Friday, September 15, 2006
10 September, 06
We planned to do the Cinque Terre in reverse. That means we were going to hike the five fishing villages starting from Riomaggiore first. So we had to catch the train to the first town and we missed it by a few seconds because we were on the wrong track number. It is all too confusing here in Italy and nobody knows where to go half the time, even the Italianos themselves. We had a coffee and a browse around and caught the next train. There is the famous lover’s walk from Riommagiore to Manarola (the next village). It is called the Via Del’ Amore and you can’t quite call it a walk, it is about 15 minutes of promenade, but it is very pretty. We had lunch in Manarola but it was shocking. We thought we would get a quick sandwich but it took longer than a whole meal and it was run by an American lady who was working Italian time. We left for Corneglia and then onto Vernazza. By now we were hot and sweaty and needed a swim. The beach had a totally different vibe to the previous time when we got there in the morning. There was also no music playing but it was still good to cool down in the sea and soak up the last bit of afternoon sun. We did our final hike from Vernazza to Monterosso and it was a lovely time of day to do it. We really enjoyed the day and dinner was on the hilltop overlooking the village. The restaurant was another book recommendation and it was surprisingly really tasty. It was called Il Ciliegio and they fetch you from the town. We really wanted a seafood risotto but it was not available and we were almost ready to leave. Then we wanted a carafe of wine which they also never had. So far not good! It was a different menu so we were struggling to find something. Rich ordered a swordfish pasta which was out of this world and I had a delicious Pesto which is also prepared really well in this part of Italy. I then had a grilled swordfish- also unbelievable. They brought us sherries on the house to end off our meal and all in all it was wonderful.
We planned to do the Cinque Terre in reverse. That means we were going to hike the five fishing villages starting from Riomaggiore first. So we had to catch the train to the first town and we missed it by a few seconds because we were on the wrong track number. It is all too confusing here in Italy and nobody knows where to go half the time, even the Italianos themselves. We had a coffee and a browse around and caught the next train. There is the famous lover’s walk from Riommagiore to Manarola (the next village). It is called the Via Del’ Amore and you can’t quite call it a walk, it is about 15 minutes of promenade, but it is very pretty. We had lunch in Manarola but it was shocking. We thought we would get a quick sandwich but it took longer than a whole meal and it was run by an American lady who was working Italian time. We left for Corneglia and then onto Vernazza. By now we were hot and sweaty and needed a swim. The beach had a totally different vibe to the previous time when we got there in the morning. There was also no music playing but it was still good to cool down in the sea and soak up the last bit of afternoon sun. We did our final hike from Vernazza to Monterosso and it was a lovely time of day to do it. We really enjoyed the day and dinner was on the hilltop overlooking the village. The restaurant was another book recommendation and it was surprisingly really tasty. It was called Il Ciliegio and they fetch you from the town. We really wanted a seafood risotto but it was not available and we were almost ready to leave. Then we wanted a carafe of wine which they also never had. So far not good! It was a different menu so we were struggling to find something. Rich ordered a swordfish pasta which was out of this world and I had a delicious Pesto which is also prepared really well in this part of Italy. I then had a grilled swordfish- also unbelievable. They brought us sherries on the house to end off our meal and all in all it was wonderful.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 9:42 AM 
