I had never heard of Lerici before Kristin of InItaly.com told me of it. I had said to her that I wanted to see Portovenere and she suggested we stay in Lerici and take the ferry across to Portovenere. You might as why I wanted to see Portovenere? How did I know about it? Well this is how I decided that I wanted Portovenere on the itinerary.... I saw it in magazine! Silly huh? But the picture just grabbed me!
We went back to the hotel to fresh up (aka, take a power nap) before heading out to dinner. Valentina had recommended a place in San Trenzo for dinner. They eat late in Italy so we headed out around 8 pm. We had a perfectly safe and delightfull stroll in the opposite direction than what we had taken earlier in the day. We found our restaurant, with no problem. Trieste is the name of the place and it has been a family run business since the 1950's.
As you enter the restaurant the patriarch of the family, we called him Mr. Grumpy, would point you to a table. If he knew you, you would get a nice table up front by the windows. If he did not recognize you, you got a table around the corner and to the back. His daughter & granddaughter work the dinning room and his mother & wife are in the kitchen. The food is to die for. The picture on the top right is of baked cheese. If you ever have the opportunity to have baked cheese in Italy --do not hesitate --- order it!
After we had our baked cheese, CJS had a pizza with sardines on it and I had a calzone with parma ham. Both were excellent and perfectly cooked. Thank goodness we had the walk back to the hotel! We were so full!
We decided to take the 10:30 ferry to Portovenere. We had Valentina call the ferry office to check to make sure the ferry was running because the weather was spotty. I looked like rain, but the ferry was running, so we took our umbrellas and went.
It did indeed rain most of the time we wer in Portovenere, but that did not decrease our pleasure of the day. It is a beautiful small town. The water front picture at the top of this post shows how the buildings are built all together to create a fortress wall so to speak. It was built that way to protect the town from invaders. The city walls -- the homes -- were constructed in the late 11th century We headed down the main street by the water front and walked up the stairs to the Church of San Pietro. It is on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Poets.
We went in to the church for refuge from the rain and found it to be actually 2 churches with the 'newer' church being added in the late 12th century. After we left the church we go separated but ended up catching up to each other having both 'discovered' the same charming street behind the main street. We found a small restaurant to have a great lunch. It had about 6-7 tables and it was packed!
After lunch we walked around town a bit more then headed down to catch the ferry back to Lerici. We did a little more shopping in Lerici on our way back to the hotel. We both ended up purchasing one-of-a-kind italian designer jackets. This was not in our game plan, but it was a great deal. We found this tiny shop just off the main street. The designer is Monica Grey. She is from Florence. She comes to Lerici once a year in June. She happened to be in the shop when we walked in. Hey, when you have the chance to buy an article of clothing from the designer, you do it!!
After our shopping excursion, we went to our beautiful room to 'freshen up' before dinner. The late afternoon power nap is highly recommended!
The food was so good at Trieste, we went back a second time for dinner. Mr. Grumpy recognized us and gave us a table right up front! This being our last night in Lerici, we really just ordered way too much food. We could not finish our dinner. Our server came to clear our plates and I shook my head and said 'sorry, I just at too much baked cheese' and she said 'and too much focaccia! She was right! We ordered baked 'cheese of the sheep with honey' and regular baked cheese for our appetizer. I ordered spaghetti & CJS ordered a pizza. We got about 1/3 of the way through our entree's and looked at each other and we both knew we had just gone too far!
Shortly after clearing our plates, our server brought over an icy bottle of lemoncello and 2 shot glasses and she said, this would help our digestion.
I figured she was an expert, so I took her advise and did a shot. I think it helped. I am sure it helped!
We made our way back to Hotel Florida and tucked ourselves in for the night. Enjoying the sound of the Ocean, soaking up the last hours of pleasant relaxation and a slower life style. We slowly put together our suitcases in preparation for the next days departure. If the weather was good - we were going to take the ferry all the way to Monterossa, then train it to Genoa.
Tomorrow we depart and will be sad to leave Lerici, but there are a few more pictures to show you and a few more stories to tell, so come back tomorrow
Buona Sera!
Susan
The magazine picture I saw looked something like this, I think there were more sailboats in the picture I saw. CJS took this shot as we went by on the Ferry. So that is why I wanted to go there. Just because of one enchanting picture. I hope this beautiful picture will do the same for someone reading my blog!
Anyway, back to the final days of our fabulous trip to the Italian Riveria aka the Ligurian Coast.
