Arbaspàa Tour Organizer
Via Molini 11 * 19010 Manarola
Cinque Terre - Italia
Tel. + 39 0187 760083 Fax + 39 0187 760798
email info@arbaspaa.com
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Liguria
culinary Tour
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"Liguria-culinary
tour" for us means the combination of one of the most spectacular
landscapes of Italy where we offer various activities with the famous
cuisine of our region including the active partecipation of the clients.
There is a little bit of everything to appeal all your senses and satisfy
all your demands: some walking tours through an unforgettable scenario
of sea, mountains and vineyards, a tour in a fishermen's boat, the active
partecipation on the creation of the delicious regional dishes in one
of the best restaurants of the area, a very original and unusual wine-tasting,
a shopping tour with our cook on the fruit and vegetable market, the
visit of the most interesting artistic places of Liguria, and last but
not least - the lunches in dinners in the very best restaurants our
region has to offer! For a one week tour we suggest the following itinerary:
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Genova.
Genova in the year 2004 is a "must" - it is European cultural
capital in this year. The town has been prepared very well for this
event - in this occasion in Genova will take place several cultural
events, big exhibitions and it will be one of the most important places
of a tour to Italy in 2004.
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1st day: Arrival of the group in Genova in the late afternoon and check in in the hotel. Time to leisure untill the dinner. (depending on the arrival time there can be included a first part of the town-visit on this afternoon). Dinner in one of the most famous restaurants of Genova, with the following menue (example): • small warm "pre-starters" • crisp millefoglie with nasello (mediterranean fish), green beans and a sauce of crustaceas • "canelline" (hand made pasta) with safran, small calamari and asparagus with ligurian olive oil • "rana pescatrice" (mediterranean fish) with an emulsion of patatoes and ginger three types of desserts with a tasting of three famous italian passito-wines • Caffè espresso with biscuits and chocolats (wine except for dessert is not included) |
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2nd
day:
After the breakfast half day visit of Genova with the cathedral,
the harbour, the famous old palazzos of noble families and the huge,
vibrandt old quarter where the glorious past of Genova is still evident.
We will have a look in the characteristic old shops and our lunch will
take place in one of the most famous tipical osterias in town, where
in a very rustically ambience you will enjoy the simple but delicious
traditional specialities of the Ligurian's capital: the chickpea-flour
pancake, the filled anchovis and the filled and baked vegetables accompagnied
by a fresh sparkling white wine. The afternoon will be free for shopping,
for a visit of one of the special exhibitions of Genova 2004, or for
a visit of the Aquarium of Genova - the biggest one in Europe.
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We
will have our dinner in the only restaurant of Genova, which won also
this year a Michelin star. It is a very special place, where you will
be surprised by the original creations of the chef de la cuisine such
as:
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Tuna fish with herbs and mesciua (typical ligurian chickpee and bean soup) • Genovesini ziti with pine beans, crisp bacon and shrimps • Pansotti (filled handmade pasta) with ricotta and nuts on a sauce ravigote • Fish with prèbboggion glazed red onion and tomato mousse • Pudding of cherries with orange sauce The curious persons will be given the occasion to observe the chef while he is preparing one of his special recipes. |
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3rd day: After breakfast our private bus with our English speaking guide will pick up the group for the transfer to Camogli. This is a beautiful town situated in the Gulf of Paradise. It is famous for an important historical harbour and its antique "skyscrapers" - houses of seven and more floors built in genoesean stile of the 17th century. Near the harbour we will enter in a traditional bakery to taste the "Camogliesi" - a delicious sweet speciality with almonds and liqueurs produced only in Camogli. After the visit of the town private fishermen's boats will come to pick up the group. By boat we will explore the beautiful coast of the naturalistic park of Portofino. Our first stop is San Fruttuoso an old abbey hidden in a romantic bay which is reachable only by foot or from the sea. After a short break for the visit of San Fruttuoso the tour continuos in with the private boat to Portofino - the most famous fishermen's village of Italy. We will enjoy our lunch the village of Portofino with its little picturesque harbour in a good restaurant in the centre of the village. After Lunch free time for shopping in Portofino or for a walk to the magnificent beach of Paraggi. |
