After Florence, we hopped a train (or two) over to Cinque Terre. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy on the ride there until we passed through a long tunnel and came out into sunshine and blue water! We stayed at a little hotel in Monterosso which meant we got to take the train through the other four Terre on the way down. The weather was pretty rainy most of the time there, but we did manage to hike the trail between Monterosso and Vernazza before it closed - che bello! You walk through some of the world's most vertical vineyards and see amazing views of the coastal towns and ocean. We grabbed some lunch in Vernazza (octopus stew!) before taking the train to Corniglia. I have to say that the zig-zagging hike up to Corniglia from the train station gets the heart pumping but doesn't really take you anywhere that interesting. Corniglia is a quaint little town, but the best part of this stop would have to be hiking down the other side of the town and finding a lovely little dock where the waves were crashing against the rocks and the water was a beautiful shade of turquoise. Since it was starting to rain again, we returned to Monterossa for the night.
Items checked off the 'To Do' list:
- Anchiovies on bruschetta - not bad but way too salty (even for me ;) )
- Delicious octopus stew which Kris said looked like hot dogs
- Sciacchetrà - a dessert wine made from dried grapes. Quite strong and reminds me of a port
- Limoncello - definitely does not taste like a Lemon Drop; more like straight vodka with some lemon and sugar
- Pesto Pesto Pesto - this region, by far, has the best pesto I have ever tasted. I wish I had stocked up! I believe they grow their own type of basil (like the Genovese Basil we can grow at home) and have a particularly great environment to grow it in. Simply delizioso.
- Red Pepper Pasta - yummm. I love spicy food and found pasta that actually had red pepper in it so the pasta itself is spicy. Fantastic.
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