San Lorenzo Market - Florence, IT (Day 2 of 8)

 

A light sprinkle in the morning keeps us in.  Deb had picked up a spinach and cheese pastry, yesterday which we decided would go well, heated up, with a cup of coffee.  Whoops, you can’t run a little convection oven and the coffee maker at the same time, but now we understand why the guy who met us at the apartment spent so much time explaining where all the circuit breakers were.  

With eight days, we are in no rush to see everything.  Today we walked around, saw some piazzas, ducked into the Galileo Museum, had some Chianti and ate.  According to the Washington Post, this is the year of the “revenge tourist.”  All that pent-up demand from the COVID years is exploding.  The streets of Florence are packed with tourists, which means that every available millimeter (see that metric reference) is taken up with some sort of eatery or winery or leather goods shop.  The front stoop of our apartment is a Gelatateria and next door is a

minimart.  Across the alley is an Al fresco bar that is open from 8:00 am till midnight, we’ve never seen an empty table.  Some people never really get the concept of “revenge tourist.”  For example, the previous tenant of our apartment put salt in the sugar container, and he’s probably still snickering…come to think of it, I left the salt in the sugar container…snicker, snicker!

We have reservations at the Uffizi Gallery (pronounced U-feet-see) tomorrow and then a Chianti tour the next day.

San Lorenzo Market - Florence, IT (Day 1 of 8)

Our apartment is on the left

 I could hear the little pitter-patter of rain drops this morning.  A perfect day for traveling.  I snuck in some little lemon pastries last night when I got the take-out ravioli, they complimented the tomatoes and cukes, that Deb had planned for breakfast, perfectly!  Check out, no problem, train to La Spezia, no problem. Which left only 3 hours to kill before boarding the train to Florence.  A second breakfast of cappuccinos and croissants, sipped the cappuccinos slowly, Italian style, so only 2 hours to kill.  With an hour left, they announce the train to Florence is on track 1. Trains in Italy arrive 1 to 2 minutes ahead of time, not a hour before departure, but the sign over the track says it’s the train to Florence, the doors on the train are open.  People are leary, they climb into the train cars but immediately jump back out.  Italians are so apprehensive that they are asking us if this is the right train…we’re not sure.  After staring at it and poking it for 30 minutes, we all decide that it’s probably safe.

Mercato Centrale 

We arrive at the apartment by 4:30, but it’s not ready.  No clean sheets, no towels, etc.  They promise that the cleaning crew is on the way, but what else are they going to say.  We have less confidence that the apartment will be ready before tomorrow, than we had that the train was really going to Florence.

We run a quick trip to the market to get coffee and milk for the morning.  By the time we return, we could hear the cleaners, somewhere in the apartment, complaining about something, we quietly dropped off the coffee and left for dinner before anyone noticed us.  See, that wasn’t so bad!

Seven years ago, we came to Florence, to meet our kids at the airport.  We spent three days in Florence before returning to our villa on the Amalfi Coast.  Megan Hinkley, was studying in Florence at the time, so we all went out for a dining experience at the Marcato Centrale, lots of food vendor hawking various epicurean delights.  Deb has been wanting to relive the experience, ever since.  And pure ecstasy…no seafood…just chicken, and beef, and pork, and lamb, and potatoes and rice.

Casa Duomo - Manarola, Cinque Terre, IT (Day 6 of 6)

 Yesterday’s scramble over the mountain between Riomaggiore and Manarola did nothing good for Deb’s trick knee, so we are taking it a little easy today.  Our destination is Corniglia, our favorite town, for a big lunch.  From the train station in Corniglia to the town is 370 steps up and, of course, 370 steps down to come back.  With a Cinque Terre Card, we can take the bus instead.

Caffe normale 

Although I had “signed up” for a big lunch, I realized that I haven’t seen a green vegetable since we got to Italy, almost two weeks ago.  I ordered pasta and green beans.  Deb, who has seen too much fruita de mare (seafood) opts for hamburgo de Angus con petatine fritte (hamburger and french fries!).  Italians usually have coffee after the meal. After clearing our plates, the waitress asks, “Caffé?” I answer “si.” She says “normale?” I say “si.”  And then she brings out an espresso cup that is a quarter full, an interesting definition of “normal.”  The tour books say that a good Italian can sip his coffee for two hours or so. Wow!

Alternative transportation between towns

After our siesta, we do our final tour of Manarola, checking out a few little alleys that we had missed before, had an aperitif, stopped at the pasta take-out for some ravioli to eat at the apartment, and started preparing for the final leg of our journey, Florence.

Casa Duomo - Manarola, Cinque Terre, IT (Day 5 of 6)

 

Raining again, but we still have one more town to explore, Riomaggiore.  We are staying in an apartment across from a Wine Tasting bar.  Every morning, the trash collector comes to take away a truck load of empties.  

The train schedule has been disrupted by maintenance work, so there are 30 minute delays on most trains which makes for even larger crowds at the stations.  Our trip to Riomaggiore takes only two minutes, once we finally get started.  Our biggest decision of the day is, again, whether to eat a big lunch and a small dinner or vice-versa.  Today, we opt for panini (sandwiches) for lunch, which I inherently think of as small, but Deb apparently thinks of as big.  Hmmm!

