Cinque Terre (5 villages)

We went with the same travel company, Mytours for our day trip to Cinque Terre. On Rick Steve's insistence in his guide book, I had wanted to squeeze in this detour in our trip and possibly spend a night on this picturesque Ligurian coast. However, the logistics of getting from there to Venice were quite time consuming so I had to settle for a day tour. The tour bus, full to the brim with tourists took us to La Spezia in a couple of hours after which we took the train to the first village, Manarola. The coastal hill side village overflowed with tourists. We spent a few minutes in Manarola, it was spectacular. The first village of the five, with promised views to be better than the  next. 

But then, the Indianness of Italy hit us; the train we were supposed to be on was more packed and sweaty than the Mumbai trains on a hot August morning. Half of our tour got on and the other half stayed back.  The tour guide took an executive decision of getting everyone off and going to Riamaggiorle to take a ferry to Vernazza. Believe it or not we were excited by the sudden turn in events, because Cinque Terre is even prettier from the boat. Besides, the gentle breeze was a welcome bonus! With more stunning views and a gelato which made me arrive at the conclusion that although gelatos in Italy can be "hit or miss", chocolate is a constant hit, the hour went by quickly. Chinmay ran up the hiking trail in his flip flops for the picture he had envisioned to take and boy was it postcard perfect! 

The best was yet to come; our jaws literally dropped at the first sight of the fifth village, Monterosso. The crystal clear water of the Liguirian sea outlined with specks of colorful umbrellas and the verdant hills made for a landscape which was right out of a fairy tale of some sorts! 

A simple outdoor pizza and panini lunch and a little time on the beach was a perfect way to bid farewell to Cinque Terre! Oh, and how can I forget the fresh strawberries and kiwi daquiri for which I cut through the 30 minute line just because it was time for our group "Florence" to leave! 

It was our last night in Florence and we were not yet ready to let it go. So after a refreshing shower at the hotel, we walked into town to the Triposo recommended vegetarian friendly, "O.K bar", which was way more than okay! With very reasonable prices (19 Euros for our dinner and his wine), no cover charge, generous portions, authentic flavors and the biggest selection of pastas in Italy so far, it was handsdown one of the best meals we'd had on our trip! 

Now that's what I call saying "Ciao Florence" in a "Tantalizing tastebuds" kinda way! So what if the Venchi gelato flavor selection was a slight disappointment. The orchestra that played YMCA at the Palazzo Vecchio just made it up for that!