No to the Double-Whammy... but Double Gelato? Siempre Si!

Even though we came out on top in our quest to conquer the Alps, we weren’t quite ready for any more mountains just yet.  Originally we planned on doing what we called the Double Whammy - The Glory of the Alps followed by Mountains of the Riviera… but our achy legs got the best of us and we decided no double whammy this time.

Instead, we thought we would spend some time on the coast visiting Cinque Terra (don’t worry:  still many hills included).  We had heard great  about these five little villages tucked into some rugged Italian coastline (thanks Reaveys!).  

We left our aforementioned campsite early in the morning- feeling no need to stick around to enjoy the sights, and headed to Levanto, the gateway to Cinque Terra.  It wasn’t exactly an Alp, but still a good continuous climb for an hour or so.  And it was definitely nice to be able to go one or two more kilometers/hour faster than the previous days. It felt less likely we would roll back down to Sestre Levante.  We shared the climb with lots of fellow ciclistas, all of whom were (1) looking super-sporty in their matching lycra outfits, (2) were super-friendly with their ‘ciao!’s, ‘forza!’s, and ‘vai!’s, (3) none of whom were lugging all of their earthly possessions with them, and (4) all of whom made us feel like we were standing still as we headed up the mountain. 

We were so excited to arrive in Levanto at a decent hour – around 1pm.  Over lunch we planned a relaxing afternoon- drop our things at a hotel (NO MORE CAMPING!), do some laundry, beach time. . . Unfortunately, we hadn’t plan on all of Italy joining our full-moon at this time. Little did we know school was out, and vacation for Italians had begun… and of course, what better place to welcome the Italian summer than Levanto?  Our relaxing afternoon turned into an afternoon-long search for a place to call home for the night. 




Amy can't get enough of the narrow Italian streets...



We bought some prosciutto i formaggio for lunch
from an adorable couple that runs this shop.

The tourist office had just closed for lunch, and so we cycled around town, checking in on no less than 10 B&B’s, all of whom were ‘completo’ (full for the night)… and ror a minute there, it was looking like we might have no choice but to camp again. (Nooooooo!).   Luckily one last stop at a hotel saved us.  It was a little pricier than we like but we made sure to get our money’s worth- milking it for every drop of hot water and every free minute of Wi-Fi we possibly could. 

Once we were settled we walked the streets of Levanto, grabbed some dinner, and a gelato. 

And then another gelato. 

We recently told you  about some of the lessons we’ve been learning on this full moon that we think will help us in our married life (Lesson #1:  Don’t try to guess what your person is thinking, or you might end up camping in a junkyard).  Well, we’ve also learned that sometimes, you have to be a big enough person to admit when you’ve been wrong.  And there’s no way around it… on this night, we were wrong. 

We settled far too quickly on the first gelato that crossed our path, and although it was certainly enjoyable, it did not look nearly as appetizing as the over-flowing cornucopia of creamy and delicious goodness that appeared in the window of the next gelateria, just as we were finishing our last bites.  Thus was unanimously enacted a new Kovick rule: only buy gelato when it is overflowing out of it's containers and you can see the individual braids from the hand-whipping.

And the second new Kovick rule of the night: there’s nothing wrong with a double-gelato evening! (also unanimous). 

From there, with our full stomachs, we cycled along the coast with sweeping views of the colorful little towns that make up Cinque Terra. Initially, we had big plans to visit all 5 of the towns of Cinque Terra.  But you see, you cycle along a ridge-top road, and then have to descend many kilometers to these charming seaside villages, and then climb back up each and every one of those kilometers to get back to the ridge road.  So we started by saying we'd visit all 5 towns... then 20 minutes into the first climb, we said we'd visit 4 towns... then, as we continued to climb, it was down to 3 towns, then 2, then eventually just the 1.  But they were so much more beautiful from up above at a distance!  Anyway, Cinque Terra was the beautiful.  But I’m sleepy... so we'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The End, by Amy Kovick. 

Ciao bicis!



A view of Cinque Terra



More narrow Italian side streets...


 

One of the five towns of Cinque Terra... Much prettier from above



The one town we ended up visiting in Cinque Terra