It must take a special kind of person to live in such a touristy place. During the day, everyone here is a tourist, and in the evenings, the towns clear out as everyone gets on the trains to go home. Only a few tourists stay around because there aren’t a lot of accommodations.
We stopped for a brioche this morning, and the owner of the place took the opportunity to turn our ignorance into a lesson, showing us what is a local brioche and what other regions call a brioche. It would be very easy to get annoyed with ignorance like ours, but we’ve found the people of Cinque Terre to be very tolerant. But not too tolerant. The sign in the shop read, “Don’t order eggs. You’re in Italy, so eat Italian food.” I like this mix of sticking to local traditions while respecting visitors. It’s a difficult combination.
We overheard a local server joke, “Cinque terre, cinque lingue”, referring to all the languages they have to understand!
Very glad we decided to slow down and take some time here, though. However, I’m looking forward to seeing some of the more local side of Italy too. The places where locals look at us funny and wonder why foreigners picked this place to come to.
Next, we are hoping to get to Florence in time to catch a stage of the Giro d’Italia bike race on Wednesday!
Lovely photos as always! Awww, Tim, you captured Steve’s inner child at the playground (though, a bit creepy with the grin, still adorable! LOL) Love you Steve… Also LOVE, LOVE the pic of you Steve, with the rows of colorful houses/apts in the background! MY Gosh, this tour is great on your complexion~ relaxed and wrinkle free, lol… 😉
“Nous vous remercions de ce voyage / visite absolument incroyable que nous faisons partie de!” ~~
Tim are you planing to see the statue of David when in Florence?
Yes we have tickets to see it tomorrow