So... What's the worst thing that can happen to you after a 2wk+ trip in Italy? Guesses? No?
Your washing machine breaks down!!! Yay!! So you load your stinky pile of dirty laundry (stinky cause it was the hottest, most humid summer ever in Italian history) , you discover that the machine wldnt start.
Now I'm hanging out in a mall waiting for my clothes to be done at the laundromat and I've decide to blog about cinque terre. Sure, there are many other places that I went to and I should blog about it in chronological order. But I feel compelled to start with my favourite one. By that logic, you should also expect to see Rome the last, if at all.
Sorry man, I had high expectations of Rome because of its rich history. But with its history also came droves of tourists and unpleasant tourist menus which made the stay really disappointing.
Highlights of Cinque Terre + Portovenere (don't forget her!)
Cinque Terre - beautiful, glistening, full of life. (I know it is creepy and not 'not very on' of me to sneak a picture, but I couldn't resist. Her skin was perfection to me. Heck, every single inch was perfect.)
Is it just me or is Cinque Terre receiving a lot of love from local travelblogs lately? By now, you should know that Cinque Terre is not 1 but 5 towns. If you want a good overview of the towns, I found this website to be helpful.
Monterosso Al Mare
We stayed at Monterosso al Mare. There is a direct train from Milan to Monterosso, while the other towns required change of trains; we are lazy like that. It is the biggest of the 5. It has the 'best' beaches, i.e. sandy beaches, the other towns tend have pebble/rocky ones. It is also the most developed in terms of tourism, i.e. plenty of restaurants and shops.
Beach
Don't hold high hopes of lazing on the promised stretches of sandy beaches though, every bit of it is classified as a paid beach, i.e. you pay 10 euros per person for a half day use of the parasol and deck chairs. There are 2 measly 'public' beaches, around the size of my living room, available. They are packed to the brim. The moment you step foot on the public beach, you will inevitably kick sand into some sunbather's eye and be cursed in Italian.
The sight that greets you as you exit the Monterrosso train station. Hello, where is the sand? I can only see parasols.
Reminds you a little of Patong no?
For 10 euros, you get to use the changing rooms as well.
The famous rock of Monterrosso, which a lot of teenagers climb though they're not supposed to. I'm so rebellious and cool, woohoo! YOLO~
The beautiful Ligurian sea that is deceptively inviting. I've seen strong tattooed men yelp like babies when they stepped into the water. Forget ice bucket challenges, this sea is one giant ice bucket.
Map of Monterosso
Ok, on the right, you have the old town (see the cluster of activity?) and on the left, you have the new town (see, the other more dispersed cluster of activity). The 2 towns are connected by a tunnel and it takes you approximately 10mins to walk from one to the other. Right after the landslide of 2013, the tunnel was temporarily blocked for works, cutting off connection between the two at one point. But now, everything is back in order!
If you are STILL keen to stay at Monterosso after my horrific Patong-like pictures, please don't. The other towns are a lot more charming (I like Vernazza, KW likes Riommagiore and we both like Manarola. Ok, but if you die die must, consider staying at the old town, which is quieter and has a bit more character. The old town doesn't have many hotels though, we went with a b&b.
The new town has many 'glitzy' new hotels (read - expensive, old and not very nice. I'm sure it had seen better days in the 80s) and all the nice restaurants and bars. If that is your scene, and you like to fall asleep to the incessant 'doom chi doom chi' music, then stay here.
Food
The upside of staying in the most developed tourist town is the food options available.
We had the best seafood of our lives here -
Restaurant Miky - Walk to the new town and please remember to make a reservation. It was fully booked when we were there.
KW proclaimed this as the best prawns he has ever had and proceeded to suck noisily on the prawn heads like a Chinatown ah pek. I was mortified.
So fresh that you need no more than a little Genovese pesto.
Grilled seafood platter. Best grilled squid of our entire lives.
Actually, we bestowed that title to a restaurant in Portovenere the day before, little did we know that that we have to eat our words (and squid) so soon after.
