Riomaggiore - Cinque Terre - Italy
Beau and Bethany (me) celebrated our 15 year anniversary in Italy this past April. We had enough miles to fly free to Milan Italy, so we jumped on the opportunity. I have always wanted to go to Italy and Beau, my sweetest husband made my dream come true!! We decided to spend 6 nights in Italy (that is the most I could leave the kids) and we made the most out of those 6 nights... The first stop was Riomaggiore, part of the Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean Coast. We decided to get to know just one of these 5 coastal villages, so we stayed in Riomaggiore at the Affittacamere Le Giare - Romanza Room. We are so happy that we chose this hotel, it was perfect!! Our private balcony there was my favorite hang out spot of the whole village. We picked up some good wine on the way for three euros!! We really enjoyed sipping our wine and the complimentary espresso from our hosts. the room was 100 euros and well worth it!! The room was so comfortable and beautiful. We loved watching the village buzz with activity from our balcony the clock tower would chime every hour to remind us that time does not stand still... I loved the fragrant lemon trees all around and the sounds coming from every historic house. We enjoyed walking the town and traversing all of the vertical steps! My legs were so sore after two days in Riomaggiore. The walking trail between the 5 villages was closed during this time of the year, the ferry and the train were available though. We enjoyed really getting to know one village. We watched the sunset on the cliffs with our friends Heath and Stephanie, it was so great traveling with them!! It was wonderful to share the rental car cost with them... I believe with gas, tolls and rental for 6 days it was $175 per couple. It really gave us freedom to have a rental car. In Riomaggiore we parked overnight at the parking garage, no need for cars once we arrived here. The first evening we enjoyed dinner at Dau Cila, I tried squid and octopus and clams and crab! It isn't my favorite, but when in Cinque Terre you eat like the locals. The next morning we had crepes at Bar Centrale... Overall we feel like this area is very touristy and we are glad we came in the off-season, I could not imagine the crowds in the prime tourist season!! The restaurants here were very touristy too... We found our happy place the second day on a rocky beach just around the ferry dock. Only a few Italians were there, I can't believe more people didn't find this spot on this perfect day!! But we were happy to have it mostly all to ourselves. We enjoyed a nice white wine and a swim in the brisk azure Mediterranean Sea... PERFECTION! We could have stayed there for hours more, but we had to eventually leave our little pice of paradise... We were heading to Tuscany. We grabbed lunch at the local favorite, fried fish at Il Pescato Cucinato... Then one last stunning overlook view of the Cinque Terre and then we had to say Chao to the Mediterranean coast! ~Bethany
