Aug 2008

We called today Curts day since the day before I had run us ragged. Of course we couldn’t leave vernazza without more panzerotto at the Pirates Café. They had promised peach smoothie but didn’t have it so I got another blackberry one. We even got some to go.
I wanted to take a few more photos before leaving town. The castel at the end of town supposedly had good views and the low trail we missed yesterday another area for photos.
However the castel wasn’t open yet (we found this out after walking all the way to the top) and we couldn’t find the trail. So we staged some photos on the rocks by the beach and ate our other pastry. While walking to the beach Curt found a hat and became Indiana Jones! After a rest we found the trail and hiked up and up until we got some great views of Vernazza. It really is spectacular.
We headed back down and I went to the castle for 1.50 euro. The views were alright but it wasn’t that much different than what you see from below.
On the way to the train station we stopped in a few shops and got our ceramic wine stoppers (one for me and one for mom) and the ceramic numbers for our new house. We took the train to Riomaggiore where our apartment wasn’t ready but we were able to drop our bags and change clothes. The place was basic with bed, small kitchen bathroom and living area. We hardly did anything but sleep and shower in the rooms so these were just fine for us. We put on our bathing suits and took stuff for a picnic on the rocks.
At the grocery shops we bought grapes, a small bottle of cinque terra white wine, pesto and sliced bread and cheese. We went to the marina and spread ourselves out on the rocks by the water. It was one of my favorite times of the whole trip – it was very relaxing and the food was great….and it only cost us 15 euro as apposed to the 43 and 50 euro we spent for restaurant food.
We saw people kayaking from our perch and decided to do that rather than snorkel. We got a two person kayak and headed out of the inlet. The views from the water are also gorgeous…and the water felt great. The weather had to have been in the 80’s for the weekend. First thing out we saw a purple and white jellyfish!
So the woman at the rental place said go 30 minutes to the right for a secluded beach with waterfall (well, except for the other kayakers she told about it.) It turns out to be a rocky beach with a trickle of a waterfall. But we were able to get out of the kayak and go for a swim. On the rocks it was hard to get your footing and the waves kept knocking me down.
After the swim it was a great ordeal to get our kayak back in the water because on our first attempt it filled up with water. So we had to figure out how to flip it over and dump the water which was difficult on the rocks. Eventually we did though and we fought the currant and crag back to home! We were gone 2 hours so it was 20 euros. Well worth the money though and another favorite.
The water was very salty so we went to wash all that off at the room. After a nap we headed for dinner. This was our first attempt without recommendations from Rick and we ended up going on the Via Del Amorre back to Manarola. We tried to have more pizza but the place we sat down wasn’t serving food anymore. At Cocina ….. we were able to get a seat outdoors and were treated to the same great bread. The waiters always looked at us like we were crazy when we ordered soda instead of wine but it tasted so good! I got ravioli with the famous pesto and curt got gnocchi. After dinner we had a romantic walk back to Riomaggiore on the Via Del Amorre.
Rick Steves recommended mojitos at Bar Centrale run by a guy from San Francisco. He wasn’t lying – they were great by 10 euros for two. It was fun to sit outside, listen to salsa music of all things, and enjoy the drink. A perfect ending to another great traveling day!

