Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tions, such as chestnut ravioli with pesto, as well as vegan fare, such as potato and mush-
room stew.
Ristorante Eden
( 0185 505 53;
www.ristoranteeden.com
; Via Diaz 5; €45-50; lunch & dinner Thu-Tue)
By con-
sensus the best fish restaurant in Rapallo and possibly even the Ligurian coast, Eden
serves whatever the market's offering on any given day. Rest assured your octopus, cala-
mari, clams or anchovies will be cooked skilfully and complemented, if you wish, by fine
homemade pasta. The only catch is the price.
SEAFOOD
€€€
Information
Tourist Office
(
www.apttigullio.liguria.it
; Lungo Vittorio Veneto 7;
9.30am-12.30pm & 2.30-5.30pm
Mon-Sat)
Details of walks in the area, plus maps.
Getting There & Away
Trains run along the coast to Genoa (€3.40, 40 minutes) and La Spezia (€6.30, one hour).
Servizio Marittimo del Tigullio
(
www.traghettiportofino.it
)
runs boats to/from Santa Margherita
(one way/return €4/5), Portofino (€7.50/11), San Fruttuoso (€10/15), Genoa (€14/20), the
Cinque Terre (€17.50/25.50) and Porto Venere (€22/33). Not all operate daily, and many
are seasonal - the website posts updated schedules.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Cinque Terre
If you ever get tired of life, bypass the therapist and decamp immediately to Cinque Terre.
Here five crazily constructed fishing villages, set amid some of the most dramatic coastal
scenery on the planet, ought to provide enough to bolster the most jaded of spirits. A Un-
esco World Heritage Site since 1997, Cinque Terre isn't the undiscovered Eden it was, but
frankly, who cares? Sinuous paths tempt the antisocial to traverse seemingly impregnable
cliffsides, while a 19th-century railway line cut through a series of coastal tunnels ferries
the less brave from village to village. Thankfully cars - those most ubiquitous of modern
interferences - were banned over a decade ago.
Rooted in antiquity, Cinque Terre's five villages date from the early medieval period.
Monterosso, the oldest, was founded in AD 643, when beleaguered hill dwellers moved
