Saturday – We did not rush getting up today. We arrived at breakfast with the majority of guests at 8:45 a.m. It was a great spread of eggs and tiny hot dogs, breads for toast, meats and cheese, fruit of every kind -chopped up and whole, pastries, yogurt, juice and coffee. We had our fill and headed out on the town.
Cinque Terre is known as the 5 towns, for fishing and hiking, or just general relaxation at the beaches. Many hikers will hike between the 5 communities. The town of Levanto is just past the 5 towns, but appears to have a larger city center. The smells of flowers, the many gardens people have, and the bakery shops with cakes and breads make each step closer into town just wonderful. The center has some butchers, a few pharmacys (farmacia), supermarket , liberia (book store), and many gelatorias, trattorias and ristorantes. There was even a park in the middle with kids playing on swings and a jungle gym.
We made our way out to the beach clubs. You pay a couple of Euro for a beach chair, etc. and you can lounge all day. There was a group learning to surf at one and children making sand castles at another. Again, it is a spot that Emma and Troy would have loved. We missed the ferry to get to the 5 towns, but thought we might just hike to Monterosso, the closest town with a great beach. We started out walking by a medieval castle, the sign said it dated back to 1156 [insert picture here]. As we continued, however, we thought it was going to be a bit too much and turned back. Good thing we did and you will find out later.
So, we headed back another way into town and made our way to the free public beach. Many people were laying out, cigarettes in hand. So many people smoke here, even the lifeguard was smoking. We stuck our feet in the Mediterranean and it was COLD! I got some video on the camera of the waves coming in. We headed back around to one of the Gelatoria’s where Matt had some chocolate gelato. I discovered the limonata, or lemon soda. This is the closest thing I have found to Australian "Lift." We started making our way back to the hotel and stopped for some pizza. The single slices seemed to be served on focacia bread, which was very good!
On the way back to the hotel is a church which has an amazing cemetary. This may sound odd, but wait until you see the pictures. The plots are like a hallway lined up with flowers, lights and various trinkets. The majority had pictures of the people on them and many were quite old. This seems to be a European thing, because we saw another larger version on the train into La Spezia the first day. At night, they were all lit up.
Now, the hotel we booked has a wellness center with a gorgeous pool. The center offers a variety of spa treatments, sauna, turkish bath, emotional shower (I will get to that), and just general relaxation. We made our way out to the pool to relax before the massages started. At the moment I wrote this, I was lounging next to my husband, with the sounds of a waterfall spewing into a gorgeous clear pool, with the most beautiful hills and scenery, and I am in Italy. Does life get any better?
I am about to go in for my massage, but the emotional shower is a walkway of sorts with 4 separate downspouts. You walk to the first one, in your swimsuit of course, and the water starts like a shower with the color purple behind it. The water is luke warm and emits an aroma. Then the water stops. The next spout comes on with a blue light and the water is a little colder with a different aroma. The water finally stops and you move on to the third, which has a red light and the water is much warmer with another aroma. Finally, the fourth starts with a green light, a little colder and a final aroma. Finito.
A few minutes in a turkish bath and that was enough for me. It is similar to a sauna, but with an aroma is my understanding. When you come out, you are supposed to put ice chunks on your skin. When all this was done we laid out a bit more to dry off and then came back to the room for a short nap before dinner.
We headed back into town and stopped at the Café Del Mar for dinner. We sat outside on their open patio and were able to do some people watching. The town is great with families just walking around, playing in the park or riding bikes. Some were wheeling around strollers. Maybe because the buildings are so close there is more of a togetherness? I don’t know.
For dinner, Matt and I share a caprese salad (there is a trend here), glass of wine for him and glass of Spumati – champagne for me. The tomatoes here are spectacular and the mozzarella, this country does not mess around with their mozzarella. We even saw ads for their mozzarella. Needless to say, we enjoyed it. For the main course, I ordered the fish of the day – Grilled Sea Brahm. They served it open faced with the tail included. It was quite good and fresh. Matt had the grilled swordfish and thought it was fair. Then for dessert, Tiramisu!! Scrumdiliocious! Matt had profiterols covered in chocolate, which he really enjoyed.
We soon left with good food in our bellies and continued to talk around town with everyone else. We came upon a side street that we had not been down before. This had the local cinema. The movie they were playing? Hangover 2, however, in Italy it is called “Una Notte de Leoni 2.” The translation is “One Night in Paris 2.” In the first movie, they are in Vegas. In the second movie, they are in Bangkok. So, I do not know what marketing did here. Anyway, we went in and the threatre was really neat inside. Matt bought the supersize popcorn (no refills) which ended up being the equivalent of a U.S. medium. Then with a couple of tall cokes, we proceeded to watch the movie in Italian, no subtitles. This was Matt’s second showing of the movie, so he helped me fill in the gaps. Otherwise, I think the language change made it funnier. I enjoyed it and Matt thought it was funnier the second time around. It was around 11:30 p.m. as we left the theater and the streets of Levanto were very lively. Like an old married couple, we called it a night.
