Italy 2023, Day 14: Riomaggiore to Portovenere to Montorosso al Mare and Back

Today would start with a little bit of horror and then luck. We woke up and got breakfast at the Hotel Mondial and then returned to the room to finish packing before our departure. As I was organizing my things, I couldn't locate my Nikon digital camera and asked Kathi if she had seen it. When she said no, a horrific realization swept through my brain. I had put it under the streetside table at the restaurant Tender the night before and has forgotten it there! I rushed downstairs to the front desk and as I nervously started to tell my tale of woe, and ask if the clerk could call the restaurant, he interrupted and said that yes they had found my camera and were holding it for me. Relief!

Problem was, we were leaving Moneglia and the restaurant wouldn't open for a while, but the hotel clerk said there would be people there early cleaning and that I could probably go there at 10 am. So at around 9:30, I walked with Kathi to the train station, left my backpack with her in the waiting room, and flew down into town to the restaurant.

There were a few guys loafing about and as soon as I said camera, they motioned inside. There, it was, just sitting out on a table! Relief again! As I left, I checked the memory to see if there were any surprise pictures captured to document how stupid I had been. You know the random ass shot or something similar? Nothing but respect and care from the restaurant Tender!

Rejoining Kathi, we boarded the next train to Riomaggiore. Upon arrival. we walked from the train station through the tunnel connecting to the Via Columbe in the main part of the town.

We struggled a bit to find the alley that would lead up, always up (!), to the entrance to our hotel room in the Casa d'Amore. We called our contact to get let in...

... and and after waiting for some time gained entry and climbed up to our little room. We dumped our bags and then headed back out to make our way to the ferry terminal for an excursion to Porto Venere. Along the way, we stopped to admire and capture the beauty that is Riomaggiore and the Cinque Terre region. I love the century plants!

The inviting harbor...

We gout our tickets, boarded the ferry at the
Imbarco Traghetti di Riomaggiore ...

...and I snapped a few pictures as we were pulling away from Riomaggiore.

The pictures do not do justice to the beautiful clear blue waters. We cruised along a rugged and mostly uninhabited coast.

One of the rocky beaches created by avalanche, just before the Punta Castagna.

If you squint, perhaps you can see the cross on the top of Scoglio Ferale (feral rock) in the Ligurian Sea.

Below, how do the townsfolk (upper left) get down to the sea? Looks like perhaps a cabana awaits?

Iron oxide deposits in the rock faces of the "Rocce Rosse". I love seeing the solitary trees at the top of the ridge...

Beautiful rocky cliffs...

At last, we rounded the point, the Promontorio dell'Arpaia, and into the passage between Portovenere (port venus) and the island of Palmaria - the gateway to the Bay of Poets. The Chiesa di San Pietro standing guard at the entrance.

The church was built in the 13th century and replaced a Roman temple.

Portovenere was first established by the Romans in the middle of the first century BC, using it as a fishing village, and naming it Portus Veneris as an homage to the god of love: Venus.

As we neared the town, we were welcomed by a familiar cluster of multi-coloured houses along the seafront known as Calata Doria or the Palazzata.

We disembarked the ferry...

... and walked through the town to make our way to the Church of Saint Peter. On the way, at the
Porta del Borgo, we came across this ancient stone stamped with the symbol of Saint George. Wonder what it was used for? 

Kathi and I window shopped as we leisurely strolled along the Via Capellini and through it's narrow passageways known as carruggi. The town was charming with its smaller crowds and cute little shops. We bought a decorative Cinque Terra tile and Kathi purchases some gifts for friends who were watching our dog and helping out with our girls.

I was also on the hunt for a Cinque Terre patch I had seen when we visited in 2018 but didn't buy thinking they would be everywhere.  I wanted it to add to my backpack since I had hiked all the trails connecting the 5 towns.  In one of the small shop stalls, I found it!  Where I would least expect it, Portovenere Magic!  

I also liked the logo of this shop; it seemed to capture the essence of Portovenere.

We climbed through the town and up to the Church of Saint Peter the Apostle.

Along the way there were portals framing the views along the coast back towards the Rocce Rosse and Riomaggiore beyond.

Rotating slightly, you could see the Castello Doria, built in the 12th century, and named after the famous Doria family who once controlled Genoa during its time as a major maritime power.

Adventurous swimmers in the waters below...

