[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 27 - Cinque Terre
Once again we were on our own without a definite schedule. As you probably gathered, we were not impressed with the area around Lucca and Pisa to decided to head for the coast again, specifically the Cinque Terre (five towns) area between La Spezia and Genoa. Rick Steves is big on these spots and we thought we would see what was going on.
Because the terrain is so rugged, the best way to access the towns is by train. Of course, that raises the question of where to park the car to catch the train to get to the towns, so we thought we would see how close we could get by car. It is a long and winding road, as the saying goes, but we managed to get to the lot above Vernazza and walked down for lunch. The towns are small and quaint, existing primarily on tourism these days. You can get a better feel for it in the photos.
We wandered the hills looking for a likely spot to spend the night and found it in Deiva Marina a little farther up the coast toward Genoa. The Hotel Clelia is a delightful place to take a break. The restaurant is quite good and the staff was very helpful in helping me get connected to the web. As it turns out, this is a popular spot to catch the train for the Cinque Terre towns. We probably should have come here to begin with! Who knew?
In and around the Cinque Terre
© 2003 Restaurant Doctor