Jes and I spent the beginning of this week in Cinque Terre. A world famous destination (and a bit of a tourist trap) Cinque Terre is a beautiful stretch of coastline in northwestern Italy. The name, which means 5 lands in English, comes from the 5 villages spaced out over about a 15 km stretch of Big-Sur-esk coastline. We stayed in the lowest town, Riomagiorre, and hiked between each all the way to the furthest north and beyond. The towns themselves were packed with tourists, and some of the lower trails were more like freeways, but when possible we choose the higher trials. They were often quite confusing, and sometimes precarious, but were really the only way to get away from the crowds. The view from the mountains was beautiful, and walking through the terraced orchards and vineyards was very enjoyable. We must have climbed 10,000 stairs. Good thing the sea was nearby! The water was warm and clear, and we took every opportunity to go for a swim.
Monday night we had an awesome at dinner at what we think is the last authentic Italian restaurant in Chinque Terre, Osteria a Cantina de Mananan. The food was unbelievable, and the service was... Italian. To date it was the food best we'd had in Italy, but beware, to insist on ordering in English is liable to get you denied service. We saw a few people get the cold shoulder. For us it was fresh pasta with a traditional pesto, local pesce, cozze (mussels), and pana cotta con miele.
No comments:
Post a Comment