Italy - July 2008

Cinque Terre - Monterosso

For the July 4th week this year, we headed off to Italy for a week of hiking with Kim and Tom (sans children!). This is the third time we have done a vacation with Kim and Tom one year after one of their kids were born - this one was following Riley's birth.  During this trip, we visited Cinque Terre, Portofino, Cogne (which is in the mountains) and Milan.

Accommodations:

Hotel Margherita (Monterosso) - This is a functional hotel in the center of town with easy access to everything.

Portofino Kulm (Portofino) - We didn't realize this when we booked this hotel but it is about 45 minutes outside of town which would explain why it was so much cheaper than other hotels.  The hotel is rather nice and large but there were not many guests there - it reminded us of the movie The Shining!

Hotel Miramonti (Cogne) - This is a 45 room hotel across the road from a city park.  It is a beautiful hotel with rustic interior.  

Westin Palace Milan (Milan) - Of course free on points, this was a amazing accommodation to wrap up the trip.

Activities:

Our flight took us from New York directly to Milan, where we arrived reasonably early in the morning.  We had a car rented for the four of us - Tom and I got to pick which one so we opted for a Jaguar!  So we piled all our luggage in the trunk and immediately headed off to Monterosso, the northern most town of Cinque Terre.  It was about a three hour drive to get there, via Genova.  The last half of the drive hugged the coast.  We arrived in Monterosso, driving down a steep hill to a cul-d-sac where we dropped off the luggage.  Keith then drove the car back up the hill about a mile of so to the first parking space available, then ran back down to meet the group.  After checking in at the hotel we scouted the town.  It was a fairly early night as we were wrecked from the flight.

The next day we spent walking Cinque Terre which is the hike between the five towns of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.  The walk only takes about five hours in total at a reasonable pace, but we stopped in each to check out the towns, eat pizza and gelatto, and of course have a few glasses of wine.  When we arrived in Riomaggiore, we found the boat to take the ferry back to Monterosso, seeing all the towns from the water.  

Hike Along Cinque Terre

The following day we took the train back to Riomaggiore and did an extension hike south from there to Portovenere.  This was a gorgeous hike that took a few hours longer to hike than the day before - with the added benefit that there were far fewer people on the trail.  We descended into Portovenere and walked around the fort.  After grabbing a bite to eat and another gelatto (we had lots of this while we were there), we made our way to the ferry that headed north up the coast, stopping at each of the cinque terra - it was gorgeous views from the water as you see the beautifully painted buildings hugging the cliffs. 

Portofino

The next day we packed up our stuff and headed up to Portofino - which was a new definition of rich for the four of us.  Driving into town, we passed yachts that were far bigger than our houses.  We walked up and down the beaches, watching all the Italians relax, men seeming way too comfortable in their banana hammocks. We stayed the night in Portofino, then headed four hours north to Cogne for the mountain part of the week.

Cogne is a half hour drive up the Aosta Valley from the A25, on the northern border of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso.  The town really reminded us of Kandersteg in Switzerland, with the quaint hotels in a small valley surrounded by high peaks.  The day we arrived we walked around town just to get to know the place.  While there we did two days of hiking in the dramatic mountains, with one of the days heading up Valnontey to the Refugio Vittorio Sella hut - an absolutely stunning hike.  The path is steep but the views are amazing!  We also drove one day to Courmayeur to see Mont Blanc - however, it was raining that day so we couldn't see the mountain and thus, we walked around the cute town instead.

Hiking in Cogne

Cathedral in Milan

The trip was wrapped up with a day in Milan, where we walked all over the place and saw all the typical places, including the cathedral.  While we generally avoid doing church tours of Europe, we have to say that this is gorgeous architecture.  We also visited the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele where we saw all lots of things we'd never ever buy, as well as Castello Sforzesco, a huge castle.

Restaurants:

We had wonderful meals in Cinque Terre and in Cogne - although we cannot remember the names of the restaurants, they truly were all great.  You really can't go wrong with Italian food and wine!

Ristorante Miky (Monterosso) - Really nice restaurant - awesome food!

Restaurant at Hotel Miramonti (Cogne) - Nice restaurant - rustic, wooden interior.  Food is more Swiss style.
Ristorante quattroMori (Milan) - Kim's dad recommended this place and it was delicious - we sat outside in the garden and had the whole fish entree (salt-crusted branzino).  We couldn't believe that we found this place as Kim's dad could not rememer where it was nor even the name - he had written on a napkin that it was by a bus station with lots of plants around it and with this information, we actually found it!

For more photos of this trip: