You Won't Believe the Things They Do with Lemons Here!



My strange luck from my previous stops seemed to continue in the Cinque Terre. When I arrived in Monterosso, it was to find that I had arrived during their annual Lemon Festival!

Monterosso was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Upon stepping out of the train station, you find yourself on the street that runs parallel to the beach, with your first view of the most amazing aqua-colored water in the world (that I've seen. And I've seen a lot of it, y'know). A short walk brought me to my hotel, which was great; no disappointment there, either.

This town and its festival looked like something out of a movie set. Vendors were set up everywhere on small, picturesque streets, urchins strolled by pulling wagons built on bicycle wheels selling lemons, and street musicians strolled around (yeah, they're everwhere in Italy anyway, but it added to the overall setting. Have you ever noticed that accordion music sounds like someone playing a record backwards? I suspect that there may be spies among the street musicians who are actually hiding backwards record players inside their accordions, and are using them to transmit secret messages to people with small tape recorders, which they use to recode the backwards message and then later reverse it). I even saw two younger kids playing soccer with a lemon in the street. Frigging incredible.

So, I've seen lemonade, lemoncello, lemon-flavored soap, lemon hand cream, and just about anything else you can imagine. Well, nothing dirty, unless I just didn't go into the right shops. There were also plates and various other forms of flatware with lemons on them, other things shaped like lemons, and lemon sauces for the entrees at the restaurants.

I can't wait until I get the pictures up from this place. I want you all to see this place.

Posted: Mon - May 21, 2007 at 12:37 AM       |    

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