Floating through Cinque Terre

Floating through the Day

After yesterday's more strenuous activity of hiking from Monterosso to Vernazza, we decided to take the easier route today and water taxi from Monterosso to the other villages.  This is a fairly cheap and easy way to see each village. The water taxi will pull up to each village and you can choose to jump off or stay on for the next town. 

  The pickup spot for the water taxi in Monterosso was just at the end of dock in the old town.


As we made our way from our hotel down to the water, the gals found a shoe shop to pop into.  They each found at least one pair they "had to have".  All sandals were handmade leather and very good quality.



















To purchase your taxi pass, you had to stand in line at a shop down by the dock. The lady selling the tickets was probably one of the crabbiest women we had ever met while on vacation.  Another entertaining aspect of purchasing the tickets was the pay to use public bathroom right next door.  Two ladies sat under a pink umbrella and took your 1 Euro, so you could use the bathroom....The term "bathroom" should be used loosely..., it was more like a whole in the ground with four walls and a door.

As we pull away from Monterosso, we go by one of the resorts at the end of town that also houses a World War II pill box to protect the town against enemies.

Pushing out to the open water, the city of Monterosso at our backs, we start off for the first village, Vernazza.  Since we had spent time there the day before we would stay on to the next village, Corniglia.

Vernazza

The water was so blue and hardly a cloud in the sky, it was a great day for a boat ride!

Corniglia

Corniglia is the only hill town that was completely in the hills and did not have a waterfront area. 

Manarola

Manarola is believed to be the oldest village with a church that has been standing since the 1300s!  It is also probably one of the quieter towns with far less tourists than Monterosso, Vernazza, and Riomaggiore.  We had heard good things about the last town Riomaggiore, so we are staying on the boat this time too.

Riomaggiore

We have made it to our day's destination, Riomaggiore.  It is the last stop on the water taxi route.  For tourists, taking the water taxi down to Riomaggiore is a great way to see all the hills towns and help decide as you float by if you want to hop off and tour any of the towns.

Riomaggiore looks alot like Vernazza as you will see similar bright colored homes along the water front.  It is also a very busy fishing village like it's sister Vernazza.  The big difference is the hills.  Riomaggiore is definitely more hilly than Vernazza and town drifts back up into the hills more.

As you walk off the water taxi, you make your way past the fishing boats.  There are even places where you can rent a boat yourself if you want to relax or fish.  You will also see typical fishing gear about the dock.  It was not uncommon to see fishing net supplies outside someone's door or sitting on the ground by the boats.

Time to Eat! - Rio Bistroh

We did not walk the entire town, but we went about half way up and decided to stop for lunch.  We found a great place called Rio Bistroh that provided a wonderful view of the water, good wine, and great seafood.

The restaurant also had it's own house wine that was pretty good.  Overall, we probably sat there for a couple of hours while we ate and people watched.  The restaurant was even nice enough to let us sit there while they closed for the afternoon to prep for dinner.

Shrimp Scampi was a popular dish in Cinque Terre.  Here they served it on a salt block.

Walking through town, many tourists carried cones of fried seafood.  That also looked like a really good option too.

Just like in the rest of Italy and Europe, there are little touches of old world everywhere.  Here at the restaurant you saw that in the door to the bathrooms... the door knob and the door definitely had been there a while

The Waterfront

Waiting for the water taxi gave us a chance to look closer at the boats and also take some pictures along the water front.  

Back in Monterosso

Once we were back in Monterosso, we took a moment to enjoy the beach.  Even though we did not have an official beach day, we had to at least dip our toes in the water!

It was a hot day, so the water felt great, almost like a warm bath.  

Duane wiping the sand away

Enoteca Internazionale

We had time to kill before dinner, so we stopped at Enoteca Internazionale to sample some of the local liquor, Sciacchetra.  Duane and Jamie each had their own, while Tari and I sipped on theirs and had white wine.

While we were sitting there enjoying our beverages, a younger couple from England sat down at a table next to us.  We tried really hard not to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to be enraptured with their accents!  The were so cute!  He was so engrossed in his crossword puzzle and she was just talking a mile a minute to him about where they should dine etc.  Kelly finally leaned over and offered them her Cinque Terre, Rick Steves book since we were leaving the next day.  We also offered up some ideas for where to eat etc.  This is what make traveling so much fun, the ability to learn from other cultures and share knowledge with them.

Church of San Giovanni Battista

This is the main church in Monterosso.  It was built sometime between 1244 and 1307.  It is situated in the middle of old town close to most of the restaurants, so the guys ran to take pictures while we waited for our dinners.  The church is beautiful with white and green marble through out.

Ristorante Ciak

For our last dinner in Cinque Terre we decided to try out a restaurant not too far from our hotel and in the middle of old town, called Ristorante Ciak.  Just like most places in Cinque Terre a lot of items on the menu had to be ordered for two people.  We also like this place because they had a sign taped up by the front that said "Not all Italian Restaurants serve Pizza"

Terra Cotta is used to cook and serve most of the dishes in this region and this place was no different.  Two of the dishes, the Seafood Del Mar and the Seafood Risotto both came out this way,

                                      

After only a day or two in Cinque Terre, we quickly became addicted to their sardines and caprese... both were SO fresh!

Seafood, Seafood, and More Seafood

Wait!  who did not order Seafood???!!

From the smiles in these pics, the food must have hit the spot!  

Mrs. "That would be lovely." and Mr. Crossword

We really did not want to appear as stalking our English couple, but they actually walked by while we were having dinner and went into the church in the picture above.  Duane took that as his opportunity to get a picture of them since we found them to be such a delight.  He actually stood and talked to them quite a bit.....so maybe we did appear to be stalking them!

Good Night Monterosso!

As the night wore down, so did our time in Cinque Terre.  We finished the night with more good wine and good desert.

Of course, by looking at Tari below, it looks like she finished with quite a bit of wine!!

Tomorrow we are off to another favorite place, Greve!

Go to 6/9/17