Since we've arrived in Vernazza we've realized five days here is a bit more than a person needs to spend here - there just isn't that much to do! So today we ventured out of town to visit two other cities on the coast. Our first stop was Sestri Levante, a couple of train stops to the north of the Cinque Terre.
Once we got through the not-so-interesting train station area, Sestri Levante quickly rose high on our list. It was a bustling little city without a lot of tourists, two nice beachfront areas, and several pedestrian-only areas - generally, it felt more like a functioning city than a tourist destination. More importantly, there were an abundance of pastry and gelato shops. We stocked up on some snacks for the day, took a stroll through the town, and then returned to the train station to check out another city to the north, Santa Margherita Ligure.
We arrived in Santa Margherita Ligure and walked down a long stairway to get to the waterfront. Like Sestri Levante, this city was more down-to-earth, although you could tell in the summertime that this place is more like a beach resort town, like Monterosso al Mare. We walked through the town and saw the harbor, fish market, a glitzed out church, and really nice public park. In the pedestrian area downtown, we saw a gigantic pumpkin at a fruit stand and then had one of the best lunches we have had on this trip at a small cafeteria-style restaurant (roasted chicken, potatoes, and carrots with a side of string beans - its the first time I've had chicken during this entire trip).At this point, it was only 1:30 PM (there really isn't a lot to do in these cities except eat, drink, and walk around). We were pretty close to Genoa so we thought we could take the train there and spend half a day checking out the city. Once we got to the train station we realized the train schedule wasn't really in our favor, so instead we took the train back to Monterosso al Mare.
We walked down to the beach area and played cards for a while and then found a small bar to have drinks and a snack before dinner. We walked around the town some more and then had a great dinner of two typical dishes from the area - trofie with pesto sauce, and pansotti con noci. Trofie are a type of pasta made with flour and a little potato. They are about 1.5 inches long and three times as thick as linguine - it sort of had the texture of a clump of Israeli couscous. Pansotti are basically the same thing as ravioli with ricotta and spinach filling, and the dish is typically served with a walnut cream sauce (which was delicious). Besides eating tasty food, we learned something interesting at the restaurant tonight. As usual, we were playing cards while we waited for our food to come out. As soon as the waitress saw what we were doing, she rushed over and told us we needed to put the cards away. We assumed that this was because its not really very polite to play cards in a restaurant, but she told us that its actually against the law and if a police officer were to walk by and see us playing cards, we would get a ticket and the restaurant owners would get a ticket too. She said the law exists because people playing cards usually means that some sort of gambling is going on. While we consented and put the cards away, I don't understand two things: why no one has ever asked us to stop playing cards before and why it would be illegal to gamble when it is not uncommon to see slot machines in local bars.
We made our way back to the train station to catch our train back to Vernazza. Tomorrow will be another big day of hiking as we go to visit the last of the three Cinque Terre towns - Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Banane e Pistacchio
Aviva - Mela Verde
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