Inside the church, built in 1277, contains three naves, each simple and beautiful.

The main alter... 

The last of the three dark chapels...

Back outside from the terrace, you could see the steps leading to a second structure, perhaps the battery used during the Napoleonic era used to defend the Gulf of La Spezia.

Looking from the ramparts past the island of Palmaria towards San Torenzo which formed the other arm encompassing the Bay of Poets.

After our visit to the church, we walked back into town for lunch. Along the way, we passed this tile of the town's coat of arms.

It was established in 1933. The crown, the three towers, and the color of the three flags (which include the cross of Saint George) speak to the town's alliance with the ancient Republic of Genoa. One of the branches looks like an olive branch which symbolizes a willingness for peace. The other branch looks like an oak with acorns, which In heraldry, is a symbol of strength and endurance (since its leaves are less easily shed in the fall than the leaves of other trees)

This blanket for sale reminded me of our sweet Hailey; our little mermaid.

The cross of Saint George was everywhere; here made form rad-painted stones among a sea of white gravel in the Piazza Giacomo Bastreri

Also in the Piazza was the town's World War I memorial.

Hungry and in a hurry, we grabbed a table at the

La Bottega del Fritto Burger House...

... but since the service was slow, we changed our burger and hot dog order to go so that we could catch the next ferry.  We grabbed our food in the nick of time, and hopped on the ferry selecting seats on the starboard side so we could again marvel at the coast. We felt a little embarrased eating our delicious hot food in front of others, but whuchyagonnado? Goodbye Portovenere, ti vogliamo bene, and hope to come back again some time (with our own boat for exploring the coast!).

We got off the ferry...

... and made our way back to the train station.

We had planned to go back to Monterosso al Mare to find that Cinque Terre patch I had seen there in 2018.  Even though I had found the patch we decided to revisit the town for apertivo.  Almost immediately, upon emerging from the train station, I found the patch in one of the souvenir stores, so I bought another one for posterity. Time to celebrate!  We found a nice spot for apertivo which had a great view.

We both opted for a lemoncello spritz and were treated to a selection of chips and nuts.

After a leisurely cocktail, we hopped back on the train back to Riomaggiore. We decided to head to the harbor for gelato and struggled with the GPS to find the Gelateria Sottozero, but we finally made it and then, dinner in hand, we climbed up to the terrace on the SE side of the harbor to watch the sunset.

Glorious!

On the way back, my keen eyes spied an unassuming and degraded, but recognizable, Blub street art poster. Score!

We also enjoyed the ceramic tiles that adorned alleys, tunnels, and side streets.

I need to learn how to make these!!!!!

We climbed our way back the the Casa d-Amore and got our stuff together for the next day's trip back to Milan. I was sorry to be leaving the lovely Cinque Terre!

2018 Italy Vacation, Day 12: Kathi's Cooking Class

The Cinque Terre Cooking School in Monterosso al Mare was so wonderful!  Kevin encouraged me to go, so we made a last-minute reservation online, and used PayPal to pay for the deposit (50%) for the class ahead of time.  The instructions were to meet at a particular spot a few blocks from the Monterosso train station, so I left early to be sure I had plenty of time to find my way.  It was an easy walk of about 15 minutes from the station, and the meeting point ended up being at a traffic roundabout, which felt a little bit awkward, but turned out to be a good way to break the ice with my fellow students, as we were all randomly standing at a traffic circle on a Wednesday morning!  We introduced ourselves, and I was the only single attendee — the other couples were from Texas, Florida, California, and Toronto. 

Not long after we assembled, a small bus/van came to pick us up.  We were a larger than normal group, so we had to squish a little bit in the van, which furthered us along in our bonding process!  

We headed around the side of the hills up to the school, which was at a local restaurant/hotel.  When we arrived there, it was breathtakingly beautiful.  The scenery was gorgeous, and the outdoor kitchen prep area was so pretty.  There was a large wooden table set up so that each couple would be working directly across from each other at the table, with one smaller table stuck on the very end for me! This worked out to be a real benefit though, because since I was alone, the chef became my partner!

Our chef introduced himself, and told us what the menu was going to be: stuffed vegetables, gnocchi with traditional Ligurian pesto sauce, Sea bass with roasted olives and tomatoes, and a limoncello fruitcake.  

The day's ingredients were lain out before us...

