DAY 5
Today we sadly left Lake Como. Our experience here was amazing, the views from both our rooms were insane and everything we have done just was top notch. It surpassed any sort of expectations we had and we both can’t wait to come back.
Our morning started off with the typical get up, moving and packing. We headed out around 10:30 to make our way to Cinque Terre for the next three nights.
The drive was crazy – I don’t think I have ever been on such windy, twisty, crazy roads before. Hairpin turns combined with only a lane and a half of space for half the drive, meant it was entertaining. Jeremy is getting more comfortable with the dimensions of our car, so driving is definitely getting easier for him.
We stopped a the Autogrill to grab a cappuccino and a quick bite to eat on our travels south. They need to upgrade rest stops in the US to be like this – it was a cool restaurant, small grocery store, bathroom, etc that basically was an overpass on the highway.
Once we got off the main highway, we were in and out of tunnels, twisting and turning up and down the hill sides. It was hard to get some pictures due to guard rail placement, but Genoa (Genova) was by far the largest city we have seen so far. We skirted the edges of it while making our way south.
We are staying in Monterosso al Mare right on the sea. Our room has this lovely small terrace that overlooks the boardwalk and the beach, where you can view the four remaining cities of Cinque Terre along the coast. It is gorgeous. The sound of the sea surf is melodic and the light smell of the sea drifting in through our doors makes me wish it didn’t get so cold here at night. Though the weather called for 66 degrees here as a high, it was HOT. It had to have been in the mid 70s in the sun … we were both baking.
We found parking pretty easily and our hotel was thankfully only half a block down. After getting our bags in our room, we took a quick walk through the new town of Monterosso before settling on a wine bar to grab a quick glass of wine at to unwind. We decided to try some white wine from this region and quickly learned that they were not to our tastes and we won’t be doing that again. However it was a fun atmosphere where we could watch the boardwalk traffic and relax.
From there we headed into old town along the boardwalk. The feel is so different from Bellagio. In Bellagio you had these lovely alley ways with businesses and flowers and such. In old town you have apartments above with laundry drying. It had a less touristy and much more lived in feel.
The Basilica in old town.
We ended up selecting Il Casello for dinner as it offered the best view point for the setting sun. It overlooked the seaside castle to the north and the other towns of Cinque Terre to the south. Jeremy decided to branch out and have an anchovies appetizer and fried shrimp and calamari for dinner. I did not branch out going with a caprice salad and pesto pasta. Who do you think was happy at the end of their meal? hahaha
From there we headed back to our hotel to enjoy a glass of wine on our balcony and enjoy the final part of the sunset. We decided to retire early as we wanted to hike a bit tomorrow and then we scheduled a fun cooking class dinner for tomorrow night.
