A Few Days in Italy - Day 3

Corniglia

This was our last chance to get the Cinque Terre boat ferry and we hoped the weather was going to cooperate.....and it did!  We got a day ticket for 35 Euro and felt it was money well spent.  In addition to the 5 villages, the boat also went to Portovenere.  We decided to go to Portovenere first since, if the weather changed, we would be stuck there without an easy way to get back!  They are not connected to the Cinque Terre by train, so it would be back to La Spezia. In other words, quite a bit out of the way!

Portovenere is beautiful and it was fun to just wander their streets and head up to the church at the entrance of the town.  There was a harpist there and he asked where we were from. When we said Scotland, he thought for a minute and then played "Hallelujah" for us.  Not exactly Scottish, but definitely British! I was impressed with the quickness of his choice and also the beauty of the song.

We lucked out in a strange way on the next boat....there were two leaving at the same time. I am not sure if this is normal, but I think the extra boat was put on to accommodate a tour group, presumably from a cruise ship.  This boat went straight past the villages to arrive at Montessoro, which is sort of like the start of the Cinque Terre. We had a choice of boats and chose this one.  It was great to see the villages and also know that we would work our way back up after returning to Montessoro.

Montessoro

It has been a few years since we first discovered the Cinque Terre and Montessoro was the first village we experienced.  It is different from the others, basically because it is flat!  But it is colourful and it was nice to be there again. To be honest, our first time didn't impress us that much, especially after seeing the other villages.  But this time, we saw the beauty of it and so happy we had that second chance.

Vernazza

We also skipped Vernazza since we spent so much time there yesterday!






The boat does not dock at Corniglia but that is understandable since it is so much higher than the tore villages. Corniglia is so beautiful and I am very disappointed I did not get up there this time around. But it would have been impossible to enjoy that uphill walk with my sore knee!

We disembarked at Riomaggiore and spent quite a bit of time there, including a wonderful lunch of Focaccia, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and the local specialty, Pesto. Alan got a pizza!  This cafe is always so tempting with the wonderful cakes at the window on the street side, but we were to hungry enough to indulge in cakes after lunch. Another reason to return to the Cinque Terre!

Manarola

Back open the boat and return to Manarola. Looking at this, it doesn't seem like this would take all day, but we were enjoying ourselves at a slow pace and it was a perfect day.

We ate dinner at the Aristide restaurant, which is located in the same building as our guesthouse!  So convenient.  However, the "nicer" part of the restaurant is just outside on the square overlooking the main road of Manarola. We had not put the together until we started looking for somewhere to eat dinner!  The outer location was full, so we had to eat inside, this was the only meal eaten indoors our whole trip, with the exception of breakfast!  I got Spaghetti Pomodoro.  Alan got lasagna.  If we are lucky enough to be back, we will definitely make reservations and eat      outdoors there, the food was fabulous.

getting ready for sunset 

After dinner, we bought a lovely bottle of Italian rose wine and enjoyed sitting on our balcony and relaxing until time for sunset.

Two things you see all over the Cinque Terre are people making use of the lovely and rocky coast as if it were a beach!  And boats everywhere!

And two more photos just to share this wonderful day.

Along the coast of the Cinque Terre

Good night!