The Rest of Cinque Terre

Well, we tried to do this yesterday, but got a TON of rain as soon as we arrived in Monterosso.  Today we had much more luck.

Our first stop was in Manarola.  The cruise ship crowd arrived just as we got there, so it was very crowded.  We got some tasty focaccia bread and hopped over to the next town.

There’s something like 30+ flights of steps up from the train station to the tiny little town of Corniglia.  It was totally worth the climb though.  We found Alberto’s Gelateria!  ALBERTO!!!  This gelato is the king of gelato (so far).  I got an amazing fig gelato paired with creamy “milk.”  Becky got stracciatella.  She was also impressed.  But I was so impressed that I insisted we stop again before heading to the next town.

Vernazza was a super nice little town.  It’s probably our second favorite after Riomaggiore.  It had a lot of charm.  We stumbled across this little pastry cafe called the Pirate Cafe.  Honestly, we had low expectations and only stopped because we wanted water.  The gentleman that owns the place was our host/server and talked us into trying the cannoli.  It was so good that Becky checked her Steve Ricks’ guide, and we found out that this gentleman is renowned for his cannoli.  He and his brother are locally known as the cannoli brothers.    What a great stop!

After Vernazza, we decided to head back.  It was a big day, and we’ve technically already been to Monterosso.  Maybe we’ll spend more time there next time we’re in Italy.