Of course I woke up early and excited so I went out to search for Curt some coffee. I didn’t find any but did see the butcher feeding a cat some fish and all the shops getting their food. Vehicles are only allowed in the downtown area for certain hours of the day. Vernazza has a small beach where we say an old guy with a cane doing his vasca or laps.
For breakfast we headed to the Il Pirata delle cinque terra – a café to get pancerotto and their fresh fruit slushies. The canolli brothers are twins that speak good English and are famous among the Rick Steves crowd. The pancerotto is a pasty filled with ricotta cheese and cinnamon and sugar on the outside – they don’t sound that good but are fabulous!!! I also got a blackberry slushy that was amazing. Curt also tried a croissant filled with orange crème. We spent 11 euro for breakfast and it was a great way to fill up our tanks before hiking.
At the La Spezia train station we bought our cinque terra cards. We bought a two day pass that allows you access to the trails for 48 hours after you validate card. They were 8 euro each. So off we went on our hike to corniglia (the next town), stopping every few steps to take a photo of the breath taking scenery. Once again we were never quite sure if we were there or not but it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to Corniglia. The path is well worn but has lots of ups and downs sections.
So Corniglia is famous for its wine and named after someones mother. It is the only town not on the water and supposedly more quiet. I enjoyed the town however – we headed down the main road, Via Fieschi. On the way we found lots of shops including Enoteca Il Pirun.
This is named after an old fashioned pitcher that was used to pour and drink the wine. So I saw some peach liquor and thought it was wine so bought it for 8 euro – I later found out it wasn’t wine and couldn’t drink much. But anyway our next stop was also recommended by Rick Steves called Butiega Shop. It is just a little grocery but will make sandwiches to go. It was busy and we weren’t quite sure how to order but we persisted and ended up getting what amounted to a turkey and cheese sandwich on some of that fabulous Italian bread. We sat on some benches and had our sandwiches before continuing on.
We obviously were going in the correct direction because when we left town we passed other travelers coming UP the 400 stairs into town! Apparently there is a nude beach in Corniglia called Guvano beach but we didn’t see it. So on we trudged to Monarola. In Monarola we were blessed with more great views and a water closet!
We stopped here for a strawberry gelato and to rest our legs. I think that portion was my favorite of the trip passing lots of snorkeling spots that looked really great by that time of the day. Monarola also has a place where we saw people doing some amateur cliff diving!
On the way out of town we passed a shop with lots of ceramic decorations – I got a tile with vernazza on it and a guide book on the cinque terra.
So the next portion of the hike is called Via Dell Amore or the walk of lovers. This is only a twenty minute walk with a paved path and right at the edge of the cliffs.
We pass thru a walkway covered with graffiti. There is a monument with locks on the rails.
At the end of the path is Riomaggiore and our next destination for Rick Steves dining suggestions. On the way to the restaurant we stopped at Mar Mar Rooms which is a sort of agency that offers rooms throughout town. I didn’t have a room booked for the next night so we reserved an apartment for 75 euro. Right next door was our destination of Ristorante la Lampara. This was special because it cooked past in foil. After our hiking we were thirsty so just had cokes and a spaghetti al cartoccio each.
The food was great once again and turned out to have fresh pasta with shrimp, mussels and clams. I actually ate all of it too! At the end all we had left was a pile of shells and foil. The other good thing about Italy is the bread to mop up all the good sauce! We had tiramisu for dessert which tasted different in each bite and was picture perfect!
So we decided to finish the trail ( supposedly the whole trail is 7 miles and will take 4 hours) – we still had to do the vernazza to Monterosso trail. This was supposedly the worst part of the trail. According to Rick Steves the low trail was marked by red and white paint.
So off we go….We pass a madonna statue that was cool and their cemeteries which were like shelves with drawers. The trail was dramatically different in flora and fauna than it had been. We were seeing alpine trees where earlier in the day we were seeing cactus. We went thru a vineyard where we had to put on our shirts to keep from getting scratched. We zigged and zagged on trails and roads for 2 hours before we came to a huge building. Obviously we were lost because we were supposed to have been to Monterosso a half hour ago. By this time we were exhausted, frustrated and thirsty. I got an icy at a little shop and Curt got 2 waters. One of the shop owners gave us a map and pointed us to the trail we would need to take to Monterosso. Needless to say we had ended up on the high trail and still had 90 minutes to go according to the map. Fortunately we had no where to go but down the mountain so we made the walk in 30 minutes. I can’t remember being so happy to see a town. We popped in some shops and got more icies! The Cinque Terra has cats everywhere and here they were laying in baskets of ceramics at the stores, at the water and strolling down the streets.
In the guide book I bought at Monarola I saw a picture of the Giant or Neptune statue at the end of Fegina Beach. I was determined to find him and finally did after lots of searching. The shelf he is holding was originally used as a dance stage but was damaged in bombings during WWII. But after a few photos of the giant we caught the “free” train back to Vernazza.
Since we were tired and frustrated we got a pizza at Ercole and were going to take it up to the balcony of the hotel after showers. So clean and refreshed we take the “peach wine” and pizza up to the balcony. These four german women were sitting there and told us it was their private terrace. So we figured out the one above our room was probably ours. But it was very dark and we couldn’t see anything so decided to take the picnic down by the water. There were benches in the rocks by the beach and we did some people watching while we ate our margarita pizza. Like I already said the wine was liquor not wine and I couldn’t drink much. We ended up getting a 3 euro soda and some more strawberry gelato.

Finally we get started on our first four day weekend in Europe - the Cinque Terra in Italy. It is pretty remote to get to if you aren’t already on a trip of Italy but the photos were so gorgeous and after 15 months in Iraq I needed beautiful. So first thing on Friday morning we started our journey with a train from Ansbach to Frankfurt Main. We had a small wait before our bus to the Frankfurt Hahn airport so we got awesome bratwurst from a shop at the station for 2 euro each. They are amazing and a cheap lunch. Its about an hour ride from Frankfurt main train station and costs 11 euro a piece.
Ryan Air is a ticketless airline so you just bring your reservation number and ID. It was much more painless than I thought. I paid 20 euro extra for priority boarding. Ryanair doesn’t not assign seats so they are first come first serve. If you have a priority boarding pass you can get on the plane first and chose any seat you want. We got a front seat with a bit more leg room. Ryan air is pretty stringent with weight of luggage and you have to pay for your snacks/drinks in flight but other than that I was not disappointed. The flight went smoothly and we got to Pisa Airport on time. From there we took yet another train to pisa central then on to Vernazza. We were able to buy the tickets right there in the airport so easy once again. After about 14 hours of travel we decided to take our ticket all the way to Monterosso for dinner. It was easy to do since we were just carrying backpacks so didn’t need to stop at the hotel to set down our stuff.

