I managed to dig out a not-too-terribly wrinkled button-down shirt and some kind of OK pants, but felt a little underdressed. I had read that Italians are particularly proud of their fashion sense and… well… I don’t come across that way on the best of days. Turned out that nobody else was in a suit, either. I was very surprised to find the service only very lightly attended and kind of somber for Easter. No organ or choir (just a cantor), and only a 40 minute service. We learned later that the 11:00 service was well-attended, with lots of kids. I guess 9:00 is too early.
I was also really surprised to find that virtually everything was open. In fact, we found a café with the only wifi spot we’d seen anywhere in Monterosso. Wifi time is based on spending: a cappuccino will buy you 20 minutes. We bought about 3 hours worth of cappuccinos and pastries, and finally caught up on email (and uploaded some blog posts).
Judy also picked up some fresh pasta to add to our Easter meal back at the house, and it was truly a feast. The seasoning she’d bought in Riomaggiore was a light pesto/sun-dried tomato mix that was fantastic. We coupled that with local cheeses , breads, wines and fruit, all sitting in the sun on our patio overlooking Monterosso and the Mediterranean below. About as close to heaven as you can get!
Because the weather was so perfect – sunny with a nice breeze – we were also able to catch up on laundry in the bath tub and hang it on a clothes line on the patio, avoiding the vagaries of the laundry service and the not-so-fun trip back up the hill.
We went down to New Monterosso where Aaron and Liz played on the rocks.
Later, I met the girls at Vinery Buranco, which is along the path from our house to Old Monterosso. There we had a delightful wine-tasting (€4 for two large glasses of wine and bruschetta, spinach focaccia, and other tasties ).
Up toward our place, looking from Buranco Vineyard |
That evening, we went back into town and went to a pizzeria with I think about 70 different varieties of pizza. They showed prices for two sizes. We asked about the difference between small and large, and he brought us 2 pans, the smaller being probably 8-9” in diameter and the larger probably 14”. So we all ordered our own pizzas, and requested the lower priced ones. What came out were all 14” pizzas. When we protested, he told us that the prices in the menu were for the “regular” pizza (the lower priced one) and the “pizza for 3” (even bigger). Liz had also ordered a “side” salad, which turned out to be meal-sized as well. So we went back to the house with really sore stomachs and a full pizza’s worth of carry-out. At this point we were pretty beat and tried to turn in early for a 10AM exit the following morning. We are all really going to miss this place!
Our home in Monterosso |
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