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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a compilation of some awesome pictures we shot at Cinque Terre, Genova. Read the rest of this entry »

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!