Manarola - Cinque Terre

We organized our trip around tourist sights/locations and places of relaxation. This was the latter and the hotel helped make it so. After arriving by train to La Spezia via Pisa (no time to stop for the ROS there), we picked up a little old train from La Spezia that runs to Bologna and back, hitting each of the five (cinque) towns. Lindsey actually gasped when she had her first glimpse of the coastline around Rio Maggiore. The rocky cliffs, crashing soft blue waves, and brilliant sun were incredible to behold before the train ducked into a tunnel again. This went on for several minutes and shortly thereafter it was our stop.

Entering the town by way of a tunnel, we studied the map closely. It looked huge with buildings, significant landmarks, paths, stores, restaurants, etc. That is until we realized there was only one road that snaked through Manarola. Realizing we may be over-thinking this we just headed to the end and confirmed our suspicions. The map labelled everything in town! Our hotel was just up the road, a rather steep but entirely manageable walk.

 

So it turns out that Manarola is very small. So small that it was a good thing there was hiking and our hotel was divine. We were greeted with great service, prosecco, and tasty treats. Practically everything was complimentary or included and the non-view room had a great patio with a rather amazing view through sparse flower vines of the village below.

A very late lunch/early dinner at one of five restaurants in town gave us our first view of bright green olive oil. Not quite fluorescent green like the very first cold pressing can yield, but still delicious over our trofie pasta and basil. Also ordered was linguini with local lobster. Not bad, but not Maine lobster, but was with trying out.

We relaxed back at the hotel for the rest of the evening, taking in the sea air, breeze, and sun setting below us on the water. Relaxing and wonderful, definitely a simple fishing village worth visiting.






-NT

Location:Manarola, Italy