Tuesday, April 27, 2010

ROMAN HOLIDAYS -CINQUE TERRE

Dear friends ( Foes and semi foes steer clear off)
My appologies to all of you for not being able to visit your blogs regularly and express my appreciations for all the great postings you have made. I am missing you all.The main reason is, I am working these days, so cant get enough time....gone are the days when I used to cook and blog and read all recipes, learn them and last but not the least lie down on the drawing room sofa ( when SOMEONE is busy with her patients in her clinic) and watch Indian soap on TV. ( The firing from SOMEONE for making the sofa untidy is worth the TV enjoyment ).
Why am I posting travelouges in a cooking blog , is a disturbing question for me and from me..
The answer is simple, friends who cook , they enjoy travelling too...and this is for my friends here and not for the internet ...
So enjoy and do visit these places when you are in Italy.
CINQUE TERRE.
Chinque means 5 and Terre means establishment or villages . When I read cool lassi(e) 's blog on Cinque Terre, I just decided , someday I would see this place , knowing fully , I may not get a chance to visit Italy ever in this birth...But when my new Hong Kong Based employer informed that my 1st assignment would be at Milano, my 1st reaction was that I would see Cinque Terre....I could not belive it ....I jumped at the offer and refused all others. The assignment was for 2 weeks , that means only one weekend. Because of winter off seasons there were no conducted tours..my Italian friends suggested not to go, as it would be bad weather in February etc.
My stay kept on extending ..finally I made it when winter was less harsh and tourists were yet to crowd the place.
Here I will post few photos and rest will be at my picasa . This is just to enjoy the pictures and I am not writing a travelogue as such. Lot of information is available on the net as the place is a major tourist attraction.
The 5 villages maintain their old status. It is not possible to visit all villages and it may be bit boring, unless you stay there for couple of days.
I suggest, you explore one village , Rio Maggiore and take a walk on " Lovers lane " i,e Via dell'amoure" , along the coast to village Marnala and touch all villeges just for the kicks that you saw all 5 of them.
Here we go.
I travelled from Milano to Monterosso , the 1st village, at the north. But generally Milano is not in travel itenary of most people , unless you want to see "Last supper" by Da vincci or where the fashion has reached . So you can approach from south after seeing Pisa ( If you dont lean on to Pisa tower, your visit to Italy is useless..thats what the friends say...so my 3 months visit to italy is useless as I haven't gone to Rome , Florence and Pisa..well...well I had been to Venice twice on weekends ( 2 hrs away) and stayed a week in 98 too. Venice is the ultimate place . it is not on earth...
The villages are connected by trains and you can take walks too . Buy a combo ticket of trenitalia and sanctuary for walk and valid for as many travels as you want . 
Even if I landed at norhtern most village, I went to southen most by a train and walked back to the next  and dropped at all stations took a short walk and take a train to the next. So I can claim I visited all 5 vllages.
I am presnting the photos village wise starting with Rio Maggiore ( close to Pisa, about 2 hrs)
RIOMAGGIORE
It is famous for the world famous Logo , here it is.

At the Rio-Maggiore station, get down and take a lift 38 meters up to the village road.. ( you can take a walk up too...)
The station seen from the top after taking the 38 mneter lift.

On the street

The village at a  glance , here I had one of the best spaghetti , with fresh anchovie... yummy

Riomaggiore boat landing area , the sea was rough , so no boats were plying to other villages


Via Dell' amore
If you are in Chinque Terre , you must take the 800 meter walk along the sea, from Riomaggiore to Manarola or the other way round...just imagine walking the strech, along the sea with your near and dear ones....great isnt it?..Missing SOMEONE along the way was quite enjoyable too...what can be more enjoyable than missing someone, near and dear to you ????
See these photos and tell me , the great walk through Via Dell'amore

Via dell'amore continues , the guy with the back pack is me
The lower windows are on the tunnel of the train line and the upper ones are on Via dell'amore..


See the locks on the railing? The lovers put it there..and the municipality has tough time breaking 1000s of locks every year, to make way for others..I wonder who can break the bond of love when God Himself can not !!!!
Take a break and have a Coffee with someone speclial, take a glimpse of Manarola village at a distance, we will be there soon for esspresso .
Manarola village and the station as seen from Via Dell'amore
The train has arrived from Riomaggiore...we were in a dilema at Riomaggiore, whether to take the train or walk to Manarola...through Via Dell'amore, Thank God we didn't

The way back through Via dell'amore , I wished I could walk back to Riomaggiore and take train to Milan and to hell with other villages.


