June 24 - Saturday
Riomaggiore and Manarola
We got up early to catch the train to Riomaggiore in hopes of beating the heat and the crowds. These were the most southerly towns of the Cinque Terra.
A short walk to the train station and train ride later we were in the middle of Riomaggiore. The town was painted the same pastel colors that make up the other towns of the Cinque Terra. Walking around the still waking town it was peaceful and quiet. Almost immediately after disembarking the train you were walking uphill or up some stairs. There are murals painted throughout the small town depicting workers building the walls of the city with shale type of rock. What is so incredible is that they used no mortar on the walls. The rocks were placed and peiced so closely together and no mortar was not necessary. The townspeople in the murals were painted with their arms and legs with bulging muscles which is so true given the steepness of the hills. The waters of the Mediterranean were as blue green and beautifully inviting as ever. Jon spent a good amount of time in the free museum explaining the history and geology of the region. He thought it was "awesome. It had multimedia, self-guided kiosks" around the room that weren't there the last time he visited" Jon went on to tell me that Rick Steves explained that the administration of the Cinque Terra park is making a great effort to restore and maintain the region and allow the area to be enjoyed and not destroyed as evidenced by the park fees to use the trails, the free museums, etc. The trail fees are a small price to pay given the experience of being there. After a walk through of the town we bought some fruit, some pandolce which is my new favorite Italian pastry and took the brief 20 walk over to the next town of Manarola.
Manarola is one of the smallest towns with the buildings nearly stacked on top of each other. The terraced vineyards of the Cinque Terra are amazing. How anyone even conceived of developing this land to grow anything is a wonder. Even better is that they are so successful. It's been a work in progress since the middle ages.
They had the best pizza we've had in all of Italy. It was a little tiny mom and pop hole in the whole place so you know it was going to be good. I had a slice of the "Andrea" which was a local specialty of anchovies which are specially harvested in the Cinque Terra. I've never had anchovies on pizza before, or ever for that matter, I think. I was curious so I gave it a go. I LOVED it! It was so yummy. It also had capers, fresh tomato and onion, a little bit of cheese and tomato sauce with more of a foccacia-type crust. So, so good. The owner looked at me and told me "it has anchovies" and I nodded and said "Si" so he gave me a slice. Jon had the potato with a little bit of pesto that looked like a tart. He said it tasted "good". After a little more walking around, some gelato and people watching we decided to catch the train back to Levanto - Jon had a World Cup game to watch. On the way out of town we bought a couple more slices of the same pizza to go and a foccacia with nutella for Jon. For dinner that night we had the tastiest mini Roma tomatoes with balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes tasted like they were just picked from the garden not like they were purchased from the grocery store. We also had nectarines which were perfectly ripe and so flavorful as well as some kiwi which was also just a tastey. Sunday the plan was to take the train to Monterossa and hike to Vernazza.
