This morning we woke up early to try to get a quick run in before breakfast. It was about 28 degrees F but with all the Italian food we have been eating, we wanted to make sure to keep in shape after all of the good skiing. We ran for about a half hour and decided that we had enough. After running, we headed back to our place and took quick showers and packed up our stuff. We headed out on the town one last time to get some croissants and focaccia and a coffee for Sara from one of the small cafes. We tried to get pesto crossiants, but couldn’t find any.
After we had breakfast it was time to hit the road. If you recall from yesterday, getting in to town was a big pain and parking even worse. Turns out where we parked was 41 euro for the one night. When Dave tried to pay, it turns out that anything over 25 euro needed to be paid with a 50. After getting about 30 euro in the machine in bills, the machine stopped accepting. Dave had to hit the cancel button which ended up working like a slot machine spitting out many coins to make up the 30 euro. After getting the car out of the garage, Dave pulled the car up illegally in one of the squares and we loaded up.
Today was Sara’s opportunity to drive. Being a Tuesday morning, traffic on the streets of Genoa was quite congested. Once we got out of Genoa, the view was spectacular. We weren’t able to check-in to our Airbnb until 4pm so we decided to take the back roads instead of the toll road (autostrada). The road winded through the coast from sea level to high above the cliffs. At one point we crested a pass of 800 m, a far cry from the Alps where we were driving near 3000 m.
As we approached La Spezia, both Sara and Dave were starving. We found a small restaurant on the side of the road and decided to stop in. The sign on the place indicated it was food like your mother would make. Dave had the Tagllini with Pesto and Sara had Raviloli with Walnut sauce. Surprisingly, it was one of the best meals we have had in Italy yet.
After getting a bit of shopping done in La Spezia, we headed up the hill to Caste where our Airbnb was located. Gianluca and his parter met us and showed us our new digs for the next two days. They even provided us a bottle of wine made by their neighbor.
A 13th century village that consists of about 15 people. The apartment is all stone and quite beautiful. We didn’t take many pictures today but promise we will get some up tomorrow. It is stunning.
Tomorrow, weather dependent, we hope to get some hiking in on the 5 Terre.
Here is a video of our drive today:
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If you’re in cinqueterre, your mission is to find the flatbread that is eaten like pasta, eat it, and tell me the name.