we decided to go as far as we could just in case the signs were also incorrect. However, this time the signs were telling the truth. We were warned by other hikers, who had already turned back around, that part of the trail had been completely washed away by the 2011 flood/landslides and there was no way around it. We kept going just to see it for ourselves and to take a few photos. Just as they had warned us, we had to turn back around and wait for the next train to get to Manarola. We were disappointed to not be able to do the whole hike, but didn’t have enough energy to take alternative trails high up on the hillsides that would have doubled our mileage for the day, so we opted for the train.
Once aboard, we were in Manarola in about 60 seconds. Our first priority was lunch, so we found Il Porticciolo, which is known for having incredibly fresh seafood at a good price. Allen got the linguine with lobster and I got squid ink pasta with red shrimp and vegetables. Both were delicious and we finished our meal with some espresso. Manarola was definitely one of the most picturesque of the five towns and we planned to return the next day so we could try a highly recommended trattoria.
We found out that part of the path from Manarola to Riomaggiore had also been destroyed by the 2011 landslides/floods and wasn’t fully repaired yet so we hopped back on the train to head to the fifth town. In our opinion Riomaggiore is the least charming of the five towns, but still worth a stop. Since it was our last stop on a long, hot day of hiking and exploring, we only spent about 45 minutes in the last town, but found ourselves some gelato at Bar Centrale and took a few photos to complete our five town adventure.
We returned to Monterosso, took a short siesta, and headed out looking for a dinner spot. We ended up getting a last minute table at one of the highest rated restaurants in Monterosso called Da Eraldo. We enjoyed some local wine, caprese, homemade pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes, and a trio of pastas (paperdelle with baby octopi, clams, mussels, and shrimp, pasta with a walnut cream sauce, and ricotta lasagna with homemade pesto). The pesto pasta was our favorite and we concluded that after the caprese from Oliviera in Nice, all future caprese appetizers may fall short in comparison. We decided that having gelato three times in one day meant there was no need for dessert so we walked back to our hotel, watched a few minutes of CNN (the only English channel we had) covering the British election and fell asleep immediately.
We slept in a bit on our final day in Monterosso as the only thing we had planned for the day was a relaxing beach day. Unfortunately we woke up to cloudy skies which wasn’t quite the weather we were hoping for. We got breakfast at the hotel, and relaxed for awhile in our room trying to read emails, work on the blog, and catch up on the NBA playoffs. Around 11am the sun broke through the clouds and within minutes I had my swimsuit on and was ready for the beach. We found a spot on the beach and soaked up the sun for a couple of hours while being thoroughly entertained by the people surrounding us. People from all over the world travel and act so differently in foreign countries and it’s fun to just sit back and observe the chaos sometimes :). Allen ran out of podcasts so we packed up and took a walk to the other end of the town before finding a spot for lunch. We decided to eat at Cantina di Miky and we were not disappointed. We absolutely loved our focaccia platter with homemade pesto, local olive oil, and an olive pâté and fresh cod with tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. Allen had a trio of local craft beers and I had a lemoncino spritzer. This place was definitely underrated on Trip Advisor and if we had more days in Cinque Terre we would have come back for another meal. Every dish that went by looked like something that came from TopChef and the service was fantastic. After lunch we both got some affogato and then headed back to the beach for another hour or so before hiking up to a cemetery on top of the town. We were able to capture some amazing photos of the town from above and took in the view of the coastline where we could see all five towns.
For our final dinner we headed back to Manarola and enjoyed a table out on the patio at Trattoria di Billy. This restaurant had been recommended by multiple friends and family members, and while we acknowledged that we ordered the wrong thing, we appreciated the semi private dining experience in an unbelievable setting. We had a bottle of wine, caprese salad, and shared the pasta special: beet infused pasta with fresh caught crab in a red sauce. The pasta came with an entire crab, bibs, napkins, little forks and crab crackers. By the time we de-shelled the crab, the pasta was cold, but the flavor was still pretty good. We quickly got frustrated by the amount of shells that were in the pasta and after Allen had six shell pieces in one bite, decided that we would avoid crab for the rest of the trip. Allen has very high standards when it comes to crab, as would anyone who’s experienced his mom’s crab curry, so he was less impressed with the pasta than I was. The restaurant provided complimentary lemoncinno shots and on top of that we ordered tiramisu and a dark chocolate and almond cake for dessert. We realized we still hadn’t experienced gelato from Manarola (since the #1 spot was closed the day before), so we headed back down the hill after dinner for our second dessert. Unfortunately, the place was closed AGAIN so we had to settle for the only gelateria that was still open and we were not impressed with the tiramisu flavor we ordered. We walked back out on the trail and took some photos of the town at night. Cinque Terre truly is a beautiful place and each of the towns have their own unique character and appeal. This was one of our most anticipated stops on our trip and we greatly enjoyed our time exploring the area.
On the train back to Monterosso we laughed at the insane amount of gelato we’d had over the past few days and concluded that I’ve had more dessert on this trip so far than I’ve probably had in my entire life. The next morning we woke up, had a quick breakfast, packed up and headed to the train for our next destination: a short stop in Pisa and then onto Lucca.
