Cinque Terre - last day

1st May - Started at Cornelia this morning - a smaller village than some of the others. It's up on a hill and doesn't have a harbour so we had to catch a bus up to the village. It's a nice village but not a patch on the others.

A first in Italy - we went to a cafe there and tried to order a coffee - but they didn't serve coffee!! NO COFFEE!!! We hightailed it out of THERE! :-)

Then caught train back to Monterosso and spent a number of hours there wandering around. Also had a coffee (right near the 'Giant' statue - if anyone knows the history of that I'd like to know - it's a huge (giant!!) statue carved on a rock at the end of the promenade in Monterosso). We also shared a delicious foccacia (fresh tomato, mozzarella and oregano). Apart from one average meal (our first night in Venice - and actually we were almost too tired to lift the forks to our mouths anyway!!) and one truly revolting coffee (also in Venice, near the bus station, while waiting for it to get darker so we could view the lights) the food has been absolutely magnificent!!!

After Monterrosso, we headed to Vernazza one last time as we'd had such a great time there a few days ago. Waiting for the train on the platform at Monterrosso, the crowd was building..... And building ...... until we were all so crammed in on the platform that we were all standing as one!!! Getting on the train was an interesting moment - literally pushed along, up, then down the carriage steps to the lower level - right near the middle of the carriage! Well that was me - Mum went a completely different direction but managed to stand her ground near the opposite door - go Mum!! Getting off was just as much fun as only some were getting off at our stop - fighting my way through the carriage and back up the steps to get to the door was an athletic event!! Here are a few photos I managed to take after we were off the train!










Needless to say, this experience, together with the fact that the weather had turned very overcast, and the pizza we bought was cold (a few days earlier it was absolutely mouthwatering and one of those food moments you think longingly about after you get back home!!) made for a very different encounter with a cute little village that, a few days before had been peaceful, sunny, and joyous!!! It certainly made me appreciate all the more the four days we'd already had on the Cinque Terre!

Oh - it was a Saturday AND a holiday - we think that's why there was such a crazy influx of people!!

That night we had a fantastic meal at a local tratorria in Levanto (I had the yummiest minestrone I've ever had - it was full of green vegetables - including peas!!! Not a tomato in sight! The taste was fantastic!!! Would love the recipe!!) and Mum had fresh anchovies marinated in lemon and said it was delicious! We then went back to our rooms to re-pack as up at 5.30am to catch early train to Milan, then on to Lake Como.

Hey look - I'm nearly a local!!!



I did have washing hanging there but thought I'd spare you and give you some of the view of Levanto instead!! PLUS I said 'prego' at the right moment and 'serra' instead of 'buonaserra' to our hotel owner in Levanto - so I'm really nearly Italian! :-)

Allora (think that means okey dokey :-) ) - ciao for now!!