Day 23: Hiking to ALL Cinque of the Terres!!!

Our last full day in the CT and we decided we had to tackle the entire hiking trail...supposedly 5 hours to cover 9km with a few thousand feet of vertical climbing...up and down along the coast trail.

Due to an impending train strike we decided to hike first from our base village of Manarola along what's called the Via dell' Amore...the Walk of Love...The easiest of the hikes, the special feature is the combination locks that are placed along the entire 1 km path...to represent eternal love.  Like people really need anything more than monthly anniversaries hahaha...

We then took the train, prior to their 24 hour strike, and in 20 minutes were in the northernmost terre...Monterosso al Mare

Loved for having the best beach, and hated for having the hardest hike:

you have to climb many stairs, which do give a glorious view of the city...but you carry on for 3 km straight up and then straight down and then straight up and then straight down.  The locals have figured out how to grow olives and grapes...and have designed 3000 miles of rock walls that are said to have as much rock as the Great Wall of China???  No picture of that, but I did take a photo as we were arriving into Vernazza, where we had lunch yesterday...at the power table...

We ate lunch here, at Vernazza, at the recommendation of Christine, our B and B host.  Sitting next to a lovely, and wealthy, Belgium couple who had hired a private yacht to bring them from Portofino (Italian Riviera).  I mention this because they ordered a bottle of the local wine, with only 1000 bottles made each year and thus very expensive based on low supply...and he and his wife couldn't finish it...He wondered if we would be interested in helping them.  I said I would pray about it..(Christine :))), and then immediately handed my soon to be filled glass to him.  It was a white wine and although a 2009, had a very nice fruity but still dry taste.  It went perfectly well with my local Oven Roasted Potato, Tomato and ANCHOVY dish:

I thought I was going to love this dish...but a few too many anchovy tails made it a bit challenging.  Peggy opted for the safe, but delicious, pasta with ragu sauce and fresh parmiggiano-reggiano...of course:

And since I forgot to get a picture of her plate, we did start with the classic Prosciutto and Melon...what a treat that was.  We finished the meal with an ice cold coca cola...to help get us ready for the next leg of our hike... from Vernazza to Corniglia...4 km and also strewn with a ton of rock stairs straight up and then leveling off with great views of Corniglia in the foreground...and Manarola (our final destination) in the background.. You can almost tell how high off the water we had to climb...knowing we started at water's edge, this was a big huff.  I'm not sure if Rick Steves gives folks enough of a heads up on the challenge of this hike???

The final 2 km back to Manarola took us near the Mediterranean...and yep, we had to take a dip...salty, cool, not cold and a real refresher.  Perhaps you can tell which one I am??? CLUE 1: RED HAT; CLUE 2: GLASSES; CLUE 3: WEARING SNEAKERS...but you can't see them...

It's pretty cool that you can float..even with heavy hiking sneakers on...this keeps your eyes out of the salt water.  Peggy had to take a dip as well...she is in the foreground dipping her head back to refresh the neck...

The 9 km are targeted to take 5 hours, according to the guide map, but we did it, not including lunch or swim, in 4 hours and 45 minutes...smashing the recommended time by uh, let's see, um, .....anyway it's summer and we're on vacation.... so let's just say we smashed it by lots...

A relaxed dinner was in order..and the local train was on strike...so we returned to the local spot we enjoyed on our first night here....recommended by our B and b host Christine:

Aristide is known for their fish...and especially shrimp and anchovies...can any of you landlubbers tell which of  those is represented here on their menu cover???  We started by sharing the now more ripened tomato and mozz with basil appetizer...yep the beloved caprese salad...

and then decided to share the lasagna al forno (baked lasagna with a meat sauce)  The burn factor on the cheese was very much to my liking:)  a whole lotta love goin on....

The family sitting next to us was Canadian from Alberta, and they were just arriving into the CT.  We were able to give them ideas about hiking around and Ingo, their dad, was kind enough to take our picture.

We also chatted with folks from Brisbane, Australia, a young student from Bakersfield (reading from the Barnes and Noble electronic book gizmo) and a nice young couple from Verona, Italy...That's what he said, but we knew he was travelling incognito...and that he really is from our part of California, in fact he teaches at our school.  I'm thinking he was following us, and he thought his disguise fooled us, but we knew Wyley Wilkin was in the house: (His Italian accent was pretty good though)

Back to the main feature of the meal, and something we had waited for after hearing on day one that it was a specialty of the house...an entire fish...head, eyes, tail and all.

How was I going to save "face" and have to dig in with all these cool people at nearby tables ooohing and aaaahing at our main course?  They couldn't know my lack of joy when faced with edible cheeks or crispy heads...  Bless our waiter;  perhaps it was the fear he saw in my eyes, or the hard grip I had on his lower leg or simply their normal service after he presents the table with the fried jewel, I don't think I'll ever know...he said he would now take it aside to "prepare" it for us.  And because of 396 months of pure love...and to get a kick out of our fellow diners, Peggy yells to him...and no head or tail please...for my husband's sake....I love that woman!

Well worth the wait, this really was super tender and sweet and crispy on the bottom and olive oily and all kinds of yummy....sans head and tail :)))

Dessert involved small, forest grown strawberries smothered by home made ice cream...a dessert we enjoyed a few times with Jim and Christine in Zibello:

Their Sorbet machine was broken or Peggy probably would have ordered Limone...so, as a very nice gesture, our waiter offered us a glass on the house of their local, sweet, after dinner wine called Sciachetra...pronounced "yummy"...

And Peggy just remembered that this was the one beverage Ty, of Lake Como fame, wanted us to make sure we tried.  Without realizing or remembering his suggestion, we were graciously provided with it on the last night of our stay in the Cinque Terre. Praise the Lord!  To end the night, we still had to climb nearly straight up our town road back to our B and B...this sign intrigued me since this is the last place on earth I would consider urban...we're joining forces...how about you?

Tomorrow we drive to the last stop...a small town in the Piemonte Region of North West Italy called Alba.  Our B and B is the Casa Ressia and we'll have 5 nights exploring that region.  Until then, and with slightly sore leg muscles, ciao bella from the CT!