Lovely Liguria

Conversation on a climb up to a castle:

Man #1: How close am I?

Man #2: You're not too far.

Man #1: Put that on my tombstone -- "He said 'You're not too far.'"

We took a few days last week to explore Liguria by foot and mouth. On our first day we hiked between 3 of the 5 coastal towns of Cinque Terre, remarkable communities perched on or below cliffs plunging down into the Mediterranean. Keep in mind that if you ever do this hike, although the towns are at similar altitudes, the trails run up and down the hillsides so there's a lot of climbing involved. But it's well worth the effort!

The town of Vernazza

In Corniglia

On our second day we did one of our favorite hikes of this trip. It was recommended to us by Ari's graduate school advisor Peter (thank you, Peter!). We walked from Riomaggiore on the coast up to the ridge line and then down to Portovenere with incredible views of the coastline.

Vineyards just outside of Riomaggiore

Ari shows Ghinwa what he learned at Adrian Elementary School along the hike to Portovenere

A little friend!

A view towards Portovenere

Ghinwa storms the castle

On our drive out of Liguria, we stopped by Portofino which was beautiful for sure but the one hyphenated word that we feel best describes the place is hoity-toity. An example: we saw a guy exercising on an elliptical machine stationed on top of his giant yacht in plain view of everyone walking past.

Ghinwa is not impressed by the yacht

As for our bellies, they're doing just fine. We've stuffed them full of gelato, pesto, and focaccia col fromaggio. There are days when we can't fit a single piece of lettuce inside.

When leaving Liguria, we stumbled upon the incredible, never-ending Saturday market of the town of Cuneo. Good thing we were on a parking meter, or we may never have left!

It's chestnut season!