Red Leaf: Italian Paradise

Cinque Terre

This post is mostly for one of my buds, Jason Ferrer, cause I know it will make him jealous.

You know those pictures you see in travel magazines about Italy’s Mediterranean hotspots? Well this is one of them. Cinque Terre means five villages, and four are perched atop the cliffs overlooking the sea, while one (Monterosso), where we stayed, was on the beach. Connecting each town were hiking trails that lead along cliffs, vineyards, and olive orchards.

Our first night we ate a brilliant meal at Miky where I had my first taste of good anchovies. Whoa…….Why don’t we eat these all the time in the states? For the meal I had the local pasta with pesto (which originated here in Cique Terre), and huge prawns. Oh and of course loads of amazing local wine!

Friday morning we set out (Megan, Susan, Gary, and myself) on the five-town hike. The first and second were nearly two hours each, the next was closed due to a landslide, and the last was about 45 minutes. I think I ate gelato in three of the five towns. After nearly six hours of hiking, we caught a boat back to Monterosso and prepared ourselves for the best wood fire oven pizza that Monterosso had to offer. I want a wood fire oven for myself; Christmas is soon, hint… hint. That night I discovered our shower had nine nozzles that sprayed from the side of the shower wall. It was like 9 little hobbits sparaying me down with squirt guns. Aaaaaaaaaaaw…..now this is vacation.

The five towns along the coast

Lifeguard for a day

Gelato baby!!!!!!!

Megs watching sunset

Sunset

Saturday we boated past all of the towns, to a port town called Portovenere; great little place with an old castle on the cliffs, and beautiful views. We spent the morning there, and worked our way back towards Monterosso, half by boat, and the other half hiking. Once again, we finished off the day with tasty local pastas, wines, and coffee. Coffee (espresso shots) are served after every meal here; love it!