Monday morning. We’re still in Riomaggiore (our studio is way up on this hill) in the Cinque Terre area. The small window in front of my computer screen faces the sea. Not a rain drop in the 11 days we’ve been here. All the emails I get from back home tell me how bad the weather has been in Montreal since we left… Sounds like I got good timing, for once.
It’s nice to be outside of a city and even though there are quite a few tourists around, they are mostly the hiking type and the place doesn’t feel too crowded, especially at night. We’ve walked for eight hours a day since we’ve been in Italy but yesterday we took an official hike, climbing up a mountain which offered us a gorgeous view of the village and the sea below. We also got a good view of a man with his pants down and a woman working on him… They were blocking the trail and didn’t seem to realize that we were there, so as the polite Canadians that we are, we tried to make a little bit of noise and waited for them to notice us. They took their sweet ass time, so to speak, but finally stopped their business and walked back to their car (that section of the trail crossed a road). The man, who looked German, gave Blork a little sideway smile when we passed their car.
As we kept on walking the trail, Blork, being the good polite anglo that he is, wondered what the proper European etiquette was in such a situation. Should we have just walked by, acting like we didn’t know what was going on so they could keep at it? I told him I didn’t think Italian etiquette covered that issue but we could always ask the Pope next time we’re in Rome.
I fully deserved a gelato when we arrived to Venazza and I decided to try the pinolate flavor (pine nuts) which tasted like a milder version of coconut, without the overwhelming sweetness. Very nice. I really love pine nuts and there are a lot of dishes here that include them.
Today we’re taking it easy, walking along the sea to the next village, finding a nice spot to read a book and rest our feet. Tomorrow we’re taking a couple of trains to Florence (we have to decide if we want to stop in Pisa or not) and then we’re renting a car for the last section of the trip during which we will explore Tuscany, with a B&B in Cortona as our base until we head back for one last night in Rome. Then we take the plane back to Montreal, but that’s not for a little while so I better go enjoy the sun while it’s there…
� Pisa, il n’y a vraiment QUE la tour � voir … � vous de d�cider. Florence par contre… J’ai de tr�s beaux souvenirs des Cinque Terre, Monterosso al mare, ahh. Florence au march� t�t le matin si vous voulez voir les vrais italiens et pas juste les touristes japonais devant le DUOMO qui en passant est �poustouflant tout en vert et blanc. Profitez !
Je dirais au contraire qu’� Pise, le secteur de la tour que tr�s peu d’int�r�t (pleiiiiin de touristes et � part si on est super maniaque d’architecture, �a ne vaut pas la peine d’y aller). Selon moi, il faut justement �viter ce secteur et explorer le reste de la ville! Je suis demeur�e trois semaines dans cette petite ville adorable, o� il fait bon marcher dans les petites rues �troites, d�couvrir des petits march�s, des �choppes minuscules… Y aller pour une seule journ�e n’est peut-�tre pas l’id�al, par contre. Pise est une ville � vivre plut�t qu’� visiter. Tu m’as fait soupirer de nostalgie en d�crivant votre passage aux Cinque Terre… J’ai aussi beaucoup aim� mon passage l�-bas. Et amusez-vous bien � Florence! Au march�, si vous voulez faire l’exp�rience d’une petite trattoria vraiment authentique, o� la bouffe est rustique, d�licieuse, le d�cor d’un kitsch fini et o� on vous fait partager votre table avec des vrais Florentins qui y viennent depuis des ann�es, allez Da Mario (c’est le long du march�, pas DANS le march�). J’en garde de tendres souvenirs…
Lord, I miss Italy so much that I am like the color of your shirt in your new blog photo (nice one! by the way). These are your good old days!!! Glad you’re enjoying them.