Exploring the Ligurian Coastline and the Cinque Terre

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Date Saturday 2nd October 2010
City Florence
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$.55
Climate Low 12c - High 23c - misty then fine and sunny

Today we left Casa Mancia in Foligno for our drive north towards La Spezia. We decided a day en route about half way would break up the trip and would allow a quick visit into Florence. We didn’t think we’d get to Florence this trip but we were provided with this opportunity and so made our way there, leaving Foligno at 9.45am in a thick mist.
Florence (Firenze) was just 150km north and we chose the A1 autostrada for most of the journey. By the time we reached Florence just after midday, it was hot and sunny. After navigating our way in through the outskirts of the city to the historical hub, we chanced upon an underground car parking building almost immediately (near the central train station) and grabbed a great park for just 2 euro per hour. A short walk took us to the river where we made for the Ponte Vecchio. A quick look through the windows told us that we wouldn’t be buying anything on this bridge on this trip! Next, we walked through the quaint cobbled streets towards the sites that Florence is famous for - the Piazza Santa Croce, the Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) and the Museo dell’Opera dell Duomo. In the Piazza Santa Croce there was a Saturday market in progress. It had all the stalls you’d expect in a town square weekend marketplace - clothing, cheeses, meats, sweets, pastries, a tattoo artist, leather goods, souvenirs etc. In addition there were food stalls from around Europe. Stalls representing Germany, France, Czech Republic, Spain and Poland were all represented. Most were selling some sort of BBQ food with beer. Although Spain had huge pans of paella bubbling away, we were drawn to the smell of barbecued meats. Jennie was attracted to the patate rosta (roasted/fried sliced potatoes - like wedges) and Shaun couldn’t wait to try the enormous Polish bratwurst with sauerkraut. We selected these “heart tick” healthy lunch options from the Polish stand. After strolling around Santa Maria del Fiore and taking some gorgeous photos of Piazza del Duomo, our fast-track Florence day was over and we drove out at about 3.30pm. We took the back roads though to Quarrata where our B&B accommodation was booked. At 4.30pm we pulled up outside the large iron gates of Ruri EST Bed And Breakfast, via Del Casone, 170, Olmi, Quarrata - www.ruriest.it We were pleased with our choice and were glad that we had secure parking for the car and excellent internet access. The house has just five guest bedrooms on the ground floor with the family living upstairs. It is positioned well for touring the area; with Florence, Prato, Pistoia, Vinci and Monsummano Terme all within a 20km radius. After dropping our bags off and having a quick relax, snack and drink - we ventured out to explore the town. On the way there we noticed there are numerous furniture stores. As you can imagine we were tempted to explore these and they were totally gorgeous as you’d expect - with the Italian design influence very evident. We resisted the urge and headed for the main part of town. Like so many other Italian villages there is a main town square with a handful of shops and pizzerias around the perimeter. For a Saturday night we couldn’t understand how quiet it was. There were a group of teens hanging out around the movie theatre and a few people in a lounge/bar/patisserie as we sat back and relaxed in Piazza Risorgimento. All in all - too much excitement for us and so we headed home to watch our favourite game show on tele and research tomorrow’s route to La Spezia.

Date Sunday 3rd October 2010
City Lucca, La Spezia and Porto Venere
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$.55
Climate Low 15c - High 21c - cloudy, some rain and fine later

