Cinque Terre: Dinner in Vernazza

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We fled the crazy crowds at Monterosso and headed to the next village in Cinque Terre, Vernazza. Unfortunately we didn’t get to visit Corniglia, the fifth village, but we ended our trip to Cinque Terre on a high note.

Vernazza has the only working port (albeit a tiny one) where captains go fishing or take tourists out for tours, and the fishermen wear crocheted, pom-pom berets.

 

Vernazza had a little beach for swimmers and a small pier for boaters.

After having spied fried seafood cones back in Riomaggiore, I felt that I couldn’t leave Cinque Terre without getting my own. We looked all over for one in Manarola and Monterosso but had no luck, so when I found a shop in Vernazza, I went for it! We got a cone of mixed seafood, including crab cakes, cod balls, squid, and whole anchovies. The three of us shared the cone while watching kids swim at the little beach.

It was now around 7 pm so we went hunting for dinner. There were a lot of little restaurants around the port and down the main street, some with very interesting patio setups!

One restaurant had a private table for two set up on the cliffs!

We ended up eating at one of the restaurants closer to the train station. Sami and I each ordered tortellini with a fennel-flavoured walnut sauce that was fantastically rich and flavourful. I had a salad on the side, while Ryan ate fried chicken and Sami ordered mussels.

I really need to copy this recipe!

We each got a different dessert (tiramisu, lemon cake, chocolate cake) before catching the 9:30 pm train back to La Spezia.