Cinque Terra, or, Is the Pesto Greener on the other side of the tunnel?

Thursday, May 22, 2008: We’re on day 4/5 of our Cinque Terra time. There have been three main stars during out time here.

1) The Terrace at Manuel’s Guesthouse: For the first three days, we stayed in a 5 room, casual, “ramshackle” per Rick Steves, guesthouse, up 117 stone steps through crooked walkways. While the rooms were modest, the highlight of the place is the fun and casual terrace. A long, homemade table runs under a corrugated roof, with tattered Tibetan prayer flags draped from one end of the terrace. On the terrace, there exists the triumvirate of great afternoons: great company from the other guests, an honor-system tap for 1 euro glasses of house wine or beer, and a spectacular view over the roofs of Monterosso to the Ligurian Sea. Ahhh. Every late afternoon, we’ve found that there is no place that we would rather be than sitting on that terrace, sipping cold cheap beer and chatting with our housemates. We’ve had an eclectic collection of English-speaking fellow travelers, many from Canada, but also Australian Dean with South African wife Catherine and MIL Ann. The world is small; we also met John and Allison, on their honeymoon from Cary, NC. Sadly, we could only reserve 3 nights at Miguel’s, but we got permission to still come and hang out on the terrace for our remaining 2 afternoons.

2) Beautiful scenery: Yesterday was by far our best day, as we awoke to bright blue skies and warm temps after days of drizzle. After a picnic lunch on the terrace (see above) of salad with marinated artichokes, wild boar salami, pecorino, and olive-oily foccacia spread with olive-oily fresh pesto, we took a boat tour from Monterosso (town #5) down to Riomaggiore (town #1). We happily got a little sunburn while hiking the trails that connect between villages. I was re-fueled in Manarola (#2) by wonderful Orange & Cinnamon gelato (gelato and pesto both offset any caloric gains made by hiking). We took hundreds of photos along the way, then hurried back to Manuel’s for Terrace Time with the gang.

3) RICK STEVES, AND I AM NOT KIDDING. So there we were yesterday, lunching on the Terrace, and up the 117 steps walked RICK STEVES. I am not kidding. I wish that I could report that I was cool, calm and collected, eloquent supportive of his books, and a classy representative of my country. Instead, I think that Beetlemania might be the best adjective to describe my behavior. Friends, this is what happens when you raise your child with too much PBS—they get more excited about seeing Rick Steves that I would have been about Brad Pitt. He signed our Italy 2008 book, I got a photo with him, I got a hug, and….OK, I’ll never live this one down…I even teared up. Poor Neil, he didn’t get this kind of excitement when he proposed. I blame it on the wine with lunch. We saw Rick again last night after dinner, but I left him alone, lest he remember that crazy blond woman from the afternoon and feel threatened. Neil has been threatening me with R.S sightings for the last three years, with guilt-imposing “What would Rick think?” comments when I have overpacked. Not to sound TOO crazy, but it was the highlight of our trip so far. Wish I could say that I was cool.

Unfortunately, the weather this last 4 days has not been what we had hoped for. We did get blue skies and warmer dry weather yesterday, thank goodness, but today has been sunbreaks between storms. Neil just returned from a walk, that started with sunny skies, and ended after a sudden storm with a grumpy drowned-rat husband in need of a hot shower and a caffe macciato.
-Suzanne