Maybe I begin with the drive. The long winding drive along the narrow mountain road.
From La Spezia up to the 5 Terre was a good other hour.
There was this amazing Italian auntie in a little blue old banger driving in front of us and she was so hard to keep up with. And we were in an Audi A3, she an old banger with broken backlights. She was that good! Even at steep turns, she probably just dropped gear and went whoosh. Hubby was so impressed. Without her in front of us, we probably we would have gone a lot slower and taken a good half hour more.
The driving may not be so pleasant (hubby loved it though- he said it was like Initial-D), but the view is amazing!
Endless blue sea, endless blue sky.
We booked apartment at the 3rd Terre Corniglia, which is also the smallest and the only one perched on a hill hence no port.
Corniglia is beautiful. Colourful terraced houses lined up on the hill.
And so is our apartment, Lidia our host is superbly helpful, friendly and wonderful and the balcony came in so handy.
She recommended a seafood restaurant to us and boy weren't we glad we tried!
La Posada in Corniglia was probably the best meal We all had in Italy throughout the whole trip. And definitely one of the best seafood we we've ever had! Or maybe the best! Fish, calamari, prawns all were so fresh and the cooking was simple authentic Italian yet sublime.
You should also go there for lunch for they have al fresco seating overlooking the hills, very scenic!
Sheldon slept in his pram after I fed him their special house pasta, with a sauce that's a mix of pesto, tomato, cream of milk and ham!
It was a unique delightful combi!
The next morning, we climbed down the 300 or so steps from top of Corniglia village to their train station. Surprisingly Sheldon enjoyed it.
But then we found out the train drivers were on strike that day! Alas!
Luckily we drive to Cinque terre. So we took the shuttle bus up to the village again (2.50euro!), and then drove out.
We realised we couldn't cover all 5 villages in a day so we drove towards one direction.. to Vernazza and then monterosso, the 4th and 5th village.
Vernazza was even more beautiful. The photoes we took here were so gorgeous.
Their streets were charming too.
And do try this little place Il pirata. Wow!
It was a very sugar laden breakfast but it was so good!
After exploring Vernazza, we then drove somemore to Monterrosso, the bigger villages with beaches.
And yet again we were in awe.
The village itself was more crowded and touristy. So that part was not as impressive.
However, the view by the beach was awesome.
Monterosso Al Mare...
Sheldon had loads of fun by the beach, throwing stones into the water and looking for colored stones in the sand, red one for daddy, white one for mommy and green one for himself.
The sun was strong and the water was cold. It would have been a refreshing swim had I brought my swim gears!
Many kids were swimming in the sea and playing in the sand. What a lovely holiday place to take the kids to.
We also has a pretty decent Italian Gastronomia lunch at a pretty corner in Monterosso ( @Gastronomia San Martino), however because it was listed as #1 on tripadvisor, we had too high an expectation and we were let down big time. Or perhaps our dinner at La Posada was just too good!
So we covered these 3 towns and we didnt have enough days to explore more. No worries though, we hear that the other 2 are pretty similar too.
We had to return to La posada for dinner the next evening. It was just THAT good! Christian the friendly server gave us a wide smile the moment we stepped in.
And that great gastronomic dinner ended a really gorgeous trip to Cinque Terre. We left for Milan the next morning, stopping by Seravelle Factory outlets along the way.
Ciao Corniglia! Grazie Mille!