We arrived at Manarola village..the clock was ticking and we had to catch a train from the last village and we have seen only one , so lets have quick glmpses at others
MANAROLA
This village is 2nd from south

Another glimpse at Manarola

Manarola as seen from the next Village
CORNIGLIA
As I told you, we did not have much time , and hurried to the next village by train. Unlike the other ones, this village is located high on the mountains and away from the sea. But luckily we had the combo ticket of train and sanctuary , so we could take the bus to the village instead of walking up the stairs...
Corniglia railway station
Sea from the village top
The Church at Corniglia

We hurried down to the station and took a train to the next village of  Vernazza , we had only 20 minutes to catch the next train to the last village
VERNAZZA
This village has lot of places to eat... but we did not have time , just hurried to the boat landing area and came back to catch the train
.
From the station and the way to the water front
And the lonely seagul , reminds me of the famous book " Jonathan Livingstone Seagul"
The water front, , boats were not there,  due to rough sea

Finally we arrived at the village from where we started , the 1st one . Monterosso
MONTEROSSO
Some of the photos were taken in the morning when we arrived here from Milano. This is the only village which has a beach, modern hotels, eating joints etc.
The station

The old architectures


The more modern areas of Monterosso

This is the end of my trip to a dream place , will go there again if I come to Milan again


23 comments:

Preeti Kashyap said...

wow! wonderful post and pics...good read!

Unknown said...

Dear Ushnishda, THats a really very informative read and feeling like I am also there experincing the beauty of the place...chhobi gulo ato lively hoechhe ki bolco...Sea from the village top ta dekhe akdom california r 17 miles er kotha mone pore jachhe...bujhte parchhi apni khub enjoy korchhen...bhalo thakben....

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Ushnish-da,
Excellent post even if its not about food. I feel like I went there again and I am missing that place even more.

Kanchan said...

Wonderful post !

The snaps do give a look and feel of Shimla Kulu Manali !

Hope you are enjoying to the fullest :)

Kalyan Karmakar said...

i, like most Bengali, like food AND travel. Bhojon o bhromom. So thanks for posting this. Great to know that your trip worked out.

What would be more enjoyable than missing someone?

Having them around? :)

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

Ohh Ushnishda, thanks for posting this, janina kakhano jete parbo kina kintu ato apurbo lagche chobigulo je khub jete ichhe korche. love the pics of Via Dell' amore...asadharon jayga aar khub sundor photography.

Sanjana said...

Whta beautiful pictures- Thank you for a lesson in Roman holidays! A great read!

? said...

Beautiful post; thank you for taking us there!

Padmajha said...

Dear Ushnish,I came here looking for a new recipe and was rewarded with your travelogue!All the click as so wonderful and for sometime it was like I was in that place..Waiting to read more about your travels :)

My Experiments with Food said...

Lovely post...even though not about food :)
Its such pretty arhitecture! Thanks for taking us on a holiday!

Vikis Kitchen said...

well said...cooks enjoy traveling too. Then only we can taste others cuisine. right! Very nice post and lovely pictures. Sea side village is always a charm. Beautiful photos. wish that your SOMEONE reads the post:)Take care.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

food and travel - your blog has it all... Such a lovely place... Would love to visit someday...

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Hi Ushnishkaku

The photos of the villages look simply wonderful. Such villages are what published in postcards or greeting cards. Romantic walkway ta dekhlam. Khoob bhalo laaglo.

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Nandinis food said...

Beautiful photos!!!!

Sharmistha Guha said...

Daroon shundor travel post!!!
Loved the pics!!

sangeeta said...

BEAUTIFULLLLLLL....

i absorbed into everything and and and....no words..
Thankyou for this.

gtyuk said...

Dear Ushnishda,

these pictures are breathtaking, wonderful places you've visited... I'm wondering if you were there for work or like a tourist, hahaha!! but it's a pity that "Someone" wasn't there with you to walk through these romantic places...
these pictures brings the holiday moods in me, another two months to go and then, it would be the summer vacation !!! this is a nice place I'd love to go too!!!

welcome back and happy blogging!!!

Malar Gandhi said...

Dear Ushnish,

Sorry for my delayed response, How are you?

Thanks for sharing all those lovely pictures with us, its wonderful...like traveling a lot.

Guess, Someone is missing all the fun, wish...the next time you both visit all these places again.:)

Take care,
Malar

PreeOccupied said...

Kaku, thank you for the armchair ride. The photos and information are lovely. I am glad you are back home now.

~G said...

Nice pics Ushnish. Good to hear an update from you. Take care.

Simplyfood said...

Thankyou for dropping by simply.food.Your visits and comments are very much appreciated.
Your trip photos are awesome and very informative I too love travelling so another place i shall add to my "to visit" list.
Following your blog,hope to see you at simply food again so

Re cooking beans you dont have to, "Cheat" as I did buy tinned.They are precooked ,whole dish will take less than 10 mins to execute. :) Enjoy with rice.

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Sorry for the late visit.. how are you? Nice reading ur post .. wonderful pictures as well.. Hope u had wonderful trip and relaxing now at ur place... Have wonderful weekend.

Chetana Suvarna Ganatra said...

Dear Ushnishji,
Welcome home...n welcome back to the blogging scene.
Me too was out for more than a month visiting fnds & fly back in India....doing the catching up stuff right now.
Thks for sharing ur amazing pics...guess when i travel down Rome dis page will suffice me..no need for a tour guide.. :)
Loved all cool shots... between thks for stopping by my blog.
Will wait for sum tasty Bong treats here....
Till then tk care n njoy being together wit ur loved one.
Cheers.