Tscha… what?

Tschagguns, a little village in the Montafon valley was where we decided to go see if the hills are indeed alive with the sound of music. It is one of those little towns where it seemed everybody knew everybody. We had dinner at a restaurant one night and the waitresses were just chatting with everybody! It kind of felt like we were intruding on some big dinner party, but nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves.

Spectacular hiking trails

Beautiful place to see the alps
(much cheaper than Switzerland)

Great food!

The weather was great when we were there so we managed to do some hiking as we had planned. Since it wasn’t peak season yet, there weren’t many tourists around and we had the trails more or less to ourselves. As Tschagguns was such a little town, we felt really safe even when we were walking around with no one else around. The downside is that there were very few restaurants/ cafes where we could stop and take a break. All in all, a very pretty town to get some fresh mountain air before heading back to a big city again.  

Unobstructed views of greenery

Free alpine water

To paraphrase Shakespeare…

Two people, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

From tiny Singapore, setting off on an adventure

Where discoveries are made and new experiences gained

Ok, that was really bad, but I am obviously no Shakespeare, otherwise I would be a published author by now :p

So, fair Verona, where we went to get one last fix of Italy before we head off to the rest of Europe. We did actually managed to squeeze in one final meal at Gargenelli where we had fabulous food way back in February. We kept talking about the food there and since it was kind of on our way (actually 2hr detour) to Verona, we just had to make a pit stop there. The food was every bit as delicious as we imagined and it was great to go there for one last time.

Words cannot describe our love for the food here

neither can the pictures express enough

We started the day in Verona, visiting what else but a church. Well we were in Italy afterall so visiting a church was definitely in order. We visited Basilica of San Zeno famed for its façade as well as for being the place of marriage between Romeo and Juliet. BUT it was undergoing major restoration, so we actually couldn’t see the façade. The bronze doors were quite a work of art though. They were assembled from different periods and from different artists and depicted scenes from the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. There was also a crypt which had a ‘forest of columns’ and they even had the body of Saint Zeno, the patron saint of Verona, preserved in the urn in the apse. It was a little freaky but interesting.

Intricately cast bronze doors

After getting a fix of some lovely Italian food which we will miss so much, we went to the famous Casa di Giulietta aka the location of the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. If you are so inclined, you could actually pay 4 euros (I think) to enter the house, pose on the balcony and make-believe you are Juliet wondering ‘wherefore art thou Romeo’. Otherwise if you are like me, you just enter the courtyard for free and laugh at all the silly women posing on the balcony above. 

Beautiful Juliet once stood there wondering
(the balcony is fake by the way, built for tourists)

Today tourists stand there waiting for their Romeo to take their photo

There is also a bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard and its supposed to be good luck to rub her right breast for luck, we thought it was too pervy to do so we gave that a miss. Finally, it seems to be quite the thing to scrawl various messages of love on the wall near the courtyard. We saw this teenage boy climbing on top of his friends to scrawl a message but he only brought a ball-point pen to do it! Totally pointless…

Wall of sweet nothings
(Graffiti to me)

Verona was touristy and a little tacky but still pretty fun to walk around. It was a good to say our farewells to Italy before heading towards the Sound of Music!

Cinque, cinque, cinque

We loved Italy so much we decided that we just had to go back there again before we see the rest of Europe. Thus, we found ourselves at Riomaggiore where we were planning to hike along the various trails at Cinque Terre.

Riomaggiore, an amazing place

Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we have actually heard about this place from another traveler when we were in Turkey. He made the place sound so wonderful we thought we had to check it out, and after reading about it and learning about the wonderful views, it became a must-see on our list.

Nicely paved "trekking" paths

Though it was already April, sadly only one of the five trails in the national park was opened for hiking. Luckily our hotel, L’Arcobaleno, had another hiking trail just behind it so we were able to do at least two hikes during our time at Riomaggiore. We chose to stay at Riomaggiore as its supposed to be the most picturesque town, however I think all five towns are lovely in their own ways and during the peak period, its really more an issue of which hotels have rooms rather than which town to stay in.

After getting a good night’s rest, we made our way up the trail nearer our hotel. It was a pleasant hike though some parts were rather difficult to climb. Of course everything was worth it when we finally reached the top and saw the view. There were actually quite a few people who were picnicking up there, though we only brought water and biscuits it was enough to sustain us til we had lunch.

Spectacular coastal formations 

Next, we made our way down and walked along Via dell’Amore, which is the first segment of the official hiking trail that links the five villages together. It’s actually completely flat and nicely paved, so you can even wear high heels and go there to ‘park tor’. You do have to pay 5 euros for the privilege of walking down that pathway but the view is really gorgeous so it’s worth it.  Apparently the thing for couples to do is to write their names on a lock and close it along one of the fences along the trail, I always thought it was a Korean thing from all the dramas I watch but it seems to be a pretty worldwide phenomenon. The funny thing is, we actually saw workmen cutting away locks from the fences in the evening, so I guess its just a never-ending cycle of placing locks and removing locks, at least it creates jobs all year round, lol…

                                                        Before                                                         After

After the short walk down Via dell’Amore, we ended up in the town of Manarola where we had a traditional Italian meal at Trattoria da Billy. It was pretty hidden but we managed to get directions from a few locals. The restaurant is well-known for seafood and while I was trying to decide which fish to get, the owner brought out one whole tray of fresh fish and laid it in front of me to choose!!! Later after we ordered, he took out a lobster for another table to see, lol… The meal was everything a good Italian meal should be, fresh ingredients perfectly prepared. After we finished our lunch, the owner appeared with 2 bottles of spirits and offered on the house, and in his words, "If you want to fxxx tonight, you drink this, otherwise you drink this." Haha…. Pretty funny guy.  

Which one would you take?

We then hiked a little around Manarola and since the other trails weren’t opened, we took a boat to the other towns so we could wander around. The most amazing part of the place is probably how many locals still stay there and make their livelihood from farming and fishing. Though there are quite a few tourists, it still manages to retain its charm and not be completely overtaken by tourism yet. The scenery at Cinque Terre was just breath taking and oh so lovely.

                                                                                   Breathtaking 

We had planned to finish the day by catching the sunset at Via dell’Amore however our stomachs couldn’t fend off the hunger so we gave up, lol… Here's a shot we managed to catch before running off for dinner. Simply amazing!