Cinque Terre - a little rain can't stop us

10/17 - When it rains it pours (but only when we had to go to dinner)

We woke up this more anticipating a very rainy day. Apple weather was predicting 3 inches of rain in the region so we were ready to make the most of it by checking out the northern three of the five cities. We had a quick breakfast to go of cappuccinos and croissants (chocolate and apricot have become our go tos) before catching a train up to Monterosso del Mare.

Upon arrival to Monterosso we made our way up and up to a cliff side that had a statue of St. Francis, an old Capuchin monastery, and a very loved cemetery. The view was incredible, it was easy to see why the monks decided to live up on that ridge. After donning and doffing our sweaters and rain jackets probably 7 times at this point, we’d only seen a sprinkle of rain. We walked along the main street of Monterosso which was busy and beautiful despite the threat of poor weather. We grabbed a quick sandwich on a focaccia before hopping on the train to Vernazza.

When we arrived in Vernazza is was clear that when Disney was looking for inspiration for Luca they found it in Vernazza. The main bay opens onto a square and then immediately all of the streets are a very steep up hill climb. It was picturesque. After walking through the main street we made our way to Ristorante Belforte which overlooked the main bay. We had a delicious light lunch of their seafood sampler and made conversation with our very animate waiter who had been to Bend! He kept the entire balcony entertained by whipping out different hats as he was bringing different tables their checks (he had a kiwi hat, an Uncle Sam hat, and a fisherman’s hat with streamers off the edge). We finished up and made our way back to the train station to head to Corniglia (pronounced Cornelia).

After a 3 minute train ride we arrive at the Corniglia train station. Please note that I wrote the station and not the city. In the other cities, the train station is either right downtown or a few minutes walk away, but it is very obvious where the town is and it’s easy to get to. In Corniglia that is not the case. You arrive to the station, then have a few minute walk up a slight incline to a set of stairs straight up the side of the mountain (383 steps across 33 flights) to get the the city, and then another maybe 80 steps over 8 flights in the city to get to the main square. After our victorious climb we got granitas (one lemon and one lemon basil - both were delicious but the basil was the stand out) and sat outside a church in a small square to take in the view. We watching some kids playing soccer on a plaza and there was a net set up on the ocean side to keep any errant balls from flying down hundreds of feet into the sea.

At this point it hadn’t really rained yet but it was looking more threatening by the minute so we decided to go back to Manarola before dinner in Riomaggiore. We shuffled around all of our still drying laundry in the kitchenette before grabbing our rain jackets and heading back out. We had planned on picking up something to have for breakfast the next morning at the corner store but found that it had closed for the day. So to kill time before our train to Riomaggiore we walked down to the bay of Manarola and watched as a the storm blew across the ocean directly at us. It was an incredible site - the clouds were zooming and the lightning was spectacular. Right as we were walking to the train station the front hit us, you could feel the pressure change before the sheets of rain started coming down.

While waiting for our at that point delayed train on the platform under a cover, two trains that were not stopping went by at the same time, creating a tornado effect on the platform basically soaking everyone on all sides with rain water and blasting us with strong wind. Thankfully it was so ridiculous we found it funny instead of getting upset about getting drenched, we had dinner reservations to make after all!

In the 3 minute train ride between the two cities the rain somehow managed to pick up even more. While making our way in the downpour to the city center you have to go through a tunnel which initially was great because we weren’t getting rained on! It quickly turned hilariously bad because the drains in the tunnel couldn’t keep up with the quantity of rain and the tunnel was filling with water, at some points a few inches deep! Other people were taking off their shoes to walk through it but thankfully we were both wearing our Blundstones and managed to make our way through without even soaking them through (thank goodness!). Having dry feet and socks does a lot for morale even when the rest of your lower half is soaked to the bone. We continued up hill dodging between covers from the rain before finding a little bar that was a few minutes from our dinner spot since we had a bit of time to kill before the restaurant opened. We had spritzes and watched the storm continue to rage outside before going down the street to dinner at Fuori Rotta.

We were seated in a little room with two other tables off the main restaurant but as we learned later was attached to the kitchen so we didn’t mind at all. It had a cozy atmosphere that was helped by being inside after being drenched. We had a lovely dinner where the highlight was a fusilli dish with a roasted red pepper sauce. Almost right as we left the rain picked up again and we hustled back to the train station. Thankfully the drains had caught up with the rain so the tunnel didn’t have any remaining standing water. We got a final dump of rain as we made our way from the Manarola train station to our Airbnb and were very much ready to be warm and dry in bed after sitting in wet pants for two hours. It seemed like we got the three inches of expected rain whenever we were outside. We were very excited about the prospect of a sun the following day.

