Following the marathon we stayed for 4 nights in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre in Italy, it is a very beautiful place.
Top experiences
- Our Airbnb was up not 1 but 2 spiral staircases so that was a challenge getting our bags up! Thankfully we were rewarded with a lovely view and terrace at the end
- Hiking- even though Nathan was in a lot of pain he was a trooper and we did a 1.5 hour hike between towns each day. Cliff tops, blue water and colourful buildings and excellent views. While it was forecast to rain all 3 days we gratefully only ended up with one afternoon of rain.
- Pesto making competition! The only way to find out whose PESTO is the BESTO. We visited Monterosso (one town over) the day before and saw they had a pesto making competition- it is the speciality of this region and we have enjoyed pesto pizza and fresh pesto pasta. We arrived the next day to watch the competition and it was a community event so the friendly town members encouraged us to enter. Everyone was extremely friendly, starting off with kicking out two other town members from their places at the front so we could be closer to the demonstrator. We then had about 5 town members crowding around us giving us tips in a mix of English and Italian and adding in ingredients for us while we pounded it in the mortar and pestle. While Kirsten is generally considered the best cook out of the two of us, Nathan was given all the compliments for his technique pounding the ingredients, words like ‘strong’ and ‘very powerful’ were thrown around. You must read to the end to be rewarded by finding out if we won or not!*
- Relaxing time- beautiful views, Christmas decorations, delicious food (wood fired pizza a highlight) and time to read and sleep in
Kirsty’s Observations
- Shops in the Cinque Terra seem to enjoy the siesta that Spain, not Italy is usually known for. The shops that haven’t taken the winter off tend to open about 10am- 1pm and then don’t open again until 4:45-7pm, they don’t seem to mind missing the business from tourists in the meantime
- Gelato is a welcome treat even in the winter, we enjoyed grabbing one on one occasion when starting a hike. There are approx 5 Gelatorias in each town with one open for winter.
- Church bells are not musical instruments. Church bells ring frequently throughout the day in Vernazza (we think someone must have been doing it manually as it was often early or late by a few minutes). They had a go at doing a Christmas song each day, it was nice to get into the festive spirit but the bell sounds seem to run into each other a lot
- At home we often comment on the efficiency and cost of Europe’s train system, sadly that does not apply to Italy. Their relaxed vibe seems to also apply to their train system and pretty much every train we have caught has been late. Oh well, they make great food.
*We did not win, travesty. Apparently a bit too much salt, we thought ours tasted great!
Brewer Tour 19-20 