McKinnon Euro Vacation 2013: Cinque Terre - Part 1

Day 8 – Bologna and Arrival in Cinque Terre

We left Venice relatively early on Tuesday and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car. Cars here are small, but Dad was able to find a 9 person diesel van that could accommodate us. On more than one occasion pour friends have referred to us as the Griswold Family, and to this trip as our version of National Lampoon’s European Vacation. Well then, meet the family truckster:

The ride from Venice to Cinque Terre is about 5 hours. We wanted to break it up a bit, and Tom and Jim love fried baloney, so I promised them that I would stop in the town that invented it – Bologna.

Fodor’s guide to Italy as a section called “Food-Lover’s Tour of Italy” and one of the stops is a small bakery and butcher in Bologna called Timbourini. Supposedly this the one place were you can buy the best foods of the region – tortellini from Bologna, prosciutto from Parma, aged balsamic vinegar from Modena and parmesan cheese and pesto from Emilio Rejina.

We found the market and met the owner, who advised us on the best of the best in his market. We grabbed a little of each, including some hot tortellini in meat sauce to go. It was a quick stop – in and out – and we were back on the road.

Hand rolled tortellini from Bologna - inspired by Venus' belly button according to myth

Row upon row of prosciutto

Meringue next door...

The drive to Cinque Terre took us through some pretty narrow mountain roads, and at one point we ended up in the wrong part of our destination, necessitating a 4 mile drive all the way back up the mountain and down the other side – just to cover about ½ mile of coastline.

Cinque Terre was recommended to us by our friend Nicole, who has spent lots of time here (her family is Italian) and knows some of the gems of the country. It is an Italian national park, comprised of 5 small fishing villages that are cut into the cliffs of the Ligorno Sea. Over the years, the villages have been discovered and have become quite a tourist destination. While many Americans have discovered Cinque Terre, most of the tourists here are Italian, giving it more authenticity than places like Rome and Venice.

The 5 villages – which are cut into about 8 miles of coastline and are connected by rail – are (going south to north) Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso, the largest of the 5. When we booked our stay, most of the hotels were full, so we ended up at a hotel high above Monterosso, 2-3 kilometers outside of town. I was a bit disappointed that we were not able to be in the middle of things, but when we arrived at the hotel the view did not disappoint.

Our first day here was pretty quiet. We arrived around 6:00, so the beach had largely shut down. The kids went for a quick dip and then we ducked into a beach side restaurant for dinner.

Being the adventurous foodie, Dad ordered the sardine sampler (sardines are a regional specialty) while Jim developed a new found love for mussels (which he thinks give him bigger muscles). We had already finished a ½ carafe of wine when we saw the waiter bring a huge mug of beer to the adjacent table. A mug that size was too tempting to pass up, so we ordered one. Bad idea. The drive back to the hotel – through the narrow streets of Monterosso – was harrowing. Dad missed the road to the hotel and had to execute a 3-point turn in a narrow dead end alley. Twice, he bumped into one of the local farmer’s 3-wheeled market trucks – basically a moped with a pick-up truck bed and 2 wheels in the back. Fortunately the farmer was sleeping and didn’t hear the banging. Eventually, we made it home.

The next morning we wandered down to the beach and rented a couple of chairs. You must need to know someone here to get a decent spot – we ended up in the fourth row back, in two low slung hammock-like contraptions that – if I was being generous – might pass for a beach chair. Others had much sturdier “bed-like” chairs, similar to what you might see along side a pool in Vegas. We made the best of it, and headed to the water.

The beaches here are not sandy. They are rocky. The rocks range from 3 inches in diameter at the top of the beach to pebble sized as you get to the water. I don’t know which are more painful to walk on – probably all of them. When you get into the water, the rocks are big again, and the waves slam you up and down onto the rocks. Still –its worth it. Not complaining, just observing. In an effort to avoid the rocks and the steep drop-off, we bought a couple of rafts to allow the kids to get out into the beautiful blue ocean.

After a couple of hours on the beach we decided to shower and head to the furthest city of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. By train, it is only about 10 minutes away. As we walked out of the train station, I notice that – like the Vatican – the walls were decorated in mosaic. Perhaps these were done by the same “masters” that did the Vatican, but after they had 2-3 of those mugs of beer.