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For
the evening we take our bus to the small village Leivi in the hills over
Rapallo, where a Restaurant
is situated which also in this year won a Michelin star. For this dinner we will taste delicious ligurian specialities during a menu as follows (for example): • aperitif with small "pre-starters" • Zimino (special ligurian sauce with various vegetables) with little young fishes • Lasagnette with hand made pesto, patatoes and broccoli • Stuffed lettuce leaves in broth • Tomaxelle (ligurian calf rolls with typical genovesean filling) • biscuits and chocolats • apple cake with vanilla sauce and vanilla icecream (drinks are not included) During the dinner the cook will show how to prepare the pesto in the traditional way: she will come to our tables with the traditional pestle and mortar to create the original basil sauce like her grandmother did. |
| 4th day: After breakfast we will meet another chef de la cuisine in the hills overlooking Rapallo. The restaurant is famous in all over Italy also for its interiors: cartoon artists from all over the world decorated this restaurant which is know also a the restaurant of the cartoons. Between the guests the restaurant had in the last years was also Gianni Morandi, a famous italian singer who took part in a cooking course. Since 1996 the restaurant has inserted in his activities "Cooking together, hands on". |
| After the arrival us will be served a coffee and the kitchen will be explained by Fausto- the chef. Together with him and his collaborators we prepare bread, focaccia genoese style, vegetable quiches, sauces, soups meat dishes and desserts. Seasons with their fruits help in the choice of the recipes that will be prepared (artichokes, asparagus etc.). During the morning there is also an excursion in Giancu's kitchen garden to recognise and if needed to pick up spontaneous and aromatic herbs. At 12.00 we can enjoy some of the breads and vegetables cakes we prepared with a good white wine. For the afternoon we offer a visit to the historical towns of Rapallo and Santa Margherita for shopping, relaxing on the beach or visiting the most interesting sites. |  |
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In
the late afternoon we turn back to Fausto and we will start the evening
with an unusual kind of wine-tasting: we divide the group into two teams.
Every team receive a list with the wines offered during the tasting.
The participants taste the wine and have to give points for its characteristics
and they have to try to link together the tasted wine with the right
bottle. A wine specialist will be with the group and check the filled
out lists of every group and decide which one of the groups found out
the best description of the characteristics of the wines and the most
wines to the correct bottles. At the end the will be a winning team
which receive a bottle of fine wine (to drink together with the whole
group during the dinner). After this wine tasting which for sure is
more intensive then a normal one we will enjoy our dinner with the dishes
we prepared in the morning which the chef finished during the afternoon.
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5th
day: Today we will explore the famous
Cinque Terre - five little villages along the ligurian coast- famous
for their wine and for their unique landscape. The Unesco included the
Cinque Terre 4 years ago in its world heritage site's list because of
the 7.000 km of dry-stone-walls which hold the terrace fields with the
vineyards and create the incomparable landscape. Today the Cinque Terre
are a National Park. Our bus brings us with the english speaking guide
to Monterosso the largest of the villages. For enjoy the landscape the
best way we suggest a hiking tour divided in two days. Today we start
from Monterosso and walk to Vernazza - the most beautiful of the picturesque
villages with a beautiful natural port and a very suggestive church
directly by the water. After a short visit of Vernazza in one of the
most beautiful restaurants of the village a light lunch will wait for
us with seafood salad, ravioli with mussel's sauce, mixed fried seafood
and lemon sorbet. By ferry we continue in the afternoon to Manarola
and finish the day on the famous Via dell'Amore a very short but beautiful
footpath which connects the last two villages of the Cinque Terre. In
the late afternoon our bus will bring us back to the hotel for some
hours of relax.
