Cinque Terre -- A Cat on Every Corner....

Ahhh... Now THIS is more like it... Our time in the Cinque Terre has been a well needed break from the craziness of Barcelona, Florence, and Roma.  There aren't really any "sights" per se in this area (which, if you aren't familiar with it, is part of the Italian Riviera.  The more rustic part), so we have been taking our time and enjoying the phenomenal scenery. I really think this might be the most beautiful place in the world I've been (including North Dakota and New Jersey.) Our first two nights were spent in Manarola, the next to southern-most town of the 5-Terre. This is probably the sleepiest town, which was awesome for us as it was quiet and people just went about their daily busines for the most part. Harvesting grapes, fishing--you know, the usual. We were right by the church which gave us a nice 7am wakeup call each morning.

Yesterday we did the hike from Corniglia to Monterossa al Mare (about 5 miles--the third town to the fifth town), which was intense and difficult but VERY worth it...hopefully some of our photos will prove it! All along the way Chad described to me the history of the area, particularly concerning the Pirate Cats (piracats) who came from Rome to escape perscution about 500 cat-years ago. Along the way, as some cats gave up on the journey, they founded the towns of Rio-meow-ggiore, Meow-narola, Cor-meow-glia, Ver-meow-zza and Monterosso al Meow.  He specifically pointed out the Valley of 1000 Meows and the Point of Seven Paws, which were the most historically significant, along with the battlehills of the Pelopa-catten wars with the local hill dogs... I had no idea 5-Terre had so much cat history.  We have come up with a new motto for the area: "Cinque Terre: A Cat on Every Corner". And it's true! We saw five cats just on an ambulance in Monterosso...and really, one was on every corner in Manarola. Literally. Pictures to come...

Now we are staying in Vernazza, the second to northernmost town. It's more discovered (thanks to Rick Steves and whoever his German counterpart is), but is lively and fun all the same. We are staying in a little room in a private residence, with a lovely old lady who speaks only Italian. We're still not sure what she's told us about getting into the building at night and leaving in the morning.  

Last night we had dinner at a place in Manarola. For those of you who know the Bellingham cuisine scene, think of the Cliffhouse and specifically their Ravioli with Salmon sauce. Chad had pretty much the exact same dish at this place in Manarola, but instead of $18 it cost €5.50.  That's like $7.  And granted we did end up spending about €50 for the whole meal, but that included a bottle of local wine, two appetizers, two main pasta dishes, dessert, two glasses of limoncino (the Ligurian version of limoncello) and two glasses of a local liqueur (which were on the house). How is this possible??? Anyway, there were some downsides to dinner, in that two of the table close to us were filled with VERY noisy American tourists who talked and laughed loudly and drank a lot, making jokes about ordering "lemon jello"...We exchanged commiserating looks with the local Italians eating at the table next to us...

Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Nice, and will certainly try to write from there as well. For the time being we must go retrieve our one load of wash and dry which cost €10 (apparently some things are more expensive than others...) Ciao! Lindsay, with comments by Chad.