Lovely zucchini blossoms like my grandmother used to use.

The tools of the trade...

 Our work table...

 The first thing we did was to get started on the cake, so it could bake while we were making the rest of our items.  

Flour, candied fruit, spice and limoncello!

In addition to the main ingredients, we were each given a small glass of limoncello and told that we could drink however much we didn’t want to add to the cake!  This set a precedent, as each course we prepared came with some accompanying alcohol component, which also helped to keep us all happy and enjoying ourselves.  Doing shots of limoncello at 10 o’clock in the morning was a new experience for me, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy!

The cake came together by incorporating a few eggs into a pile of flour shaped like a well.  

 We cracked the eggs into the well, and gradually mixed the flour in with our hands. Then we added some spices, candied fruit and of course, the limoncello!  

 We shaped them into rounds, placed them in disposable aluminum pans, covered them with powdered sugar and sent them off to the kitchen to bake. 

We continued on making a tray of roasted potatoes, which would be served with the fish, setting a few potatoes on to boil for our gnocchi.  

 

Once that was done, we started on to the stuffed vegetables.  This was a recipe that I had never seen before, nor did I know was traditional to this area, but it is the one that I have probably enjoyed best of all the things I learned to cook that day, and have made many times since we returned home.  It was really easy and tasty, and easily modified to suit different ingredients.  We used zucchini, peppers, and red onion.  

 

 We hollowed out the vegetables, and stuffed them with a mixture of the insides of the other vegetables, milk, torn pieces of bread, cheese, herbs, and ham.

 

 

 While we prepared this course, we had a beautiful local red wine.  

Next, we tackled the gnocchi.  I had been thrilled when we first arrived at the cooking school to see that the mortar and pestle that I had bought the day before in Levanto was the exact one that we were going to be using to make our pesto.  


We began by pulling the leaves from bunches of basil.  We worked together to do this, and it is really important not to have any stems mixed in with the leaves, because the stems are very difficult to pulverize using the mortar and pestle. 

The basil leaves, pine nuts, a clove of garlic

 Grinding is a labor of love...

 ...and hard work!

Making a large quantity of pesto using a mortar and pestle is really a lot of work, but luckily for me, the chef was there to help me.  Not to mention I was on my third glass of wine by this point so I was not operating at optimal levels!

Once we finished the basil, we added garlic and pine nuts to the mortar and used the pestle to grind them down to a fine paste, adding olive oil to get the right consistency. 

We set our pesto aside and got to work making the gnocchi.  

 The chef retrieved the boiling potatoes from the water, had us peel them after they cooled for a minute or two and mashed them with a fork.

Then we added eggs and a mixture of semolina and fine white flour and mixed until we had a smooth dough.

 We then were each given a small piece of dough to roll into a long snake shape, then cut into small pieces to form the gnocchi.

  Rolling and cutting the bite-sized gnocchi...

 The chef came around with trays for us to place are finished pasta on, sprinkling it with a little semolina to help keep them from sticking together too much.  We set them aside until we were ready to cook them.

Next was the fish course - sea bass.  

This was my first time filleting a fish, and it was a lot easier than I thought it’d be.  We added the two fillets, skin side down, to an aluminum pan with a little olive oil on it.  

 

 Then we topped each fillet with sliced cherry tomatoes, black olives, and sliced almonds.  We added salt, pepper, and herbs, and sprinkled with a little more olive oil.  The fish was sent back to the restaurant oven to broil.   

Potatoes, to accompany the sea bass, were sliced and broiled in olive oil. 

 We boiled the gnocchi, which floated to the top when cooked, then scooped them from the cooking water and added them directly to our bowls of pesto.  

 

 The rest of the food was brought out from the kitchen, and we headed over to a beautifully set table to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

 A little snack the chef whipped up...

 Our meal is complete....

 Needless to say, there was more wine, and after the meal, we finished with an aperetivo, either limoncello or homemade grappa, complete with the grapes still in the glass.  It was powerful stuff!

We ended our day with a group photo.  

It was such a wonderful experience, and not something I would have ever imagined doing on my own. Each of the students and the staff made me feel so welcomed and comfortable, though, that I had a wonderful time.  Not only that, I had plenty of food to bring back and share with Kevin — the chef kindly wrapped it all for me to bring back.  

I took the train back to Vernazza, and met Kevin near our hotel, and he ate every bite with gusto!