Almost Heaven

As much as we love Piedmont, we were ready to move on after the frenzy of the Salon del Gusto in Turin and the sybaritic indulgences of the Slow Food dinners, Barolo wine tastings, and truffle market in Alba. The beautiful Cinque Terre region along the Italian Riviera was a perfect antidote and destination.

Not that we were going to forsake any new culinary pleasures, for the Cinque Terre was full of them, including wonderful pesto, pasta and seafood dishes that we found at Ciak restaurant with its colorful chef in Monterosso di mare.

Thus fortified, we decided to take advantage of a gloriously sunny day and take the boat that links the five villages or "The Five Lands" that comprise the Cinque Terre: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

The views were spectacular:

Getting from one village to the next can also be achieved by train and on foot and we decided to join the Sunday throngs hiking from one village to the next.

The initial walk between Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia was scenic, flat, and relatively easy but we ran out of time that first day and took the train back to Monterosso for the night.

The next morning we set out from Monterosso to walk to the next town Vernazza and quickly realized that this part of the route, unlike the previous day’s experience, was steep, rocky, and challenging. We had to pace ourselves as we ascended the steep hillsides.

But the views back to Monterosso....

and above Vernazza were worth it.

As our time was limited, we decided to take the boat again a bit outside of the Cinque Terre to the lovely town of Portovenere with its picturesque church on the promontory....