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| Our dinner will take place in a special restaurant in the middle of a forest in the hills over the Cinque Terre. The menue changes every day and depends on the offerings of the market. There will be in every case various starters, all creation of the fantasy of the chef, one or two first courses and a second course. At the end a variety of desserts will be served. The restaurant is famous for its huge selection of great italian wines. The offered dishes are not strictly ligurian but sometimes a mix of the traditional recipes of the Piemont, of Lombardia and Liguria. After the dinner transfer to the hotel. |
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6th
day: Early in the morning we will meet
the cook of the restaurant where we will have our lunch on the market
of La Spezia .Together
with him we will buy the fresh vegetables, meat, fish, cheese. After a
cappuccino in one of the traditional bars of La Spezia our minibus will
bring us to Groppo, a small village over Manarola. |
| There is situated the "cantina sociale delle Cinque Terre" where the most of the Cinque Terre white wine D.O.C. and the sweet Sciacchetrà are produced. We can have a look in the places of the production and our guide will explain you the history of wine producing and the particularities of our Cinque Terre wine. For the wine tasting we move to the cellar of the restaurant where we will enjoy one of the best white Cinque Terre wines. After this our lunch will be served in one of the most originally places of the Cinque Terre. The owner of the restaurant changed the house of his grandmother into a tastefully furnished small and unique local and prepares ligurian dishes newly interpreted by his fantasy. In every case we will have the possibility to taste his wonderful Cappun Magru a ligurian dish with several fishes and vegetables. The other part of the menu depends on the fresh fishes and vegetables of the season we found in the morning on the market. We will be completely surprised which magnificent dishes he creates with them! Everything will be served very professionally by the chef's wife who will also give us a helping hand with the choice of the wine - she is a professional sommelier. At the end of the lunch we will have the possibility to try the famous and rare dessert wine of the Cinque Terre - the Sciacchetrà After lunch our guide will show us one of the most beautiful footpaths of the Cinque Terre. The bus will bring us up to Volastra the highest point of the tour in order to not make us climb up after lunch and then we have to cross the splendid landscape of the vineyards - the Cinque Terre Villages Manarola and Corniglia are steeply down under our feet! After 1 ½ hour we will have reached Cornglia, the third village of the Cinque Terre which we missed yesterday and we will have a look to it beautiful church. Transfer from Corniglia to our hotel. (The place of the dinner depends on the chosen hotel, we would suggest for this evening a restaurant near to the hotel. In all the places where the our hotels are situated we also can suggest high quality restaurants) |
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7th
day: The last day of our Ligurian tour
will be reserved for a whole day on board of a historical huge wooden
boat which can host up to 12 persons. We will have the opportunity to
enjoy the gulf of the poets with Portovenere and Lerici and a part of
the coastline of the Cinque Terre from the sea. The boat will also stop
in a beautiful bay for swimming and snorkelling (the zone of the Cinque
Terre is also a protected marine area because of its rich and rare flora
and fauna). If we are lucky we will meet some dolphins or even whales
because there are living 12 species of cetaceans in the ligurian sea.
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| During a light lunch some typical specialities will be served: salted and marinated anchovies, mussels in olive-oil, cheeses and salamis from the Lunigiana (a part of Liguria which borders on Tuscany), testaroli (a particular pasta type) with pesto or tomato sauce, meat or fish second main courses, sweet rice cake. In the late afternoon return to the harbour of La Spezia and the to hotel. The last evening is reserved for one of the highlights under the restaurants: the Tamerici in Ameglia near La Spezia. There will be prepared a special menu of the dishes of the Lunigiana. |
| 8th day: breakfast, departure. |
Price per person: from Euro 1.550,00 (accomodations not included/price per person for min. 10 partecipants) Services included in the price: • bus with english speaking driver for the whole stay • dinners and lunches as by the description for the 2nd - 7th day • english speaking local guide for half day visits on the 2nd, 4th day • english speaking local guide for full day visits on the 3rd, 5th, 6th day • tasting of sweets in Camogli • private boat for half day on the 3rd day • cooking course with english speaking staff half day • wine tasting of the 4th day • entrance fee National park • ferry boat 5th day • visit of the wine productions in the Cinque Terre • Historical boat for a whole day excursion 7th day
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Guided services
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Transfer
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Lunch/Dinner
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Car rental
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Hiking
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Cultural
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