The afternoon has cleared and the walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola is only about a mile.  Of course, the path is straight up and then straight down.  Views are lovely, and the smells are great. Coming down into Manarola, we come across a younger man who has apparently slipped and hit his head and is spitting blood.  His party has called Mountain Rescue, who were arriving just as we got to him, with medics and a stretcher.  We could see down in the town where ambulances, rescue vehicles and police cars were assembling.  After awhile, a helicopter arrived on the scene as well, but left without providing any aid.  After about an hour or so, everybody just left. (Sorry, no closure on this!)

We finally got to the Wine Bar across the street, sampled some wine with a charcuterie board, delighting in the knowledge that we were going to hear our wine bottles crash into the trash truck tomorrow.  Deb felt that the charcuterie would be a sufficient dinner, I was not of the same opinion.

In Portsmouth, we have the 110 Grill, across the street, as our easy, we’re not cooking tonight, go to.  Here we have La Regina de Manarola as our, across the street, go to place.  Deb had a Caprese Salad and I had a ham and artichoke pizza.  So we survived another day!

Tomorrow is our last day, and we have been to all the towns, so we are going back to our favorite, once we figure out which one that is!

Casa Duomo - Manarola, Cinque Terre, IT (Day 4 of 6)

 

Morning rain, so a few loads of laundry, to start the day.  By noon, we are ready to roll. Today, we visit town #4, Vernazza.  It was heavily flooded in 2011, up to the second floor with a huge flash flood.  Today it is a bustling tourist town with more restaurants than inhabitants.  The trains are crowded, as usual, but we are able to get a seat.  Our mission is to get pranzo (lunch) at some outdoor cafe.  We find a place in the square by the marina.  The wind is a little gusty which occasionally blows wine glasses right off the tables, but the sun is out.  Most of the food served here is local, so it’s vegetables and seafood, with ubiquitous pasta.  Deb, not a seafood lover, has been searching for Bolognese (tomato and meat sauce) but is not

Pranzo 

finding it on most menus; however, today she is in luck.  Spaghetti and Bolognese.  I go for the pasta and mussels (it turns out the mussels make pretty good little sails when the wind is up).  After lunch, we amble around town, climb the tower on the edge of town (built in 1276), as required of every tourist, and then return to the train station, smug in the knowledge that the train actually stops inside the tunnel, not at the train terminal where all the tour-groups have congregated.  We will get seats, they won’t!

Back to Manarola for a short siesta before heading out for dinner.  Deb snags some lasagna bolognese, and I have sea bream, the whole thing…head, tail, fins and all!

Tomorrow we plan to walk to town #1, Riomaggiore.

Casa Duomo - Manarola, Cinque Terre, IT (Day 3 of 6)

 Today is a sunny day, yesterday was rain, and the next three days are forecast to have rainy periods.  So this is our chance for a dry day to hike to Corniglia (the “g” is silent).  The hike is about 3 1/2 miles, with 1,200 stair steps on the Manarola side with a total elevation of 1,400 ft.  The big question is which way to go: up the stairs or down the stairs? Our knees are better prepared for up the stairs, so we decide to go from Manarola to Corniglia rather than the other way.  The climb out of town is very steep, so we got incredible views almost instantly.  Of course, there was a small town about half way with bars and restaurants, but we are serious hikers (and, besides, it was only 11:00) so we pushed on without stopping.  

We’re not in awful shape, but we were both very happy to see the edge of town in Corniglia.  At the end of the trail, a restaurant beckoned us, along with all our other trail mates.  After lunch, we explored the town of Corniglia, with narrow passageways filled with restaurants and shops everywhere.  Corniglia is the smallest of the five towns and the only one that is on a cliff, high above the water.  The train that runs between the towns is fairly close to the water, so we probably should have seen what was ahead…370 stair steps from the town down to the train station.

Back in Manarola, it’s all uphill to our apartment.  We planned on going out for a cocktail…cancelled!  We planned to go out for dinner…cancelled!  It’s boxed wine and take-out pasta night!

Tomorrow, we will have more energy, hopefully!

Casa Duomo - Manarola, Cinque Terre, IT (Day 2 of 6)

 It’s Mother’s Day. It’s also rainy, so Deb did a little laundry.  No dryer, but a well used European clothes drying rack and a jar of clothes pins.  We’ve set it up in the kitchen because it’s pouring outside, the sun is scheduled to come out at noon, maybe.

Even if it stops raining, the trails will be muddy, so hiking is out for the day.  Instead, we head for Monterosso, the most northern of the five towns.  It is divided into the new town and the old town with a long tunnel (or a steep hill, you choose) between them.  As we get off the train, the rain starts again.  When faced with a town teaming with restaurants, we often get decision paralysis…rain is a great cure for that.  At the first restaurant, Deb takes a look at the menu…octopus, mussels, anchovies…she’s all in (really?).  We get a lovely table, with a gracious waiter, who helps us with our feeble Italian.  Good food is molto buono not molto bene.  Deb settles for the beetroot gnocchi, the only item on the menu without seafood, and I have the anchovy pasta.  By the time we are done, the sun is finally out.  We walk around the new and the old part of town before settling for our afternoon aperitif.

After talking to our kids, a Mother’s Day treat, we head for a quaint restaurant across the alley from our apartment.  Deb saw the place last night and wanted to make reservations, menu unseen.  As it turns out, the menu had three selections of raw fish and a cheese pizza.  After some discussion with the waitress, Deb was able to get her tuna “slightly more cooked.”  Well, the view from the table was fabulous, anyway.

Tomorrow, hopefully, the trails will be dry and we can hike to Corniglia for lunch.