Italy: Day 4

The Cinque Terre

When I first started reading about an excursion to the Cinque Terre, I had no knowledge of the area. The Jazzman had visited the area on his last visit to Italy eight or so years ago. I have traveled to the Costa del Sol of Spain, I have flown into Marseille, spent a couple of days in Nice, and sung in La Ciotat, all on the French Riviera. But I had not been to the Italian Riviera. The Lonely Planet travel website describes the Cinque Terre: "Strung along 18km of serrated cliffs between Levanto and La Spezia, the Cinque Terre is one of Italy’s treasures. These five higgledy-piggledy villages – Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore – are cut off by mountains choked with olive groves and dry-stone-walled vineyards, where farmers have eked out a living over the centuries." As I tried to learn more, I learned about the tragic rains, floods and mudslides of October 25, 2011. And I kept reading how beautiful the area is.

On Thursday morning, we traveled south to the coastal village of Porto Venere, where we visited La Chiesa di San Pietro. Dating from the 6th Century, the church is constructed in the Gothic-Genovese style with alternating white and black bricks. In Porto Venere, we boarded a tour boat to travel north along the coast.

The Cinque Terre villages date from the 10th Century. When you see how they are tucked into hillsides and seaside valleys, it's hard to imagine workers in the year 1000 bringing in the materials to construct these homes and shops. We disembarked first at Manarola, where we strolled through the town and stopped for coffee. Reboarding the boats, we next disembarked at Monterosso, where the fifteen of us friends, along with our tour director and coach driver, enjoyed an exquisite lunch on a cliff overlooking the sea.

I'm not a foodie—I've made that statement multiple times. But the food on this trip was, simply, amazing. The variety of dishes was impressive. When that variety was paired with the quality of food preparation and the attentiveness of the servers—I just cannot recommend this tour highly enough. I loved every dining experience. As you can imagine, the menu in Monterosso included all manner of seafood. I had a salad that suited me perfectly, and we all left happy.

If you're wondering the name of the restaurant, I'm sorry but I'm not going to share that with you. Our tour director swore us all to secrecy. She loves to eat there any time she's in Monterosso, and she likes being able to get a table.

Note to self, six years later: In case you ever forget the name of this restaurant again, it's Ristorante L'ancora della Tortuga. But—ssshh—don't tell anyone.

Both food and views were exquisite. If you ever had an opportunity to visit the Cinque Terre, jump at the chance!

We boarded the boat again and cruised back to Porto Venere. We had a few minutes to shop before boarding the coach to travel back to Santa Margherita. The narrow, winding roads we traversed for this excursion left us all impressed with Marco's ability as a coach driver. He maneuvered turns that had us all holding our collective breath. (And he was just a helluva nice guy.) We were lucky to have him driving us through Italy.

Before we left Ristorante Antonio on the previous night, we made dinner reservations for our second night in Santa Margherita. When we arrived at the restaurant for our second dinner, fifteen of us en masse, we saw that our pleasure with the previous night's dinner had been communicated to our fellow tour travelers. Three or four of the restaurant's tables were already filled with our fellow travelers.

Again we enjoyed the excellent service of waiter Andrea, the exquisitely prepared food, and the fun of being with dear friends in a pleasant environment. I believe none of us will ever forget the Ristorante Antonio experience.

Tomorrow: Parmigiano Reggiano, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, and Bologna