Monterosso

The anticipated rains arrived and altered our plans somewhat. Because the storm had been anticipated to be a strong one, the walking path from Vernazza to Monterosso was closed ‘by order of the Mayor’. Plan B was the train.

Either because it was Sunday, or because the weather was less than favorable, the crowds were much diminished. Monterosso is the largest of the five towns and probably the most touristy. But again, weather or day of the week kept the crowds at bay.

There is a beautiful waterfront and promenade that you walk from the train station towards town. Because of the storm the seas were rough and the ferry service did not run.

Town has two streets that converge at the church. Both streets were alive with busy eateries, bars, gelaterias and shops. We overheard a woman exclaiming about a great, authentic restaurant with really fresh food. We chased her down and she happily walked us down the alleyway to point it out. We were not disappointed! I had the gnocchi with mussels and clams while Tom had the pesto lasagne. Both were delicious and beyond filling.

We wandered the streets, poked into shops and visited the church on our return to the train station. The regional trains are frequent and convenient.

Once back in Vernazza, we stopped at the market for a bottle of wine and some dessert. The weather was still quite threatening and we wanted to be in before the big downpour.

A sidebar: Vernazza and Monterosso suffered major flooding in October of 2011 when it rained 22 inches in six hours!! The one street became the raging water’s way to the sea. From the photographs it looked like the water reached above the first story of most buildings and came up to the overpass for the train station. With our recent history of flooding and debris flow we were acutely sympathetic to their tragedy.