We were up bright and early - assisted by the family’s activity upstairs coming through the walls and floors! We took breakfast in their communal dining area and were surprised at the coffee being heated in the microwave for us. We had been so spoilt with “cappuccinos, Americanos, doppios and macchiatos being readily prepared at our request at the previous places we’ve stayed. We did enjoy the ACE juice - made from lemons, oranges and carrots and a small bowl of cereal with yoghurt. We decided that good coffee would need to be purchased on the road today. We left at 9.30am - a balmy 15c, but cloudy - good driving weather. First stop was Lucca, out near the West Coast just north of Pisa. We both commented that Pisa was where we had arrived just three weeks ago and that we have seen and done so much in that time. Lucca is an old town of Roman origin, famous for the production of olive oil. We parked just on the inside of the old quarter’s high stone wall and walked into the town. The first major square we came to had an exciting event happening. It was a Firefighters open day being held in Piazza Napoleone. There were all manner of things on display including an old fire-bicycle! We were also delighted with the firefighter obstacle course laid out for children to participate in. There were dozens of boys and girls lining up to test their skills. Jen almost had to hold Shaun back from joining the line with the young children! Some of the activities they needed to complete were; a ride on a flying fox from a tower to a fire truck, climb up a ladder and slide down a fire pole, sliding down a slide, ride an exercycle and lift some small weights, crawl through a tunnel and put out a small fire with a hose. All miniature examples of the real thing - very cute -especially with their mini plastic fire helmets and vests on! At the end of the gruelling decathlon they were awarded a certificate.
Eventually Jen dragged Shaun away and we continued our exploration of Lucca. We came upon Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, where the buildings form a circle around the Piazza, with a number of cafes forming an inner circle protected from the elements. We took the opportunity to take some time out to enjoy a coffee while watching the occasional tour group come through. Shaun reckoned you could tell that the tourists thought we were locals. Put it down to our tan and our fluent grasp of the Italian language!
After our caffeine fix we thought we’d stretch the legs of the Lancia and joined the A12 to La Spezia, arriving an hour later. Jen had found a great apartment in La Spezia which was actually classified as a hostel. So for only 50 euro for the both of us we were to share a 2 bedroom apartment with kitchen, dining room, washing machine and balcony. Who we were to share with would be a mystery until they showed up - if in fact anyone did. Positioned just a couple of blocks from the train station it will serve us well as we aim to explore the Cinque Terre over the next few days - without the trusty Lancia.
We got into the apartment at 2pm and dumped our bags in our new home for 5 nights/4 days. We drove out to explore Porto Venere, on Poet’s Gulf (Golfo dei Poeti) which has earned its name from the praise of poets such as Byron, Shelley and Dante. It is just 11kms from La Spezia. With the coastline boasting marinas hidden away in gorgeous bays with beautiful yachts and launches barely moving in the protected waters, we could see why friends of ours had enjoyed staying there. We ended up doing a loop of Porto Venere before finding a park close to the port which gave us a great opportunity to suss it out. We enjoyed walking along the waterfront and past the “fortress-houses”, up to the 13th century San Pietro church perched high on the rock spur at the entrance to the harbour, with the imposing castle on the hilltop behind looking over the church like a big brother. We wandered back through the town and settled on a waterfront cafe (Bar Al Naviglio, Via Olivio 73) by the marina to have a vino and a bite to eat and watch the shadows lengthen across the harbour as the sun bid “buonanotte” on another fabulous day.
Before sunset we headed back into La Spezia to do a spot of shopping, but alas the supermarket was shut as it is Sunday! Fortunately we had enough supplies to tide us over for this evening’s dinner! We arrived home to a couple of roommates. They were two women from Germany on their two week autumn vacation. Just staying the one night they retired early to their bunk room and we barely saw them. We stayed up and caught up on the blog and a postcard to Max. Tomorrow we return the car, so planning on bit of touring before we give up the freedom the car has brought us.

Date Monday 4th October 2010
City Lerici and La Spezia
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$.53
Climate Low 16c - High 19c - raining and mostly cloudy all day

