April 3-5
After our quick stop into Nice and Monaco, we continued East into Italy to hit up one of Michael’s favorite places in the world: Cinque Terre. Michael has been telling me how much he loves these five cities since the first weekend we started dating. He visited about 12 years ago with his good friend, Chuck, on a trip around Italy and Switzerland. So needless to say, the expectations were high as we drove into the area… always a dangerous way to visit a new place.
We arrived pretty late on the 3rd, so after getting to our hotel in Monterosso, the furthest north of the five towns, it was one of those tough decisions if we wanted to go out for dinner. I was still feeling pretty terrible and after a day of driving through the mountains, with all my ear popping glory, I was definitely in the “just go to sleep” camp. But I knew Michael was pumped to be there, so I got myself out of bed and out the door for dinner. And, as usual when I’m not feeling inspired to leave the apartment or hotel on this trip, I’m so glad we did. Even though it was rainy and cold, the city was alive with a ton of shops and small restaurants just starting to get busy for the night.
We walked around for 15 or 20 minutes before settling on a restaurant that has a window into the kitchen from the main street. Here was the view of the seafood. Looks great!!
The meal was delicious: a seafood risotto, some stuffed mussels and tiramisu. It was a reminder how great Italian food is!
We had two full days in the area, with a lot of rain in the forecast. Wednesday looked rainier than Thursday, so we decided to take a train on Wednesday and to hike on Thursday. There was a winery in the next town over, Vernazza, that Michael had reached out to. They were bottling but invited us to come over. Super cool! We slept in, had some breakfast and then took the 10 or so minute train ride to the next town. When we arrived at the winery, the gate was locked and any attempt to get the winemaker’s attention was a bust. Ha. So much for that.
Time for a new plan. We headed down the road and into a restaurant to grab something to drink. Still feeling poorly, I ordered a hot tea and Michael got a glass of vino. The cafe was super busy and once they finally got an order from us, they brought me hot water without any tea bag. But we also got a pizza with prosciutto that was the best pizza we’ve had in a really long time. The service didn’t get any better, but the hot water was nice on my soar throat, the food was delicious and it gave us some place to sit and stay out of the rain.
With a ton of the day left, and the rain seemingly dying down, we decided that we were going to do the hike back to Monterosso instead of taking the train. I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea. My main concern was that I was wearing my tennis shoes and I was worried about getting them wet and then having a full day of hiking the next day in wet shoes. Oh well. We started the hike and a sign said it was going to be a 3.5 hour hike. What the heck! I knew that the entire 5 town walk would be about 5 hours if you do the shorter hike. How could this one piece between two towns be 3.5 hours? My mood was souring. Fast. It was cold and I was not prepared for a 3.5 hour hike without any water. Plus, it was super cloudy. Like… we were walking through the clouds.
See how hard it is to see Michael up there?
Takes away a lot of the fun if you can’t even see the beautiful scenery.
We did have one good view of Vernazza but then it was just clouds.
Pretty incredible, isn’t it? But not the time to enjoy it. My bad attitude spread over to Michael and we were both grumpily hiking when the skies opened and we got hit with some pretty heavy rain. Perfect. It was about this time that I jokingly suggested to Michael that he probably had more fun hiking with Chuck. He didn’t think my joke was very funny. It was definitely that moment when I decided I needed to adjust my attitude. There was nothing to be done about the decision we made at this point except try to enjoy it. We are in Italy, in Cinque Terre, one of the most picturesque places in Europe. Fake it ’til you make it.
What Michael knew but I didn’t: this stretch of the hike is the hardest. Straight up and down the whole time. Add in a ton of running water on the path and the hike is not that pleasant. The rest is easier. There is a portion of the hike that is actually called Lover’s Lane because it’s such a gentle stroll.
What neither of us knew: the 3.5 hour estimate was completely off. It took us 75 minutes to complete. So not nearly as bad as I was expecting. (Editor’s note: Michael was just reading over my shoulder and assures me that he knew it wasn’t 3.5 hours. Great job managing my expectations.) We rolled into our hotel, dried off and once again had the “to go to dinner or not” discussion. I was tired and we were cranky and it was rainy. Plus I hadn’t really warmed up despite a hot shower. But… the food was so good last night…
So we went out again, this time at a quiet restaurant down a dark alley. We had octopus, a pesto pasta, grilled fish and caramel panna cotta. Mmmmmm. Who knew panna cotta could be so good?!?!