Rick Steves called Mikys Restaurant in Monterosso the greatest value food in the chinque terra. We did not have a reservation but still got a great table outside. We got bread, cinque terra wine which is fabulous and a “pizza pasta” with shrimp, handmade pasta and zucchini. The pasta was in a deep dish with a thin layer of pizza crust that is baked on top.
It was one of many great first meals in the cinque terra.
So the Cinque Terra means five towns which include Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Monarola and Rio Maggiorre. There is a local train system that runs between these towns although sometimes it just goes straight from one end to the other. And of course this is what we did on our first night. After dinner we went back to the train station and no ticket booths were open so we got on a train that went all the way to Rio Maggiorre. So there we had to wait 30 minutes for a train to go back to vernazza. We found that no one checked tickets on the trains and you couldn’t buy a ticket at night anyway so we didn’t waste much more money on them.
When we finally got to Vernazza we found our hostel room very easily. They were already closed at check in but Elisabetta had left our key on the door. Hotel Elisabetta has a few rooms that cost about 145 euro for two nights. We had a downstairs with bathroom, small kitchen and couch. Upstairs had a bed a great windows that kept us cool at night. I was excited about our first hostel experience and getting to cinque terra so we headed back down to the town for gelato. I got a scoop of mint chocolate chip and curt got strawberry from Stalins Gelateria.

Our first excursion into Germany is my favorite little town - Rothenburg ob de Tauber. As it turns out we live about 40 minutes from town just down the autobahn. We started out on the wall taking photos and looking at the town from above. There are lots of names in the walls that people now pay about 1000 euro for. All the houses are so gorgeous with their flower boxes and adorable back yards. After walking the wall we came down and visited a few shops. However it started to rain so we stopped into a pastry shop and had a Schneeballen. These are pie crusts crumpled into a ball and coated with sugar in my case or chocolate for Curt.
Once the rain ended we walked toward the town square and went in Kathe Wolfhart Christmas store. On the same street as Kathe Wolfhart we went on a recommendation from Rick Steves for dinner. Bürgerkeller which is a typical European cellar restaurant with medieval murals on the wall. (restaurant is on Herrngasse)
It is family owned by Harry Terian and before the place got busy he talked for awhile with us. I asked if they had Maultaschen which rick steves recommended and he said no that was poor people food out in the country. It used to be made by Catholics who weren’t allowed to eat meat – they would hide it in the pasta which was like a ravioli. Apparently Maul means bad so it is a bad food to eat. Germans are also not likely to have ground beef in their restaurants because the laws for this are very strict.
The food was excellent and the whole meal cost 28 euros including a tip. I got Schweizer Schnitzel which is breaded port with swiss cheese inside. It also came with fries that could rival McDonalds. Curt got Bauernschmauss which was a variety of meats and sausages with sauerkraut and potato balls. The food and atmosphere were both worth going back for.
We hit the main square for the clock. In 1631 the town was about to be rampaged by the Catholic army. The mayor of Rhotenburg gave the conquering general a welcome drink. After the general was buzzed he said to the Mayor - "if you can drink this entire three-liter tnkad of wine in one gulp, I'll spare your town." Of course he did, the town was saved and the event is relieved by the clock tower daily
Our evening activity was the night watchman tour. Everyone meets at 8:00 in the Market square and the tour lasts an hour for 6 euro. The guide is humorous and tells some of the history of Rhotenburg as well as points out some details on buildings, etc. He tells one story about a guy that got drunk during the plague – he was thought to be dead and was taken to a mass graveyard. When he awoke he was pulled out but people came to think alcohol was the key to avoiding the plague. Next time the plague came everyone got drunk. He also told us the word salary comes from this time when the rich people kept all the salt which was used to preserve food – however they did have to share with the poor people.

Curt and I are finally together again and now live in Brodswinden in Bavaria, Germany. We could not have asked for more in a house with three floors. The town is small but believe it or not has a refuge for tigers right down the street and a fantastic guesthouse with the best french fries I have ever tasted. The other bonus is that we live about 5 minutes from the Ansbach train station which will support my travel habit well. Stay tuned because we don't plan to waste much time sitting around at home