Labor Day 2013 - Cinque Terre

Yes, the title of this blog is correct - we are just 6 months behind in posting it.  Cinque Terre (Five Lands) is often seen in photos and paintings for its amazing coastline and quaint villages that blend into the rocky cliffs.  We were fortunate to see it from several points of view - walking through each of the five villages and also from our own guided boat tour.  I could tell you all about the history of each village, but more than likely someone has already said it better, in this case Wikitravel.  I will tell you, however, about our lovely digs and the awesome time we had staying in Levanto and traveling by train to the "Five Lands."  You can check out all of our photos HERE.

Day One:  We made the roughly 3 hour drive from Vicenza through the Veneto region, passing through the scenic Emilia-Romagna and Toscana regions, ending up with a breathtaking arrival to the Liguria region cliffs overlooking the famous Italian Riviera.  The Italian or Ligurian Riviera is essentially defined by the Ligurian Regional coastline, stretching from the Maritime Alps at the northern border with France down to the bustling Gulf of La Spezia.  Although there are plenty of hotels in each of the actual five villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarolla, and Riomaggiore, we stayed in the next town to the north in Levanto.  We found Levanto to be the perfect place to stay for a long weekend to visit the Five Lands.  Because Cinque Terre is a protected National Park and listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, traveling around and between the villages is mostly restricted to walking or train.  There are roads, but you should not count on your car to be your primary transportation.  For 20 euro, you can get a Five Lands day pass for the family and travel freely by train between all of the villages.  We were in walking distance to the Levanto Stazione so we opted for that route which allowed us to check out the sites by day and enjoy the slightly larger economy of Levanto at night.  Levanto is also a popular destination because of the rare sandy beach it offers to tourists. 

We shared a cottage with our friends the Rairdons for the weekend.  It was a gorgeous 4BR house that had a detached guest "bungalow" and a swimming pool.  The most impressive part was the patio and the view that overlooked the town below as well as the coastline and beach.  On our first night we went walking in downtown Levanto and found a restaurant that offered the pretty typical Italian fare so everyone was happy. 

Day Two:  We trekked down from our cottage in the cliffs to the Levanto Stazione (train station) and for a very reasonable price spent the day checking out each of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre.  There are several paths with varying difficulties that one could take to walk the entire national park.  It could take a couple days to do so, but be aware that some of the paths are often closed due to landslides.  Liam was a champ hiking up the narrow roads and climbing staircases through vineyards.  We found a great spot for lunch in Manarolla right at the mouth of the sea; we all had different menu items and sampled some of the indigenous Cinque Terre wine.  As we made our way back to Levanto, the three of us took advantage of some late afternoon beach time and followed it up with some pizza and finally some music courtesy of Jess on the patio back at the house.  Jess also killed her first scorpion as it was creeping towards Liam's makeshift bed on the floor.  It was kind of scary to think that he almost got a healthy dose of scorpion venom, but good old mom saved the day. 

Day Three:  Our last full day was spectacular.  All seven of us chartered a boat and saw Cinque Terre the best way possible.  The views from the sea are amazing and you get a totally different perspective on each village.

 Liam obviously enjoyed the boat ride as you can tell from the video.  We docked in Vernazza and had yet another excellent lunch.  After some more afternoon beach and pool time back in Levanto we had a reservation later that night at Osteria Tumelin, which in my opinion is the best overall Italian food we've had since being here. 

*NOTE on "Italian Food": A common misconception is that all Italian food is made-from-scratch favorites that we get at some of the nicer Italian restaurants in the states.  What I've learned is that although there are restaurants, trattorias, pastaccerias, bars, and whatever else they are called at every corner, they are all pretty average and every menu is very predictable. What is interesting is pizza here in Italy.  Back home you can always hear someone in the northeast talk about how they are the only place with "real" Italian pizza.  If you go to 3 different pizza places on the same block (and that is definitely possible), all 3 places will not only have different pizza but it will vary so much that you wonder if pizza really originated here.  And for the most part, it is all very average.  I am now an even bigger fan of Americanized Italian food and pizza because just like everything else in the world, we added a little bit of freedom and awesomeness to make it better.

  

Now that my rant on Italian food is over, let me digress back to my statement that the food on our last night in Levanto at Osteria Tumelin was truly incredible.  The cuisine on the western coast of Italy is very different from what we had become accustomed to.  Seafood dishes dominated the menus and you could taste the freshness of the local specials.  Even after sharing several bottles of wine with my buddy Steve, I can still recall the magnificence of that meal.  Buonissimo!

We packed up and headed back to Vicenza the next morning but even writing about it now - 6 months later - I realize what a great time we had and what a beautiful place to visit.  I would recommend Levanto as a staging area for any Cinque Terre vacation and am very interested in checking out the rest of the Ligurian coast down to the Gulf of La Spezia.  Ciao!