MAY 16: Cinque Terra

We had good weather for a change for our visit to the 5 north west coastal cities known as Cinque Terra. 

We took a boat from near the hotel to the town of Monterossa, which is the northernmost town of the 5 towns.  I believe that it is the only one that allows cars and that has a beach larger than a postage stamp.  Unfortunately for my male friends, there were no topless young woman on he beach. 

When we were at the train station to go to the next town, Marge started talking to a young attractive couple who we discovered were working at their dream occupations– she was a chef on a cruising/racing yacht that had anchored in Genoa for the day, and the man was a professional sailor specializing in yacht racing.  I took a photo of them as part of my promise to my neighbor Chris to take pictures of attractive women.

Marge took this photo of the man for our friend Lois who requested photos of young attractive men. 

When we got on train, Marge started talking to a couple of young women who were sitting across from us, Aussies working in London.   I asked if I could take a photo of them, and when Marge told them it was for my neighbor who wanted photos of attractive women in Italy, they cracked up.  I thought that they should know that Marge was taking photos of attractive men for our friend Lois, and asked Marge to show them the photo of the sailor Marge had just taken.  Their reaction was that he was gorgeous, and asked if he was married, to which I replied “you can ask him yourself- he’s in the next car”.  They had another good laugh.

A very short train ride took us to the next town - Vernazza.  We had drinks and shared a panini as a prelunch appetizer in the very picturesque plaza/beach/fishing boat storage + boat ramp. 

Our lunch was in the next town of Corniglia.  Ann had read about a good restaurant there with a terrific view, but first you have to climb 382 stairs to get from the train station to the town.  Thankfully each step was not very high + was very wide, so I was able to climb the stairs, albeit at a leisurely pace.

Dinner was in the same nearby pizzeria we dined in last night.  We knew it was good because it was full of local families, while all the other restaurants we walked by last night and the night before were empty.  As has been our custom, we shared a number of dishes, including mussels in a sauce that shouted to be sopped up with bread, spaghetti with clams, spaghetti with clams and mussels, mixed salad, fried calamari, and other assorted dishes that I can’t remember.

We skipped dessert at the restaurant in favor of gelato at the shop we had visited our first night in Lerici, and were greeted by Joe’s attractive friend from our first night, along with her sister.