This cat had my fish head. She agrees that it was good.
She couldn't care less about the bread though. Very discerning.
Cantina di Miky
A more casual outfit by Miky, but no less popular. We went at 6pm. A queue started forming after us.
Fritto Misto - a dish that you will see multiple times in the bog entries to come. This is what happens when you let KW do the ordering.
Gelato
I made it a personal mission to try at least 2-3 Gelato places everyday. I think I was quite on track. Cinque Terre had surprisingly decent gelato.
Slurp! is located in the new town, so bobian you know. I've to grab one every time I walk back to the old town side. No choice.
Warning - This joint has the most unfriendly staff. Don't expect a Buonosera when you walk in. Instead, expect a blank stare.. OR if you are lucky, you might get this guy, lets name him X.
X was having a very public, very loud, argument with his non-Italian GF on the phone when we visited. It went like this "Maaaahh-ree-yaaaaa (Maria), I not stupid! But this is so difficult you know.. you are so far away. I love you."
*Old lady in front gestured to him, 3 scoops. He nodded... scooped 1 flavour... paused..
"Mariaaa, listen, listen, I not stupid.. I'm working now..".
He had to pause the scooping because he needed both his hands to talk; one hand to hold the phone and the other to gesture wildly.
Then, he left the shop to take the call outside.
In meantime, the queue exploded to 5-7 people. All bewildered, with euros in their hands and no gelato.
We could hear more "Mariaaaaaa, listen, I'm not stupid' from outside.
Mariaaaaaa, we need our gelato. Can you call later?
After a minute or so, his grouchy colleague came from behind the shop to take over. No apology, but at least we got our gelato.
If you do visit Slurp! in Montorosso, please send our regards to him (he is the only guy working there). We hope that all is well with him and Maaaaariaaaaaa.
If Slurp! is too much drama for you. You can visit Golosone in the old town. Pretty good too.
Shopping?
If you need to buy a souvenir and a No.5 Terre perfume is not exactly what you have in mind. (No, I did not test it out.. but I'm guessing that it will smell of sunscreen, anchovies and the salty sea)
Thursdays are market days for Monterosso! It is not a full fledged farmer's market though. There are some food vans, vendors selling fresh produce and err... some Italian pasar malam stores.
Brush up on your Italian because almost all of the vendors do not speak english. But we are talented at charades and managed to buy 2 small slices of cheese and a beautiful porchetta sandwich for KW.
I confess. I buy tacky souvenirs. The tackier the better (the perfume would've made it on my list if it wasn't so trick to cart back). We have a glass cabinet filled with tacky souvenirs from our travels.
But. this charming shop, Artigianato, located at Via Vittorio Emanuele 9, derailed us from our plans. It has lotsa cute wood craft items and random Bric-à-brac
When in Cinque Terre, chill, sit down and people watch. It is a small town, the locals know each other well.
Case in point, before our dinner at Miky, around 5+pm. We saw a old man and his enthusiastic golden retriever.
We sat down at a bench and waited for our dinner at 7pm.
In meantime, the dog and old man made it for all of 3 houses.. because he kept getting stopped by friendly neighbours for a chat.
poor dog. not much of a walk.
Amazingly, after our dinner, at around 9+pm. Our friend was still around. This was barely 100metres from where we first saw him.
Made us wonder when the dog will finish his walk.
Speaking of walks - Stayed tuned for the post on how TTW got conned into doing the most difficult trek of Cinque Terre. It was a walk from Monterosso to Vernazza, which technically should fall under this post. But this post is getting too damn long, so I should end now.
update - omg, I'm on a roll today. The post is ready MONTEROSSO TO VERNAZZA TRAIL
Teaser - monterosso to Vernaza walk
Plus!
Find out what's behind this -
It's worth it. Most amazing spot in Cinque terre! My favourite!
I can't speak for kw cause I think his favourite was probably restaurant miky.
Ciao!
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