Ahh... Cinque Terre

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The only word I can think of right now to describe Vernazza and the Cinque Terre is... breathtaking! You really must go there to understand, and experience it for yourself. Our 3 night/2 full days there was magical...ok, maybe an exaggeration, but we truly enjoyed every minute of it! The Cinque Terre, is made up of 5 small towns built into the cliffs. They are all unique in their own way, but all offer stunning views of the coast. They're all connected by hiking trails and a train line. The towns have zero car traffic (only the occasional delivery truck enters the towns) and most streets are very narrow. It's a pedestrian friendly area and that's one of the best parts about it!

Just a note about accommodations in Cinque Terre... There are very few hotels that you'll find on the web, and those that you do find are often very expensive (at least that's what we experienced). The best way to find a place to stay is to look in a guidebook that recommends certain "rooms" for rent. Rick Steves' book on Italy has several affordable options, and we went with Camere Nicolina. Some of these places have a website and some don't. The best way to reserve a place is by email. You can also just show up to town and look for signs for places that rent rooms to tourists, but that wouldn't fly with a large group like ours. It took me several email exchanges to various places to find us 2- triple rooms, but it was worth it to stay in Vernazza, which was my favorite of the 5 towns.

Our first morning there in Vernazza, we walked down to the harbor and caught our first glimpse of sea and the charming town itself. It really feels surreal at first, and then in no time the place feel so familiar and friendly. Anyway, we had a relaxing breakfast out on the patio of a restaurant right by the harbor which was the perfect start to our day. We planned on hiking from Vernazza to the next town North of us, called Monterosso al Mare. We read in the Rick Steves' guidebook that the hike was a bit challenging and would take about 90 mins, but we really had no idea what was in store for us. Three hours later, we knew exactly 😊

The views along the hike were nothing short of stunning... the hike itself was more difficult than what I expected, and more so since it was a hot day. The trail was steep in some areas since we were hiking high up along the cliff, and very narrow in other areas. Just barely enough space for one person to pass through at times. We took lots of breaks to rest and enjoy the views. Every time we passed by people coming from the opposite direction, we'd ask them how long they'd been hiking from Monterosso and they all looked so tired and said it was quite a while. So, we thought the end would never come, but we enjoyed the hike and finally made it 3 hours later. Yippie!

First thing we did was find a place to get a drink and lunch... we enjoyed some great pasta and pannini sandwiches on the shaded patio overlooking the beach. Again, the food was so much better than what we had in Rome. The rest of the day, we just walked around and took in the sights. We relaxed on the giant rocks by the harbor and watched the awesome waves crashing near by. After a gelato break, some of us decided to venture down to the beach and wet our feet. We didn't have any beach gear, but we just had to test the waters. The beach is really rocky, so that's not fun, but the water was great... perfect temperature for the hot day. After drying off, we went to the train station and headed back to Vernazza.

I was super tired...I'll chalk that up to my pregnant state 😊, so I took a siesta. The rest of the group rested for a bit then went down to the harbor to enjoy a bottle a wine and relax. I decided to just stay in and rest a bit more before dinner. I ended up doing a few loads of laundry (the washer was so tiny, but boy was I glad to have it), and tried to work up the energy to get dressed and join the others. I joined them for dinner at Tulio's restaurant (can't remember the name), but felt so nauseous that I decided to just take a walk and then head back to the apartment. As I found out later, the rest of the group had a great time there... Tulio and the waiter were super friendly and entertaining. Also the food was great.. so I missed out, but I needed the rest. Mom brought me some left over pizza, which ended up making me feel a lot better.

The next day, we rode a train to Riomaggiore, the Southern most of the 5 towns. From there we made our way North along the trails. The first trail is called Via dell'Amore, and connects Riomaggiore to Manarola. It's a light trail and only took 25 mins or so. The trail is named for the young lovers between the two towns, who would meet along the trail. They also started a tradition of hanging locks along the trail to signify their love for each other... cute, huh? So now, you'll find locks hanging all along the trail!

We had a heavy but delicious lunch in Manrola, and then set out for the next trail that leads to Corniglia. This one was a bit more challenging than the last, and doing it right after lunch was not a great move on our part, but we made it to Corniglia...tired and hot. There was one more trail that I was hoping to do, between Corniglia and Vernazza, but we just didn't have any fuel left in our tanks for it. So, we caught the next train back to Vernazza and took a break.

Our last night there was relaxing... we got some wine (of which I could not partake!), and snacks and set off to find La Torre... the tower at the top of the town. Turns out there are 2 towers and after climbing tons of stairs, we ended up at the one high above in the hills... It was worth it for the views of the town and coast. The vineyards up there were so lush and green.

We headed back down and decided to just hang out by the harbor again and have our snacks. Later, we just went and bought pizzas and had our dinner right there, while watching the light fade as our evening turned to night. We got some gelato for dessert and sat around on the steps in front of our apartment. Across the cobblestone road, there was a big celebration in progress by some the locals... apparently for a futbol win for their team in nearby, Genoa. There were these 4 cute kids playing in the streets, entertaining themselves with Genoa flag... they were fun to watch. The adults celebrated with wine, fruit and lots of food... not to mention the singing! They even brought us wine and cherries, which was really nice of them. Our moms reminisced about how it felt like India...sitting around the steps of their homes in the evenings, enjoying time with neighbors and watching kids play in the streets. What a great way to end our time in Cinque Terre!

The next morning, we left for Venice reluctantly, all secretly hoping (I'm sure) to return to Cinque Terre some day!

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