He headed off from Provence around 1030 to the top of Italy on the Ligurian Coast to an area called the Cinque Terre (5 Villages). The drive was mostly on the motorway travlleing around 120km/hr with 3 lanes, it makes speedy travel although quite stressful too. We travelled through tunnel after tunnel and with trucks on either side it can be quite daunting. This was the most we had paid on tolls at around 50 euros ($70.00), about as much as the fuel for the car. Gas being quite cheap here.
It was a great relief to get off the motorway and head down the very steep and narrow road to the start of the Cinque Terre. (It makes Okains Bay road look flat)!
We arrived around 6pm after a long day on the road. We were staying in the first village Monterosso, a beautiful village, although not as picturesque as the others, the only one with a great beach.
We enjoyed sitting at a restaurant on the beach and had a wine and calamari, followed by my favourite spaghetti vongole (clams). Our waitress spoke English to us which was a huge help, we said she had great English, which she replied, ” I should think so. Im American”..
We had a great chardonnay here, and with most of Italy we are finding drinks are always served with some snacks.
Cinque Terre is known for its Pesto (where it orginated from), its lemons and fresh anchovies. (our favourite) and also for focaccia bread. The next night guess what was on the menu. I could have stayed there for a week and had anchovies every day.
Next we had pesto pasta and a seafood salad. Both outstanding.
