Made it to the fabled and unofficial Cinque Terre town of Levanto after an easy training ride from Venezia via Milan. Milan was underwhelming and didn't see all of the beautiful people we'd expected. Just lovely us :)
Arrived in Levanto mid afternoon with no map but an address of our B&B, Cicale di Mare. Fast forward about 75 minutes later and we'd wiggled our way out of town, up a small mountain and through olive groves and lemon orchards. Were just about to call it quits and sleep under some grapes when Graham's stubbornness become a blessing (Todd, no need to comment further on this fact). A mere 30 seconds and 4 litres of sweat further and we'd arrived at our home for the next 2 nights!
Next question - how the f$?! are we getting back to town to enjoy the beach... Answer: walk another 1.5 hours round trip! Did just that and crushed some very warm beers on the beach, swam off the days adventures and relaxed... until the walk home. Grabbed some grocery store cheese and olive salad for fuel and headed up to our home in the hinterlands.
We decided that instead of doing the dreaded walk again we took some beauty bikes down the hill for dinner. And you'll never guess what happened next! We were meandering through the streets of Levanto on our sick rides when we hear this very familiar laugh. We look ahead and there are Kathy and Kyle Jordan, pointing at us laughing (we think at the bikes?)!
The rest of the evening was a run away. We enjoyed a couple litres of vino, some bruschetta, delicious pasta (Graham stuck to the seafood, obvi), and lots of laughs. You really can't go far without being reminded of Perth.
After the multiple litres of vino we enjoyed our bike up the mountain to our B&B. Even made it in record time due to Jess' intense fear of the dark and biking uphill in foreign cities. The road seemed more twisty for some reason.
Morning came early. Like, too early. Jess had cappucino, cake for breakfast (made by the Nona of the b+b) and local jams from down the road. Graham downed some espresso and is clinically hooked on them now. Walked down to the train stazione and headed to Cinque Terre towns for the day. Stopped in Vernazza for a delicious mussel lunch with caprese salad right on the water (incl beer) and it ranks as one of the best meals of the trip. Learning that Italians shouldn't be known for their service or gratitude. Just for the cooking perhaps.
Have some great pics from other towns - see below! Got some gelatto, did laundry, drank cold bieri's while waiting for said laundry and took in the local festival for Saint _______, the local celeb from way back. Grabbed some wine and cheese and olives and crackers and more wine and salmon and salad and pepperoncinis and meats and had a great picnic up in our chateau!
Next morning, woke up and got another solid breakfast before being shuttled into town (thank baby Jesus!). Met the Jordans again randomly at the train station and starting to think that they're following us. Both got on the wrong train, got off 30 minutes later and paid for another ticket. Jess and I are supposed to be in first class according to our initial ticket but instead we're slumming it in second. People seem less beautiful back here. Also saw a few pickpockets get kicked off and publicly shamed by the conductor. Have started keeping our cash in our underpants. Passports are kept elsewhere.
It's raining and storming like we've never seen, so fingers crossed for sunshine and puppydogs by the time we get to Florence. Otherwise we might be stuck inside with only a bottle of wine to pass the time. THE HORROR.
Adios!
Grammamia & Jessicarlo
That sounds like the most tiring leg of the journey by far. It's kind of insane that you randomly met Kathy out there. It looks a lot better than where you were this time last week.
ReplyDelete