Ad(ventures) with John

On Saturday we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazzo, aka Cinqueterre #5 and #4, respectively. There is a national park trail that connects the two following the Mediterranean Sea, but we choose the longer tougher hike that went over the mountain. For the first two hours we weren't completely sure we were on the trail, because we were hiking on a very steep road with switchbacks and traffic. There was some magic in the hills, seeing bungalows with groves of olives, lemons, or figs. At one point, our hostel host drove by and pulled over to say hello. We figured he would've said we were on the wrong path had it been. Each rank of branches on this tree created a star Someone's yard Abundant cacti By the time we got to the top of the mountain, it was cold, raining, and we had walked into a cloud.  Where's Samwise when you need him? We stopped at the Sanctuary di Madonna di Nostre Saviore, which just a few years back served as a shelter for folks during the time of the Plague. I...

We took three trains to get to the Cinque Terre. The first went from Bologna to Parma, and it was five minutes late. We were worried because we only had five minutes to make our connecting train, so we thought we'd miss it. Two things worked in our favor, though. We discovered that we have four hours from the time stamped on our ticket to use it on any train going to our destination, and our next train from Parma to La Spezia was fifteen minutes late. That train seemed to get later and later so that we missed our third train. Not to worry as another one came fifteen minutes later. In all we arrived about an hour later than planned, but we were just happy to be in this beautiful place! For the afternoon we did a short hike up the cliff in Monterosso, passing a winery, a monastery, a cemetery, lizards, and all kinds of edible plants.  View of the scenery Looking out at the ocean A lizard Olives Olive trees and grapes The winery After a dinner that was one of our top three favorites (...

Could there be more? Yes! This is Italy. After the vinegar plant we drove to what appeared to be a side-of-the-road butcher. Surprise surprise ! Just down a stairway and we were in a prosciutto producing facility! It is run by a former leg- and runway model -turned businessman/butcher/cured meat specialist named Pino. He took us through many many rooms full of hams in different stages of curing. The smell was rather repulsive. Legs about to be salted Room after room was filled with drying prosciutto Volunteers seal the exposed areas with a seasoned lard "paint" Pino modeling with some of his art There were many stages of the process that can be simply reduced to "the ham hangs for a really long time." Also, Pino makes many different meat products. One of these is DOP prosciutto of Modena, for which he is one of six makers in the whole world.  We trekked upstairs to taste test several different meats, including prosciutto, truffle ham, culatello, and mortadella, alon...

Next!  After the cheese factory tour, we vanned over to a balsamic vinegar plant. The look was reminiscent of a winery. Their vineyard stretched through several yards. Not only is it an organic facility but also all natural, meaning they don't even water their grapes. Everything is harvested by the hands of several family members. Some of the vineyards at the balsamic plant This part of the tour began with breakfast! We sat at the table and enjoyed lambrusco, 12- and 18- month aged cheese from the morning factory, mortadella sandwiches, green bean and cheese sandwiches, and cafe. Oh, we also had sweet pastries.  Then we received a fascinating education about the very expensive hobby of balsamic wine production. Each batch has its own battery of seven or more casks. Every winter, because of evaporation, vinegar from barrel #2 is decanted to #1, from #3 to #2, and so on. To be DOP the vinegar must be aged at least seven years, meaning the decanting process happens at least seven...

Okaaay, let's try this again. So we were up and out the door to be picked up at 7:00 am for our ten hour Bologna Food Tour. Wahoo! Our van had three couples (us, one from Brooklyn, and one from North Carolina). We drove out of the city and to the country where we joined two other vans at the Parmiggiano-Reggiano factory. This was the reason for the early start: they only make this cheese early in the morning.  Those who chose had a cappuccino while we dressed in factory tour outfits. Inside, where the barnyard odor was less than pleasant, we began near many copper vats. In them, milk was being heated, mixed, and cooled. Each vat was at a different stage of the process. One master cheese maker determined when each was ready, at which point the 220 lb cheese was lifted, turned, and cut in half. The copper vats with milk The master at work Heavyweight cheese Next we toured a room where the cheese was molded and imprinted. Molding Imprinting, done with a belt in the mold After that, we...

I spent nearly half an hour writing today's post and then it was deleted, so we will have to rewrite the post tomorrow on the train. :/

This morning we drove back to Florence to return our rental car and take the train to Bologna. Aside from the hectic traffic in Florence, travel was relatively uneventful.  Bologna is a city of porticoes (covered walkways), which we have come to love. Not only do they shield you from the heat of the sun, but they also kept us dry during a rainstorm. We went on a walk through the city and saw some of the old sights, including Bologna's leaning tower and its University, the oldest in the Western world.  Porticoes in Bologna Base of leaning tower The twin towers The entrance to the University Dinner was at a disappointing restaurant, which we probably chose poorly on a touristy street. We're going to bed early tonight because we have a ten hour tour booked early tomorrow morning!

This morning we were surprised by a big breakfast buffet at our hotel. We didn't realize breakfast was included and it was a nice change from what had become our norm, a croissant (which is not to say that someone didn't still have one).  After breakfast we drove up the hill to Volterra to park and do laundry. We were among many locals washing and drying our clothes in the laundromat.  Afterward we resumed sightseeing by driving through Tuscany with the top down on our convertible toward San Gimignano, another small hill town about thirty minutes from Volterra. San Gimignano used to have about seventy house towers throughout its center. These were fortifications to which a family would retreat when vandals came to pillage a city. Fourteen of the towers remain today and they were wonderful to see. The town itself is also very nice, and we had a delicious lunch on a quiet square outside a church. The center of San Gimignano John's salad with prosciutto Adam's gnocchi with...