We traveled from Vernazza via train because the water was too rough for the ferry to land in Vernazza. So it was a train to La Spezia and then a short cab ride to our Lerici hotel - Hotel Florida! Let me tell you friends, if you go to Lerici, you MUST stay at the Hotel Florida. This beautiful hotel is ideally situated between Lerici & San Terenzo and across the bay from Portovenere! Valentina and her family run this charming hotel. I wish we would have booked a week there! Here are a few photos to show you why I say this:
First of all the view from the room was spectacular! In this picture, I am on the balcony of our 4th floor room. In the background is the public beach and beyond that the town of Lerici
In this shot, CJS has her back to San Trenzo. Either town is an easy 10-15 minute walk along the well maintained boardwalk.
And below, this is Valentina, our lovely host at the Hotel Florida, Lerici
The rooms are very clean and well laid out. I loved that there was a balcony and a door that we could leave open at night to enjoy the sound of the Ocean. It was heavenly!
After arriving at our hotel, and exploring around a bit and chatting with Valentina to get the lay of the land and where to eat, we took off to check out Lerici. The walk along the boardwalk was just lovely. They take good care of the public spaces here, everything was so well maintained. As in Camogli, there were several private beach clubs, but also one public beach. Not too many people on the beaches the day we arrived, as the weather was still a little cool, but perfect weather for strolling. We found a nice little place to get Panni's for lunch in Lerici's town square - Mary's Place it was called. We wandered all over Lerici that afternoon. This town was so charming! It is small compared to say, Monterossa, but large enough that we could spend the whole afternoon exploring along the waterfront and up throughout the town. A very pleasant way to spend the day. We also checked out the Ferry landing so we could see about catching the ferry to Portovenere the next day.
We went back to the hotel to fresh up (aka, take a power nap) before heading out to dinner. Valentina had recommended a place in San Trenzo for dinner. They eat late in Italy so we headed out around 8 pm. We had a perfectly safe and delightfull stroll in the opposite direction than what we had taken earlier in the day. We found our restaurant, with no problem. Trieste is the name of the place and it has been a family run business since the 1950's.
As you enter the restaurant the patriarch of the family, we called him Mr. Grumpy, would point you to a table. If he knew you, you would get a nice table up front by the windows. If he did not recognize you, you got a table around the corner and to the back. His daughter & granddaughter work the dinning room and his mother & wife are in the kitchen. The food is to die for. The picture on the top right is of baked cheese. If you ever have the opportunity to have baked cheese in Italy --do not hesitate --- order it!
We decided to take the 10:30 ferry to Portovenere. We had Valentina call the ferry office to check to make sure the ferry was running because the weather was spotty. I looked like rain, but the ferry was running, so we took our umbrellas and went.
It did indeed rain most of the time we wer in Portovenere, but that did not decrease our pleasure of the day. It is a beautiful small town. The water front picture at the top of this post shows how the buildings are built all together to create a fortress wall so to speak. It was built that way to protect the town from invaders. The city walls -- the homes -- were constructed in the late 11th century We headed down the main street by the water front and walked up the stairs to the Church of San Pietro. It is on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Poets.
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| Church of San Pietro from the ferry |
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| The church as we approached it on a rainy morning |
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| Inside the church |
After lunch we walked around town a bit more then headed down to catch the ferry back to Lerici. We did a little more shopping in Lerici on our way back to the hotel. We both ended up purchasing one-of-a-kind italian designer jackets. This was not in our game plan, but it was a great deal. We found this tiny shop just off the main street. The designer is Monica Grey. She is from Florence. She comes to Lerici once a year in June. She happened to be in the shop when we walked in. Hey, when you have the chance to buy an article of clothing from the designer, you do it!!
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| My Monica Grey Jacket |
After our shopping excursion, we went to our beautiful room to 'freshen up' before dinner. The late afternoon power nap is highly recommended!
The food was so good at Trieste, we went back a second time for dinner. Mr. Grumpy recognized us and gave us a table right up front! This being our last night in Lerici, we really just ordered way too much food. We could not finish our dinner. Our server came to clear our plates and I shook my head and said 'sorry, I just at too much baked cheese' and she said 'and too much focaccia! She was right! We ordered baked 'cheese of the sheep with honey' and regular baked cheese for our appetizer. I ordered spaghetti & CJS ordered a pizza. We got about 1/3 of the way through our entree's and looked at each other and we both knew we had just gone too far!
Shortly after clearing our plates, our server brought over an icy bottle of lemoncello and 2 shot glasses and she said, this would help our digestion.
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| notice the frosty, ice bottle. |
We made our way back to Hotel Florida and tucked ourselves in for the night. Enjoying the sound of the Ocean, soaking up the last hours of pleasant relaxation and a slower life style. We slowly put together our suitcases in preparation for the next days departure. If the weather was good - we were going to take the ferry all the way to Monterossa, then train it to Genoa.
Tomorrow we depart and will be sad to leave Lerici, but there are a few more pictures to show you and a few more stories to tell, so come back tomorrow
Buona Sera!
Susan
This has been a lovely trip.
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