On Thursday, we started the hike late morning. The options were to take the train to the end and hike back or hike to the end and take the train back. Already with a firm grasp of the last portion of the hike, and eager to get the hardest part out of the way, we started towards Vernazza. Tough, but much better than the night before. One thing I didn’t mention last night is that the trails were actually closed because of the rain. We had to step over a chain blocking the path with a message declaring it closed. When we arrived to the path this morning, there was a group of 40 or 50 somethings from the United States debating whether they should continue on or listen to the sign and turn back. We were definitely not obeying the sign this morning after successfully hiking last night in the pouring rain and I think our confidence in stepping over the chain encouraged them to do the same.
With no rain and better attitudes, we took off.
This is looking back on Monterosso:
Once in Vernazza, we ate an orange we had brought with us and then headed off to the next trail entrance. On the way, Michael stopped us to point out a shirt he liked. That 30 seconds was a huge error. As we turned back to the trail, a group of about 30 older people had stepped in front of us. They all had hiking polls and were going SO SLOW up the incline. Now, there was no way we were going to have patience for this type of thing. So we started trying to get around them. The walking path is wide enough for two or three to walk comfortably side by side, but somehow they were able to ensure that no one was getting around them. It took some incredible maneuvering, but we finally got through the crowd. We definitely got a few mean glares as we bobbed and weaved through the crowd. But it had to be done.
The second portion of the hike from Vernazza to Corniglia was a steep climb getting out of Vernazza but then was a fairly easy and enjoyable hike with great views.
This is looking back on Vernazza:
The above picture is as we’re approaching Corniglia. We arrived in Corniglia and had planned on grabbing a quick pizza before continuing on the hike. Michael ordered for us while I jumped into the small chapel right off the path. Each of these towns has at least one church and they are often open.
After lunch, we headed back on our way. Next stop Manarola. We started on the path and ran into a group of people who told us that the path was closed. Please, don’t waste our time. We’ve stepped over a number of chains proclaiming the path to be closed.
I guess this time they’re serious.
Ok, we’ll take the train to Manarola and then hike the last portion.
We arrived in Manarola and it was crowded but beautiful. A ton of people were enjoying the sunshine and we were more than happy to join them.
After sitting in town for 30 or 40 minutes, it was time to continue on.
Uh oh. The hike to Riomaggiori is also closed. So much for Via dell’Amore.
Another train ride and we made it to the fifth town. The plan was to have walked the entire thing and to have worked up an appetite since lunch so we could have dinner in Riomaggiori. That didn’t happen, so instead when we saw a craft beer bar right off the train, we knew it was fate.
This bar was awesome. It was a perfect juxtaposition of old world and new world. The bar itself was old and fairly dark inside. It had the windows and doors open to allow light to poor in. Behind the bar was an older Italian guy with long white hair pulled into a pony tail and pinned to the top of his head.
Oh… did I forget to mention his mustache? This guy was amazing. He did not have an indoor speaking voice. He exclusively yelled in Italian. About everything. We ordered a beer. He yelled the order back at us and then yelled it down to a woman who was grabbing the bottles for him. They didn’t have the bottle Michael wanted, so he yelled that back to us in Italian and gestured that they were out of the beer.
So the new world part? Two things – they sold craft beer, but also the woman working with the man. Our guess is that he owns the bar and she is his daughter. She spoke some English with us (he spoke none) and had a partially buzzed head, zebra striped pants, and piercings. She was just a normal 20 something dropped into a 1960’s Italian pub. Besides yelling at her dad when he yelled something at her, she could have been a bartender at any place in Chicago. This is not the best picture, but I was trying to not be a creep by taking pictures of them.
While we drank our beers, the man yelled things out the front door at passing people. He yelled things at people sitting out front of the bar. He yelled along to Cyndi’s Lauper’s Time After Time when it came on the stereo. Note: he didn’t know the words. He just yelled muffled sounds along to the song. He was the most awesome Italian man in the world.
After a bit we left to wander the town and then took the train back to Monterosso. Once back in Monterosso we had an early dinner at the restaurant that we’d eaten at our first night again. If it ain’t broke…
Seafood linguine, more stuffed mussels, steak, plus round two of that tiramisu. Mmmmmm
Between my cold, the rain and the cold weather, Cinque Terre probably didn’t get the love that it deserved from me. But it was beautiful once the sun came out and the food was incredible. I’d love to come back and visit in a few years during the summer to see those last two portions of the hike and to visit my new best friend.
Early to bed because we’re leaving early the next morning for an epic one day road trip.