The last time we came to San Gimignano, a beautiful medieval village in the heart of Tuscany, we were in such a rush with the family rushing us and trying to do a million things in one day! We decided then that the village is definitely worth another trip. And this weekend was perfect.
We woke up late (a typical Deeb family Saturday!), and we lazily went to S.M.N. Stazione. We picked up il treno regionale ticket to Poggibonsi F.S. (5.10EUR/person) from the automatic ticket machine. These things are truly easy; apparently not for most people though, if you consider the guy in front of us took 8 full minutes to get his tickets!
Arriving at the Boggibonsi station, we picked up the bus to San Gimignano after a quick café at the station bar. The sights on the road up to the village (20 minutes in the bus) are simply amazing. The Chianti hills and vineyards, the scattered clouds, a few olive groves here and there, and the fields of sunflowers soon to be picked. All beautiful!
The village itself is pretty interesting. Pia’s camera (Nikon D90) was working overtime today
In her own words: “Anywhere you look there’s something to shoot!”
True! There is the wonderful scenery of the Tuscan hillside all below you and extending forever. There’s also the remaining towers of San Gimignano (most of the towers were destroyed over the years/during the world wars). The whole village is built with same stones as the towers, but in some places you can see different stone patterns/types in the same building! Italians!
Pia will post another blog later on with her own thoughts about the day. She will probably write about how she forced me to taste the wonderful gelato made by the “world champion” of ice cream makers! Or maybe about the tasty lunch we had in the park just outside the old city entrance.
We’re in the train going back to Firenze now. We picked up a couple of yogurts and resting our feet in the train. I should probably turn off the netbook and get some sleep before we arrive.
This is really not the way to eat mjaddara (mdardara to be exact). But if you’re in Italy and that’s the only way to get some bread around your food… well, beggars can’t be choosers. So here’s Pia’s recipe for the mjaddara (mdardara):
Ingredients: 2 cups of lentils 3/4 cup of rice 1 large onion Some olive oil, salt and pepper + Plenty of onions for the caramelized onion topping! Preparation: Cook the lentils in plenty of water until soft. Wash the rice and add it to the cooking pot. Cover the lid after the water boils again. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, dice the onion and cook it in just a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add the cooked onion, salt and pepper (to taste) to the other ingredients. Then add 2 large table spoons of extra virgin olive oil to the pot. Mix well, then turn off the heat. Pour in a serving dish and top it with caramelized onions.
The mjaddara is a dish best served cold (like vengeance!). It gets even better tasting after a couple of days in the fridge. The sandwich I made was just some (old) bread, mjaddara, rocca (ruccola), sliced tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar to top it off. Simply yummy!
Le Cinque Terre are five beautiful towns situated on the Italian Riviera, in the Ligurian region of Italy. The five villages are: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
These fives towns are famous for their beautiful landscapes that overlook the sea, their panoramic terraces and lack of visible modern development!
Cinque Terre products:
Pesto (Sauce made from basil leaves, garlic, salt, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino cheese)
Anchovies of Monterosso
Focaccia (Bread topped with herbs)
Farinata (Bread made with chick-pea flour)
Sciachetrà (Sweet wine)
Grappa (Brandy made with the pomace left from winemaking)
Limoncello
Grapes
Olives
Here are some photos of the coast of the Italian Riviera as seen from the towns
The posts that will follow will be displaying photos for each of the towns.
This weekend was very special. We went on Friday afternoon to Cinque Terre in the Italian region of Liguria. The Cinque (five) Terre (lands) are indeed five beautiful towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza & Monterosso) right on the Ligurian coast, all connected by multiple pedestrian paths through the mountains. The towns are also accessible by , train, buses and ferries.
The towns’ economy basically depend on fishing and tourism. Le Cinque Terre are also considered an important national park and a protected marine and land reserve.
Well, right after we arrived to Riomaggiore, the first of the five towns we learned first-hand how friendly everyone is around here… including the Ligurian cats!
You can see beautiful chubby cats everywhere, and they are not afraid of people. All seem to be well fed, well treated and they don’t mind the tourists. We’ve been away from our cat “The Boss” for a while now, and feeling home-sick just a little bit. My husband went to pet one of the cats sitting on side of the street minding its business, and the cat went all cuddly and nice, leaning to rub its chubby head on the back of his hand. It stayed there, and allowed me to pet it myself. Later that night we found another cat (in the next town) that did the same. And another one… well it was raining and the cat was sitting under a bench trying to hide from the sparse drops of rain. Still it welcomed our petting hands on its head, for a little while before it looked away (probably saying to itself: “tourists!”).
Well I decided to write this blog and post some of the pics we got for the Cinque Terre cats!
We did much more than pet cats here. Maybe that should go in another post!
