Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Suggestions for Rapallo, Italy

Foccacia is the archetypal bread from the region and comes in two forms, the thin brittle outside and the soft outside, both normally baked with salt or rosemary but either with an oil coating or a water coating. You may still find a few Foccaciaria in the back streets which is the sort of place you go in the evening for a snack which can be anything from something a bit like pizza on Foccacia to just the bread. Always eat it within an hour of baking and it is a glory of the taste buds. Since the main meal in Italy is lunch these places fit the space that may not exist in your culture for the evening snack. They can also do a fair bit more like a restaurant but like much of older cultures they are a dying breed (bread).

I admit to struggling with Italian white wine (I just don't like a lot of it) but the local (local to Liguria) cheap-as-chips wine is made of Fiano and you will find in jugs in local restaurants but also at the cheap end of the wine lists. Well worth it, light, a simple clean flavour without pip seed or twiggy residue or even oak tannins, perfect for an afternoon in the sun if chilled.

Watchout for the trains in high season, they get packed through the 5-terre. This can be un-amusing, but not a problem in early and late trains. Boats, walk to the beach front or chat to tourist information, they know what is goiing on, which boats are having problems etc and frankly the different companies are much of a muchness. There different types of tickets but if a boat is full when you want to get on, a ticket may not be enough to board (to travel over loaded is not safe) so you may have to wait for the next one.