Day 9 & 10 Pisa & Cinque Terre
Pisa
Monday, October 26, 2015
Leaning tower of Pisa
“I woke up feeling like I might be getting a cold. Not the ‘oh my where is my bed?’ kind of cold but just the ‘not a lot of energy, don’t want to do anything closely resembling exertion’ kind of cold. Maryann had had a touch of the same thing as did several others in the group. It didn’t seem to take anyone down too hard, so I opted for resting when I could without missing any group activities”. -K
Lunch with new friends.
We arrived in Pisa mid- morning on a cloudy cool day. Our group walked from the bus into Pisa’s Cathedral Square where we received maps and Lisa gave us an orientation and the time and place to meet. We walked over toward the tower and Maryann headed off to find a restroom. (Of course!)
“As I sat on a step beneath a statue and watched the tourists, I wondered where each was from, what their lives were like and such. It was quite a crowd and the ‘tower on the palm of the hand’ photos seemed to be quite popular. If one didn’t have their camera, there were multicolored plastic towers for sale at the vendors in and around the area.” -K
We had about two hours for exploring and lunch. After spending some time around the tower, we decided to see what else Pisa had to offer. We weren’t feeling drawn to the Duomo or cemetery, so instead headed down a small street lined with shops and restaurants. We met up with Andy and Kate along the way and the four of us had lunch together at a little outdoor restaurant tucked back under the trees between two buildings. Maryann impressed us all when she and the waitress discussed the soups in Italian.
Montorosso
Monterosso al Mare
By mid-afternoon we had arrived in Levanto. From there we took a train to Monterosso. There was just enough time for a bathroom break and train schedule reading lesson before our train arrived, so groups of us took turns watching suitcases while the others received a schedule-reading lesson from Lisa. She had a group ticket for us so we were taught to say ‘Cappo groupo’ in case anyone asked us for a ticket. Roughly translated to ‘the head of the group’ has the ticket, this was supposed to get us out of any issues with not having a ticket in hand. “I did try to use this again at a restaurant in Rome to no avail.”-K
Pesto Dinner at Albergo Pasquale
Monterosso is a sweet little town with colorful buildings, located on the Northwest coast of Italy in the area called the Cinque Terre. From the train station to our hotel was a bit of a walk, some of it up hill. Fortunately, a truck was provided to haul our luggage up ahead of us while we walked. On the way, Lisa talked about the area, things to do, walking the trail, getting a pass and so on. Kerry was still feeling a cold coming on and was pretty sure she would spend our ‘vacation from our vacation’ lying low.
Our group split into two hotels, the Villa Steno and Hotel Pasquale. Both are owned and managed by the Pasini family. We were assigned to the latter in a room with a stunning view of the water and beach. The hotel offered a laundry service for 15 Euros per large bag. This couldn’t have come at a better time. Between us, we had two large bags that we dropped off at the desk as soon as we could. We were running out of clothes and didn’t want to be at the end of the pack, or spend precious time at a laundromat.
Felicita Pacini shares her recipe and technique for perfect pesto.
We had a few hours before our pesto-making demonstration and decided to see a bit of Monterosso. We crossed under the train trestle and headed into town. We found a small church, Saint John the Baptist. Inside this centuries-old church, it is easy to picture generation after generation coming to gather during the important times in their lives. What it must feel like to know you are in the same church that your ancestors have attended for many generations is hard to imagine.
“I’ve come to love the look and feel of Italy. The old buildings have so much character. The balconies full of green, pots of flowers everywhere. I was falling in love with a country I hadn’t ever really given much thought to.”-K
Pesto Time!
“We all gathered at Hotel Pasquale for Felicita Pacini’s pesto demonstration. I had been looking forward to this and picked a seat close to the action. Felicita talked about choosing the right type of basil (a small thin leaved Italian variety), staying away from the cheap pine nuts and never using a food processor to make pesto. She used a mortar and pestle, to keep from losing the flavor of the basil! We were each given a sheet of paper with her recipe and then treated to a wonderful dinner of lasagne filled with bechamel sauce and covered with pesto; a serving of baked sea bass & diced tomatoes with herbs and oil, and a slice of an ice cream-like dessert called semi-freddi, topped with a strawberry and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Of course there was wine (white) and water at each table. Maryann ended up eating my dessert as I was stuffed by then”. -K
Trail to Vernazza. It gives a new meaning to share the road.
After dinner, we had retired to our room and were going over the things we had seen over the past few days when there was a knock on the door. We were very surprised and pleased to have two bags of clean and folded laundry presented to us.
Sometimes word for word translations don’t go so smoothly.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
“I was awake at about 6am, in time to see the most beautiful sunrise (see above). I opened the window to hear the surf and gulls greeting the morning. Maryann sat on the bed writing in her diary and sipping a cup of tea. The Cinque Terre had been one of the places I had looked forward to the most. I had visions of walking the trail, camera in hand, taking in all of the natural beauty the area had to offer. We headed out to Vernazza but about 20 minutes into the walk I realized that my trail trek would be severely limited if I wanted to continue participating in the trip. It was time for me to turn around and call it a day.” -K
On the way back we were almost to the part of the trail that turns into what we had assumed was a paved walkway. We realized we were mistaken when we saw a small van driving down the hill. It was hard to believe there was enough room for the van and the gentleman walking ahead of us.
“Maryann had picked up something from the Farmacia the night before and I decided to take some of whatever it was. The directions were in Italian but I wasn’t worried as I had the Google Translate program on my phone. I hovered my camera over the directions and watched as the words magically turned to English. As I started reading I laughed. As good as the program is at some things, an exact translation left something to be desired. It was enough to get me what I needed though, and with that I headed off to bed. Maryann continued the day on her own and I slept till lunch.”-K
Black Redstart
Maryann’s day continued:
“This time had been billed as our ‘vacation from our vacation,’ a day to rest. We had no choice. Kerry was asleep, fighting off a cold, and I wasn’t feeling much better. I sat on the terrace with a book, tea and cookies, and an appreciation for this lovely spot near the beach. Though we regretted missing the rest of the Cinque Terre, we knew there was no other way to be rid of our colds but to rest and sleep.
After reading, I headed out to find us some lunch we could eat in our room. At a local grocery/bar, I saw some lovely-looking foccaccia and ordered 2 foccaccia sandwiches, thinking they’d be 1/2 a foccaccia each. Nope! Each was as big as our heads, and we ate every delicious bite. Then I took a nap. Later, I walked in town, and read some more. While Kerry continued to sleep, I joined Kate and Andy, Carol and Barry for dinner. This time, I tried another pesto lasagne and had tiramisu for dessert. Delizioso.”-M
In the morning, we packed our bags and retraced our steps back to the train station. Adrian and the bus met us in Levanto and we headed to a stop in Lucca, then to Siena.