The 5 Lands! - Cinque Terre (Part 1)

Personally I don't enjoy white wines nearly as much as a do a good red like a Cabernet Sauvignon, Australia Syrah or Zinfandel but on a 16 day trip to Italy last September/October with my family, I learned of some very good white wines grown on steep cliffs in Cinque Terre located in the Liguria region of Italy. Not only are the white wines beautiful and affordable, the people, food and scenery (think cliffs, vineyards, ocean, villages) are some of the greatest in the world.

Driving from our 3 hour stop in Pisa (yes 3 hours was long enough) to the small village of Monterosso Al Mare in the dark was quite an adventure. The area is accessible only by 1.62 lane roads that rise, twist and fall and fall for several miles after leaving the A12 (the main highway). We actually got to go up and down the hill in the dark twice as Monterosso Al Mare is separated into two different villages Old and New and unless you have a local traffic pass allowing you to travel through a 1.35 lane tunnel, you must take the 'overland' route. The excitement of driving narrow, steep roads at night was further enhanced by the moderate layer of coastal fog that had settled in a couple hours early. Dad did a great job traversing the curves, avoiding bushes, dogs, a couple of signs and most importantly, the cliffs.

Arriving at the long drive at our Hotel the Villa Accini in the Old part of Monterosso, we noticed a man walking towards us slowly with his head lowered. He didn't look happy and a mere 37 minutes later after trying to communicate in broken Italian (ours), broken English (his) and finally perfect Spanish (his and my girlfriend's) we found out there was a clerical error and our hotel rooms we had reserved online for 4 nights were no longer available. The 'good news' was accommodations had been made at Hotel Margherita in of course the New part of Monterosso. My girlfriend did a great job of keeping her composure and thanked the manager for the information, they even got into a short discussion as to how he knew Spanish so well. He explained that he had spend 17 years in Argentina and now was back in Italy were he was born. My dad, 'The Driver' was eagerly awaiting a translation from my girlfriend as to our hotel accommodations status. She let him know the details and even a little bit of the Manager's Argentina 1/4 life story. Dad then asked "how do we get to New Monterosso?", with a hand gesture, the manager motioned 'back over the hill'. We all smiled faintly and trudged back to the rented Opel to drive the 7 miles overland to New Monterosso...My dad actually seemed alright with the whole thing and almost seemed to relish more fog, curve, dog, cliff driving...Italy will do that to you and your state of mind.

Next Week...Cinque Terre Lobster Spaghetti w/ local white wine.