Cinque Terre!

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Long, white sand beaches. Calm, clear, blue ocean water. Restaurants lining the shore. Sunbathers reading and soaking all the vitamin A the sun has to offer.

Quick! What comes to your mind?

You could be thinking about a beach on the Yucatan peninsula. Or Cancun. Or the coast of Hawaii, for that matter.

In each instance, you would be completely correct.

Apart from it's physical location in Italy, there's not much about being on Cinque Terre that's particularly Italian. If you were kidnapped, blindfolded, and dropped here without knowing anything, you could very well think that you were in Bali. This could very well be anywhere in the world - it just happens that the Italian people inhabit this sliver of gorgeous earth.

There's something to be said about being able to enjoy the scenery here; in fact, I highly recommend it to anyone.

Not only did we soak up the sun and snorkel in the crystal clear waters. We convinced ourselves that we could conquer the 5 hour hike through each village. Little did we know the intense and strenuos hike we had in front of us. For starters there is no paved path! You are literally gripping to the edge of the cliff, trying not to look down and hoping that the next turn you will catch a glimpse of your final destination.

Hiking was exhausting, there were a few moments where I definitely thought we wouldn't make it. But at the end of the day when we at last arrived to our final destination our hard work payed off. We had an amazing wine tasting and dinner. If I had to go back I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. A once in a lifetime experience.

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Photos

Monterosso al Mare
Fun in the sun at the beach! The umbrella's really do make it cute.

Pre Hike
Geared up and ready...look we're so excited to conquer the hike bahaha!

Our path
See that narrow sliver of dirt right before you fall off the cliff.....yupp that was it.

Looking back
You can see very fall in the distance where we started at....dang!

Vernazza
Super happy to finally see a glimpse of our destination....although it was still about a hour away.

Awestruck!
And this made it all worthwhile.

On the Streets
Or should I say street...as this town only had one main road. Just look at the character.

Wine, Wine, Wine!
Great little wine spot. If only I remembered the name. But still it was delicious!

Amazing food.
Bruschetta! Only two slices?!?! ...one for you and one for me. hehe.

Gnocchi...mmmm!
Pesto gnocchi with cheese and tomatoes.....so bomb.