We heard the girls get up early as they were heading to Lucca today. This spurred us in to action too. We had an orange and an apple left in our food stocks so made a healthy breakfast out of that before departing for Lerici at 9.30am. Friends of ours had stayed a couple of nights in Lerici last month so we were keen to see what it was like. Just a half hour drive south of La Spezia we reached it in no time. We put three hours of coins in the parking meter and went about our sightseeing. The weather has truly turned now and we were decked out in long trousers, rain jackets and our brollies. We don’t have reliable internet access at the Corner House - so we called into the local information centre within the Municipal Buildings in Piazza Bacigalupi. We were impressed with the free service they offered on a super fast broadband connection. They offer this between 10am and 1pm on Mondays and additional afternoon hours on other weekdays. We needed to do a couple of banking tasks and answer a couple of emails. Once done with that we wandered off to climb up to the Castle of San Georgio. The castle once housed a youth hostel and hosted several cultural events, but now, since the discovery of dinosaur tracks in the area it has become a paleontological museum. What we didn’t realise is that the museum is closed on Mondays - and guess what - we were there on a Monday. Another reason to come back to Lerici one day! Generally we were impressed with Lerici and could see its attraction in the height of summer. There are gorgeous hotels and beach clubs along the lovely beaches and there are numerous shops and eating establishments.
Deserving a coffee after all our strenuous walking we chose a lovely bar/cafe (Bar Il Pontile) opposite Piazza Battisti perched above the water’s edge - with boats bobbing up and down either side. The cappuccinos and pastries went down well as we hadn’t eaten since our fruity breakfast. Then it was time to go and sadly return the car to Hertz. On our approach we spied a supermarket called the “Penny” market. This name was intriguing as we thought it might be like the “2 dollar” shop. It wasn’t - it was a regular supermarket but some excellent choices for vegetables, cheeses and other things we wanted to stock up on for the apartment. So, as we still had the car for another hour we thought it would be a good idea to do the shopping and drop it off at home before disposing of the car. Right on time - just before 3pm we returned the car - all juiced up and without a scratch! With the paperwork finalised we walked back into town, stopping along the way to check out ferry and train options to explore the Cinque Terre. Also, we need to get to Milan on Friday and so while we were at the Central Train Station we purchased our one way tickets on the non-stop train leaving at 10.40am. Perfect to fit in with our 10am check-out.
Having sussed out the transportation to Milan we meandered back to the “Corner Casa” to actually make our first meal in a real kitchen! It may seem trifle but it was actually making our mouths water as we talked about what we were going to cook! And cook we did, with fresh mushrooms sautéed in a truffle oil and cream sauce and drizzled over fresh Tagliatelle Paglia e Fieno. Of course we had to have the ‘health-tick’ so had a mixed salad of lettuce, tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. We are looking forward to creating some more gastronomic masterpieces before the week is out, so stay tuned to this Italian food channel. Also, to add a bit of challenge to the task we have a couple of new roommates - a guy from Canada and a chick from Aussie who has been living in Spain. We agreed that as we were all going to be here tomorrow night we would share in a meal together - a gourmet risotto - Jennie style! There were no objections so the deal was done.

Date Tuesday 5th October 2010
City Cinque Terre - Monterosso - Vernazza. Manarola - Riomaggiore
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$0.53
Climate Low 16c - High 21c - sunny with scattered showers

