Day 16 June 7, 2023
Today we traveled from Venice to Manarola. We had to change trains twice, which was interesting as we did not have much time in between to get from one to the other. The first leg of the trip (over an hour) we had assigned seats and plenty of room for our luggage. Once we changed trains, that was the end of room for the luggage, and we had to stand for an hour as there were no seats available. One the last change, we had to run to catch the train to Manarola and luckily, it’s only a 10-minute train ride, but we still ended up having to stand. Our host, Jvan (pronounced Eeeeevan, not Ivan) met us at the station to take us to the room. Let me tell you, Manarola is nothing but ascents and descents and all stairs. We got our workout in just getting our stuff to the room. Jvan looks to be in his early forties, but is an old soul and very spiritual, think of a hippie/monk type. He is very thorough with pointing out things to us and telling us where we should/should not eat. The apartment is clean, but minimal. The views are SPECTACULAR!!!!
We got settled in and then went into town to get a few groceries and check things out. It is not the easiest of towns to explore as there are many alleys with stairs that lead to wherever. We found a little shop and bought a sandwich, since we had not eaten since breakfast and it was past 3 p.m., and then bought a few things to take back to the room. There are two ways to get to the room – the first was up a hill and then some back streets, which is how we came with our luggage, the other is climbing up 94 steps so guess which way we took. Yep, the 94 steps. Who needs a Stairmaster, lol!!! We left the room again and went back into town to grab a drink and a light dinner. We ate at one of the little places Jvan suggested (La Regina di Manarola). We had the L’Orto di Venere, which is black venus rice on pea cream, sauteed seasonal veggies, fresh mint and pine nuts and then we had Scoglio “al quadrato”, which is square spaghetti dressed with mussels, clams, shrimp, cuttlefish and confit cherry tomatoes. The food was good and the view from the restaurant even better.
We climbed back up the 94 steps, had a glass of wine on the terrace, got some shots of us with the sunset and then called it a night. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but I’m sure John will figure something out 😊
Miles walked – 3.33, but don’t forget about those stairs! Ciao!
