05

May
2010

In Love with Cinque Terre (Part 2)

category: travelling
by Yun,

This is a continuation of the long post about the beautiful five small Italian villages on the Riviera coastline, called Cinque Terre.

As realizing that it was 5pm already, we then hurried to Riomaggiore’s Marina to catch a boat going from the easternmost village (Riomaggiore) to the westernmost village (Monterosso). The boat makes a stop at every village except Corniglia, the only village that is without water access as it is located at the top of the hill. This way, we could appreciate the superb views of the villages with their colorful houses and vineyards.

Riomaggiore and Manarola

We arrived at Monterosso around 5:30pm. Monterosso is probably the largest village in Cinque Terre. The village is divided into two parts: the old town and the new town, which both are separated by a tunnel that accommodates pedestrians and cars. We toured the village by walking, checked out some local shops, bought limone granita, and booked a table for two at Miky Ristorante for dinner that night. Some parts of the beach over there are for a private use and only a small portion is for public. It costs $10 per person just for sitting on a beach chair under umbrella that they provide. We really didn’t want to spend money for a beach chair, so we just opted to sit on a bench along the street and enjoyed the view of Ligurian Sea. Yeah… We are so “cheap”! Hehehe…

Corniglia and Vernazza

The place we had dinner at Monterosso, Miky Ristorante, is located on the main street of Monterosso with open veranda looking onto the beautiful sea. We ordered anchovies for appetizer. It was prepared in four different ways: stuffed, baked, fried and sliced raw anchovies marinated with herbs and oil. They were all fresh and good but I personally love the stuffed one best. For main entrée, we had mixed seafood baked pasta covered with thin pasta. We finished dinner late at night, we therefore had to rush to catch a train back to Vernazza.

The next day was started with a delicious breakfast at Il Pirata Caffe. The owners are very friendly and nice. They are twin brothers originally from Sicily. We had assorted pastry. For drink, A had chamomile tea and I had macchiato, my favorite.

That morning, we had one village that we had not visited yet. It was Corniglia that is located about 100-meter high up on a hill. We took a local train to go from Vernazza to Corniglia. After arriving at Corniglia train station, we were given two choices to go to the village: to climb a steep 377-step stairway, or to walk uphill following a vehicular road towards the village. We decided to take the second option to go to the village, which is farther distance wise but less tiring. And we picked the steep stairway as a route heading back to the train station later on. The clear blue sky, blue sea water, the colorful houses, the green vineyards and the sloping terraces altogether create the view from uphill absolutely stunning. Corniglia is the quietest village in Cinque Terre. It is less touristy and more peaceful. We spent our time leisurely by travelling around the village and enjoying desserts at local gelateria.


From Corniglia, we directly went back to Vernazza to have lunch before heading to Pisa. We walked around the Vernazza harbor trying to decide what to eat, and finally we picked to have focaccia breads to go. We went to sit at the marina, eating and enjoying the beautiful view of Vernazza. Focaccia is originated from the Liguria region, and according to Rick Steve’s guide, the best focaccia is made in the area between Cinque Terre and Genoa. I chose to have focaccia with basil pesto for the reason that this region is also the birthplace of pesto. Where else in the world I could have a better focaccia and pesto…

We left our hearts in Cinque Terre. We love this phenomenal place. Even now as I’m writing this blog, I keep asking myself many times: When can I go back there again? We really hope to return to Cinque Terre again in the future, of course with our new family member, Shiori! The stunning scenery, colorful houses, beautiful vineyards and fresh seafood are awaiting us…

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13 Comments so far

  1. arman | 05 May 2010, 15:16

    very very nice pictures yun!

    Thanks man!

  2. veny | 05 May 2010, 21:39

    speechless Yun .. very nice place , delicious food & nice shot …

    Thank you ven for your nice words :)

  3. im3th | 07 May 2010, 09:33

    harus ke italy ney gw hahahah, macchiato cikita bonita *ngomong ape siy lo Met* maklum Yun, gw lagi kegirangan, hr ini draft tesis gw kelar ampe bab 3 wkakakakak norak ye.

    Yun, lo koq bisa tau2 aja tempat yang keren2 gitu, dari mana ya yun? lonely planet atao sumber apa?

    foto lo seperti biasa, keren bangetttt

    Sure met, you have to go to Italy. Gue suka banget Italy, so unique and mknannya gue jg doyan *balik lagi soal mknan* hehe
    Tempat ini lumayan terkenal kok met… di lonely planet jg ada, di buku2 jg ada mestinya cuman ya emang orang indo jarang yg kesini karena tour2 indo ga pernah bawa kesini…
    thank you met!

  4. Mindy | 08 May 2010, 19:16

    Your pictures are DIVINE. I just want to be wherever you are (and I mean that in a totally non-creepy sense). I’m giving you and award on my blog today! http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/2010/05/award-palooza.html

    Keep on doing what you are doing!

    Hi Mindy, thank you so much for giving me an award at your blog. I really appreciate it! :D

  5. Steven | 11 May 2010, 04:10

    Fantastic photos, I will be in Cinque Terre in about two and a half months…can’t wait, it looks amazing. Check out my site, I’ll be updating frequently throughout my travels.

    I am sure you will enjoy your trip to Cinque Terre. It is indeed a very beautiful place to visit. I am looking forward to reading your trip report. Have a safe trip!

  6. Jiewa | 12 May 2010, 03:38

    Abis keliling Cinque Terre pasti kaki jadi kuat yah haha.. tapi kl liat dr foto2nya, sangat2 worth it. Incredibly beautiful :)

    Sekalian olahraga ya jie… :) Tapi memang ga sia-sia karena sangat cantik kotanya..

  7. maryna roesdy | 14 May 2010, 06:05

    Yun, bagus bangeeet semua hasil foto elu. Kayak di post card, kayak di buku-buku desain, keren banget.

    Dan elu tetep selangsing itu yeh, padahal kerjanya makan enak melulu hehe.

  8. rina suryakusuma | 16 May 2010, 13:01

    Yun… nice pics, as always :)
    ini sdh melahirkan yun? ediannnn lo langsing banget sih *iri huhuhuhuuu*

  9. morgan monet | 07 July 2010, 10:53

    Someday I will visit!

  10. Turis Indie | 07 July 2010, 12:38

    Fotonya aduhai bagusnya….

  11. Alessandro | 18 July 2010, 10:37

    Hello , i’m italian, i live in cinque terre and this is a beautiful review, thank u ;)

  12. kishan | 28 July 2010, 17:36

    This is really nice pictures yun.

  13. Judy King | 23 August 2010, 13:12

    I stumbled across your blog while googling for Cinque Terre. Wow…I am impressed. Great blog. AND GREAT PICS. As I clicked on more postings I see more great pics! Are you a professional photographer? Anyways, enjoyed the blog very much! Judy, Calgary, Alberta Canada