Cinque Terre

On our last evening in Monterosso, we ate our last gelato in Italy, bid a bittersweet farewell to our guide Karin, and watched the sun set on what has to be one of the prettiest places on earth.

Several of us went to dinner at the Belvedere, a restaurant that specializes in fish stew. The waiter brings it to the table in a huge stone amphora, which looks like the clay pots used to hold wine two thousand years ago. He spills the contents into a bowl for the whole table to share. It was really something to see—prawns that are six to seven inches long, whole lobster, crabs and even an octopus or two! Kristin thought the octopus
was absolutely delizioso.

As in almost every city we visited, we took our “windows picture”. We stayed at the Punta Mesco. It had a laundry close by that delivered our clean clothes right to the hotel.

Before dinner, we had a demonstration on making pesto by our hostess and her grandchildren.

We had the pleasure of two guides in Cinque Terre. Jennifer, who would go on with us to France, and Karin treated us to wine and pizza before dinner.

We had heard about a great restaurant in Vernazza and planned on having lunch there. It was quite a hike up to the top of the village, but we finally made it. By the time we got there, though, they were closed so the employees could have lunch with their families. How could we be upset about that?

We took a boat to Vernazza, and the views of the villages were incredible. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face—again!

In the villages where there is no beach, people spread their towels on the huge boulders to sunbathe and just jump off the boulders when they want to swim.

While the girls enjoyed themselves in Monterosso, the moms took the train to Monarola and walked the Via del Amore to Riomaggiore. Along the way, we saw some of the most amazing scenery you could ever imagine. I have never, ever seen water this color blue—it’s the most beautiful royal blue! And the water is crystal clear. We could have stayed there forever. Some of the more adventurous people in our group hiked to all five villages for even more spectacular views.

The young people in our tour group enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach, and several of them also went kayaking while we watched from the comfort of our outdoor café.

Cinque Terre is a group of five old fishing villages built on the mountains at the Mediterranean Sea. It’s known as the Italian Riviera, and it truly was our vacation from our vacation. We loved it. It was so beautiful there! The scenery was breath-taking. And it gave us an opportunity to sit back and relax. We stayed in the village of Monterosso, which I think is the prettiest.