10/18 - Finally some fun in the sun!

We woke up to sun! We started the day with breakfast as a little cafe called Cappun Magru before walking through the main street of Manarola. Many of the shops had been closed the day before due to the rain so it was nice to see the city bustling! Manarola doesn’t have a beach for swimming but it does have a swimming hole at the end of the main street and the water was clear and blue. We walked around and up to the point to get a lovely view of the northern three cities. Since the sun was out we decided to take a detour back to the Airbnb and lay out our laundry in the sun since it hadn’t quite dried the day before. It was definitely the best view our laundry has ever and likely will ever have!

With that done we decided to walk the Via dell’Amore from Manarola to Riomaggiore for lunch and to explore. The Via dell’Amore is path between the two cities that just recently opened back up after being closed for a number of years due to a landslide. After renovations that wrapped up this summer it was a lovely way to stretch our legs and get a beautiful view of the sea.

Once we arrived in Riomaggiore - and retraced our steps from the night before in the rain - we got to explore the main street and surrounding neighborhood. We got focaccia sandwiches from Focacceria Il Triangolo and ate them sitting on a bench outside while soaking in the sun. After that we found a tiny wine room of a local vineyard - Finis Terrae- and through very broken Italian were able to have a tasting of their two white wines. The owner of the store told us about his family’s vineyard, showed us old pictures of him, his brother, and his parents from the vineyard and gave us clementines that he’d grown in his own garden (30m away from the shop). The wine was refreshing and had a high mineral content, which was perfect for afternoon sipping. The clementines had a very thin skin and the flavor was very delicate, more vegetal than sweet. With a new bottle of wine in tow, we wrapped up our visit of Riomaggiore and walked back to Manarola on the Via dell’Amore.

Arriving back in Manarola we decided to relax and finish laundry the rest of the afternoon. We didn’t have dinner reservations until 8:30pm (how very European of us, the latest of the trip!) so after some relaxation we walked downtown to grab a glass of wine and some fresh calamari as a snack. The flavor was delightful and we enjoyed our cone of calamari while watching some young boys play soccer in the street. After finishing our snack we went back to the Airbnb to our finally dry final load of laundry (no dryer, just air drying) before heading back out to Trattoria dal Billy for dinner.

Trattoria dal Billy was one of the restaurants we picked before the trip as one we wanted to go to and it was well worth the trouble of needing to walk there to physically make a reservation. We set out on one of their six small patios, each of which held about four tables. We had burrata and prosciutto to start and then decided to get the special of the night, lobster tagliatelle. The motto of the restaurant is “where good lobsters die happy deaths” so we felt we had to enjoy the lobster special! It was incredible, the tagliatelle was slightly pink due to being colored with beets and the lobster was cooked perfectly. With full bellies we were able to find room for lemon sorbet and small glass of Limoncino (same thing as Limoncello but made in the North, Limoncello is what it’s called when it’s made in the South) made from “stolen lemons from across the street” which the waiter confirmed to be stolen because he was the one who stole them! We walked home and promptly fell asleep full of pasta and lobster.

10/19 - Travel day to Rome

We started the day by checking out of our cute little AirBnb and folding up our second load of laundry - all of which had mostly dried overnight. After stopping to bag check our bags at a local outdoors shop, we headed back to Cappun Magru for breakfast again. They were closed when we first arrived, so we decided to take a quick jaunt up the hill towards the old church over Manarola. Along the way we saw a few smaller farming plots being maintained by some locals. Once we had killed the requisite amount of time we headed back to Cappun Magru for coffee and some croissants, and then wandered around the town a bit more until we had to catch our train. There was a Saturday market in one of the squares, and lots and lots of tourists. Being in Cinque Terre while it was a bit rainy definitely helped to tamp down some of the crowds, as a silver lining.

Our train trip in to Rome was largely uneventful - bullet train travel is way comfier than air travel. We had a chance to catch up on some reading and some shows over the 3h45 trip, without any delays. After we arrived and found a cab, and after a sometimes terrifying taxi ride through Rome (driving in this city must be an absolute nightmare) we arrived out our hotel! The main lobby was around the corner from the building that had our rooms in it, so we dragged our bags around the block and up a few flights of stairs. The place so far seems really nice - right off of the Piazza Navona and in a part of town that seems to be very lively. We’re looking forward to spending a good chunk of time here exploring Rome!

Spritzes drunk: 9

Espresso shots consumed: 30

Gelato scoops: 11

Liters of wine drunk: 6

Cats seen: 5