The apartment household was alive with activity by 8am. A bit of a sleep-in for the DCs. After a lovely home-made brekky of fruit, yoghurt, cereal and coffee we headed for the train station. We were just in time to catch the 10.01am train into the heart of the Cinque Terre. The “Cinque Terre” - the five hamlets are located on the west coast of the Italian Riviera - the villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore either cling to the cliff face or are concealed in miniature inlets perfectly blending into the unspoilt landscape, designated as a National Heritage Park. We purchased a daily pass for 8.50 Euro each at La Spezia train station, which included the 5 Euro National Park fee to walk the trails and use the transport all day. We thought this excellent value and we were even more impressed when we realised that the Cinque Terre train journey would take us just 16 minutes - from La Spezia to Monterosso al Mare! All five fishing villages are linked by this regional train service and in addition there are ferry boats. But today we decided to catch the train as the day started a little bleak and we didn’t know whether the ferries ran all the time - especially now that summer is officially over. On arrival into Monterosso - the first of the five villages from the north end - we quickly realised that this town was fairly similar to other beach-side villages and maybe that’s why many walkers were already on the trail heading south to explore the more unique villages of the Cinque Terre. We did notice the gorgeous sandy beach and could imagine its appeal on a hot summer’s day. We had read that this town was for the more “mundane” tourist - perhaps because of its easy access from the train station, the small resort hotels and sidewalk cafes that stretch along the promenade. All very appealing but we quickly moved past all this and started our intrepid trek of the Cinque Terre from Monterosso to Vernazza - apparently the most invigorating and rewarding section. The beginning of our trek greeted us with what felt like a never ending upward grind of uneven, often muddy and slippery steps, zigzagging through olive groves and vineyards. Picking our way through narrow stretches of rebuilt rock paths which dropped away to the breaking surf far below we eventually reached a plateau from where we enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the surging seas breaking against the protective rocks surrounding the village of Monterosso. We could catch glimpses of Monterosso and Vernazza as we followed the contours of the coastal outcrops. It took us approximately 1 & ¾ hours before we were presented with a perfect photo frame of Vernazza from above, with the gorgeous bay saved from the ferocious seas by the breakwater. Children were swimming when we were still approaching but the surging surf soon put paid to their plans of body-surfing. This town piazza is bordered on three sides by ochre-coloured houses and opens on to this delightful harbour - so makes it perfect for alfresco dining. Many promotional photos of this harbour show the fishing boats bobbing up and down in the calm, clear water, but not today; it was so rough that the sea was crashing over the breakwater! We had the chance to explore the village of Vernazza before finding Gianni Franzi, the perfect restaurant to imbibe in the local seafood and vino right on the waterfront, fighting for space with the fisherman’s boats (parked in the piazza itself) seeking protection from the rough seas. We devoured an Insalata del mare (local fish and octopus with lemon and olive oil), followed by courses of Taglioni neri con salsa di scampi (black flat spaghetti with prawn sauce) and Muscoli ripeni (specialata’) - stuffed mussels. This was an absolutely to-die-for meal where we could barely contain our culinary vocabulary as we groaned our content! Era Squisito!
After a doppio espresso (each) to complete our gorgeous harbour experience, we made our way to the train station to catch the next train to Manarola. It is quite a frequent train service so don’t worry about missing one, as another will be along in half an hour. We arrived in Manarola just before 4pm and headed for the cemetery where we had a commanding view over the village.
Then bound for Riomaggiore we walked the Via dell‘Amore (Lovers Lane). What we didn’t know about this walk is that it is well known as a place to attach a padlock. We noticed thousands of them - attached to fences, handrails, benches and to the wire netting covering the rocks. There is a spot in which to take a photo of a lovers sculpture and we attempted to take a photo of ourselves - trying to capture the padlocks as well. One new pair of “ruby” coloured padlocks we noticed were dated October and engraved with a married couple’s names and their home city. It was to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary - very special. We had about 45 minutes to explore Riomaggiore after the 1km easy trek there - it is mercifully flat compared with the one we did earlier in the day! Once there we walked through a tunnel to reach the seaside part of the town. Here the sea was just a rough as elsewhere and we observed a sign saying that none of the boats were operating due to the rough seas. Ready to head for home the announcement at the station told us that there was a delay to our train service - therefore we had to force ourselves to sit on a balcony at a nearby bar - Bar e Vini, where there was a brief moment of silence as we contemplated the world over the local wine, while the sun burnt its history into the surrounding rock for another day - just awful! Finally we had to leave this lovely place - after bumping into a couple more kiwis also enjoying the sun - and we headed for our train. Our last vision of our day on the Cinque Terre was the setting sun caressing the multicoloured buildings with the last of its strength. Back at the ranch it was all hands on deck with meal preparation. Jennie making stock and preparing the ingredients for the planned risotto, Shaun grating parmesan and dicing up salami to add, and R making a salad. We had a lot of laughs eating the gourmet feast, sharing travel stories and supping on Italian vino. Tomorrow the roomies both leave and we will spend a day on our own at the apartment with washing and shopping on the “to do” list.

