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Published: June 28th 2010
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We stepped off the train in Monterosso to a sunny, beachy, hot day. There is a beach literally across the street from the train station. People are hanging out like you would expect to see in the Italian Riveria. We couldn’t wait to be a part of all of it, but first to our hotel, Casa di Limone.
We read and reread the directions to the hotel in the email we received. Walking around the hilly street wishing we could change from our pants and long sleeved shirts to swim trunks and a bikini. Finally, some nice guys from a gelateria pointed us in the right direction, we had to go back and thank them later by buying some gelato. We climbed uphill until we found the path to our hotel - which consisted of 80 long stone steps! Did I mention we had to carry our luggage up these steps? When we checked in, all we wanted to do was pass out from the strenuous workout.
The hotel was charming and had a beautiful view. The hotel was an old farmhouse that had turned into guest rooms that looked over a lemon orchard, a gushing stream,
and other trees and crops that were growing along the mountain side including olive trees. The view also looked down towards the small town of Monterosso itself and the Mediterranean Sea.
After some rest, we showered and made out way down the hill ready to find some well deserved dinner. We ate at a restaurant that sat on a bluff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Stuffed Mussels are a new favorite for us, they are so delicious. We also had a salad with calamari and leeks, fish ravioli with shrimp, and a Cinque Terre special of homemade pasta called trofie tossed in a homemade pesto sauce. All the seafood had been caught that day in the sea we were overlooking. After dinner, we walked around the small town figuring out which restaurants we may want to eat at the other nights… and we didn’t forget to visit the gelateria to get some cherry and chocolate-hazelnut gelatos.
Tuesday was a beach day. We bought some towels, rented some beach chairs to lay on the beach all day. It was absolutely wonderful! The Italians really know how to make beach chairs. Perhaps they have these chairs elsewhere, but I
have never seen them in my travels in the US, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, or Asia. These chairs had an extra section above your head that you could maneuver to shade your head how you liked. Also, the chairs had a string in front of your chair that you could pull to raise or lower your chair. This eliminated having to get up to adjust your chair.
We took a break from the sun to have lunch at a seaside café. Chris ordered a Panini and an Italian beer and Gigi had a tuna, egg, corn, and tomato salad with a lemon granite (kind of like a slushy).
Later in the evening we ate dinner at a joint called Ciak. We ordered a gnocci with pesto and a seafood risotto along with a bottle of Cinque Terre wine. The seafood risotto came in a huge earthenware pot and contained many frightening crustaceans. Chris taught Gigi the fine art of ripping off the heads of langostines, then pinching the tail to extract the most meat. From that point Chris got to eat all the langostines. The wine reminded us of the wine in Michigan, fruity and
fragrant.
Cinque Terre actually means five lands. There are five little towns that make up the Cinque Terre in the Italian Riveria. Montorosso is the fifth town. There are almost no vehicles in any of the towns. The only way from one town to the next is by train, by boat, or the most adventurous way…to hike.
We bought our Cinque Terre Treno passes that allowed us hiking and train rides for the day. We trained to the farthest town, Riomaggiore, and walked around it for a short time. We took Rick Steves’ advice and took the elevator to the top of the town and walked down it for some amazing views. The towns are built right on the cliffsides of the Mediterranean. From Riomaggiore, there is a 30 minute hike along the Via Dell Amore. As we walked the train, we began to see padlocks on the railings and fences. Eventually, we saw thousands of them. The locks were from couples who promised their love would last as long as the lock was on the Via Dell Amore.
At the end of the trail we reached the second town, Manarola. We hiked up
a few secret Rick Steves’ paths and soon found ourselves walking alongside one of the wineries up on the hill. We took some photos of grapes and olives on the trees. We also passed by a graveyard that was build above ground but right on the coast of the sea. Apparently when Napoleon ruled the area, he mandated that people be entombed outside of town. Turns out that this is now some prime real estate.
Another 30 minute hike brought us to the footsteps of Corniglia. When we arrived, there was a bus that takes you to the top of the village. Gigi diligently waited in line while Chris went to the restroom. When Chris returned, the bus was full and we were forced to climb the 382 steps to the top. We pretended that we were on a made up reality show called “The Amazing Loser”. It’s a combination of The Amazing Race and The Biggest Loser. We were the green team as we both had green t-shirts on. (Later on, we would be the Gray team as we raced the Red team for open seating on our flight to Greece) We celebrated by going to the
town’s only Enoteca (wine bar) and having a glass of vino bianco.
The hike to Vernassa was 2 hours, so we took the train there instead in 5 minutes. We stopped for lunch on the “beach”. The beach was really a glorified sandbox. We enjoyed ravioli in a walnut sauce and more stuffed mussels. Also, for 10 Euro, we ordered a cheese plate which consisted of 4 small pieces of cheese. Guess the Euro is really hurting the restaurateurs. We finished our lunch in the company of many stray cats.
The hike back to Monterosso was another 2 hours, so we were going to train it back. We passed by the ticket office for the boat shuttle, and chose to take the ferry instead. When the boat arrived, it was overpacked, and they shuffled out a movable ramp where people exited and boarded single-file. A few nice views from the ferry and we were back in Monterosso.
A side note, we used Rick Steves’ Passport to Europe book to learn and plan the Cinque Terre. We saw no fewer than 20 copies of the book in Americans’ hands during our short time in the
CT. Apparently the locals consider Rick Steves Satan.
When we arrived at the beach, there was a pile of wood, old pallets, and even an old rowboat in the middle. We came to find out that today was the feast of St. John the Baptist (the unfortunate guy who we saw many times in Spain, headless). We sat for dinner on a terrace overlooking the sea at La Tortuga. We shared a bottle of CT local wine, and had some unremarkable food. We definitely paid for the view. After we left, we saw the entire town gathered around the beach bonfire. The next morning when we left, the bonfire was still smoldering.
The morning we left, we trudged our luggage down the 80 stairs, down the town hill, through the ramp, up through the station’s 4 flights of stairs, only to find that the ticket window was closed for the festival of St. John the Baptist. Through some broken English and Italian, we got some tickets from the local station agent. We made our way through Pisa, but we were unable to see the “official” Leaning Tower of Pisa from the train station, so we held the camera diagonally and took a picture of a tower and plan to claim that we saw the tower of Pisa leaning. Two confusing hours later we were in Florence.
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Kramer
non-member comment
Love that Corniglia enoteca
Meant to tell you to make sure you hit the Corniglia enoteca as we enjoyed it there and it's a nice break from the hike. Funny that you skipped hiking the two hardest legs of the four. I think the Team Green name may have to stick when you guys get back. Fun stuff - enjoy the rest of the trip.