The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 27 - Cinque Terre
A view of Monterosso, the northernmost of the five Cinque Terre towns and the only town with what could pass for a beach. There is no auto access into the town itself and parking on the perimeter was nonexistent, so this is about as close as we came to seeing it. With everything built on the sides of steep hills, they farmers have devised a little "train" that runs up a rail to bring material up and down. The rails wind around and somehow everything stays together. Pretty cool!
The second of the Cinque Terre towns is Vernazza where we had lunch. As you might imagine, the road in is miles and miles of hairpin turns which brings you to a small (paid, of course!) parking lot outside of town. From there you can walk down or take a little shuttle bus for another 1.50 each. We walked into town but took the bus back up! Of necessity, everything is clinging to the sides of the hills here. This house just outside of the main town is extensively terraced.
Beautiful downtown Vernazza is on the Liguirian Sea, a corner of the Mediterranean. The coastline is steep and rocky with a small breakwater. We ate lunch under an umbrella on the breakwater. That was about the time the batteries in my camera died and I wasn't about to climb back up to the car for the spare set!
Italy is a predominantly Catholic country so religious themes are everywhere. Personally, I overdose on religious art very quickly, so generally steer clear of the cathedrals. This statue, carved from an old stump, was on the walkway above the beach in Deiva Marina, the little town where we spent the night. I thought it did a good job of conveying a theme. Around Italy you see some old ruins so I thought I would toss in a shot of a new ruins. This building is next to our hotel. The owner died and the children can't decide what to do with it, if anything, so it is slowly deteriorating. Such a shame to see a magnificent structure like this crumbling.
The final surprise of the evening. While we were finishing dinner, we heard some commotion coming from the walkway above the beach and decided to investigate. We ran into a comedy show directed primarily to children. There were plenty of them in the audience, although what they were doing up at 10:30 on a Tuesday night is still a question. You haven't lived until you have heard "Old McDonald Had a Farm" sung in Italian!
© 2003 Restaurant Doctor
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