Date Wednesday 6th October 2010
City La Spezia
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$0.53
Climate Low 15c - High 23c - cloudy then mostly sunny

A day of domestics and taking it easy today - as we had a full on day yesterday and a late night! Always good to throw in a day of not being a tourist.
The morning started with working out the apartment’s washing machine. Luckily the instruction booklet was in English - but this didn’t stop the machine making its own decisions on what settings it would operate by. Great to have a machine though - although looking at the weather we will probably need to use the dryer at the laundromat down the road. As the loads went through we went a couple of blocks down the road to the local shopping centre. There was a large discount/department store called Stefan, Viale Amendola, 50 - where we browsed around and only purchased some new leggings for Jennie for the cold days we’re expecting in New York in November. Then we did our daily grocery shop - including steak and salad for tonight’s dinner. Back at the apartment we rigged up a washing line to hang the clothes on and had a siesta. We were woken by the front door buzzer - our new house guest arrived - L from New Zealand! She came in and we went out to the laundromat to finish the clothes off in the dryer. We are lucky that the laundromat is just on the next block - so a very convenient location to carry our clothes to. Just 4euro and we had dried all two loads - good value. Back home we had dinner and planned tomorrow’s last day in La Spezia. We’ll be off early on the train to complete hiking the part of Cinque Terre we didn’t do yesterday.


Date Thursday 7th October 2010
City La Spezia, Cinque Terre
Currency Euro 1 = NZ$0.53
Climate Low 15c - High 23c - Sunny, calm, cloudless day - perfecto!

After a great sleep we were rearing to go at about 7.00am. The morning trains to the Cinque Terre from La Spezia that suited us today were either 7.55am or 10.01am. The other train times shown in between have strange operating schedules - some only on Tuesday or Wednesdays, some not on those days, some just on holidays or weekends. So today we had only those two options if we were going to get the walk in before lunch. So, the 7.55am train it was. This was good as it gave us a chance to take the train up to Levanto where we had a morning beach stroll and a takeaway coffee. Once back on the Cinque Terre we left the train at the town of Vernazza, where we had stopped for lunch the other day. Just before heading up the trail we bought a little pastry each - for energy of course. From there we embarked on the longest section of the trail - 4kms to Corniglia. It was mostly uphill which was good and we both agreed how glad we were that we had done both the two longer walks the “right way round” - for us. The longer steep part at the beginning; and the shorter downhill at the end. Corniglia is the only village not on the water and passes through olive groves and lush countryside. We also saw a building being renovated and heard a guy singing. We looked up and he was wheeling a barrow full of building mix down the steep winding pathway from the road many metres above. It was lovely to see someone happy at work! The village of Corniglia stands 100 metres above the sea and so we needed to traverse down 382 steps to the train station below. By this stage the day was very warm - about 23c. As Corniglia didn’t offer much in the way of restaurants with views (surprisingly), we decided to head back to Monterosso with the long sandy beach. The idea was to have lunch and then catch some UVs and take a dip in the Ligurian Sea. We were very proud of our Cinque Terre achievement. Over the two days trekking it - we covered 8kms of the 9km walk. The remaining 1km was between Corniglia and Manarola. This path is currently closed as it has become too dangerous and is undergoing maintenance. Many of the hikers chose to take a longer more hilly climb between the two - but we were happy to save that for another trip to this gorgeous part of Liguria. The Cinque Terre National Park has a great website - www.parconazionala5terre.it which we will be keen to keep an eye on for updates.
Today our lunch was again very delicious - we chose from the Menu Turistico at the waterfront restaurant of Gio’, Via Fegina, 92. We each chose from the special tourist menu including a primi piatti (first) and secondi piatti (second) course. The selection was limited but we found the lasagne great for primi and Shaun had bruschetta pomodoro for secondi and Jennie a jumbo tuna salad. We each had a ¼ litre of wine to complete the package offering. Nicely relaxed, we made for the beach just steps from the table we ate at. The Ligurian Sea was calling and we both couldn’t resist the cooling water. Totally exhausted from hiking, eating and swimming we both nodded off under the rays of the sun.
After a few hours we grabbed the train back to La Spezia to chill out, do the last of our washing, pack for our move to Milan tomorrow and to create another culinary masterpiece from left-overs! Good-bye Cinque Terre - we had a great time and we plan to come back. Our next blog will be from Milan - the commercial and fashion hub of Italy!

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