Back to Europe - Cinque Terre

---

Pretty sure this is my favorite place of the trip!! Coincidentally, we were in Cinque Terre for two special occasions - my birthday and Waldo's and my 1 yr anniversary. It was wonderful to be in such a beautiful place and share the time with some really nice CSers.

Cinque Terre is 5 small towns on the coast of northwest Italy. To walk from the first to the last takes about 5 hours. Unfortunately, we only had time to go to three of them. I didn't notice huge differences between the different towns but they all have their own unique feeling - all just very quaint, mostly quiet, and cute places.

There's a lot of farms on the sides of the hills, small mom-and-pop restaurants, fun skinny streets to walk down. The trail between the towns is up on a cliff that goes right along the coast. It's absolutely beautiful! Along the way, there are occasional steps that go down to rocks where you can jump into the water. We took a few dips and, thanks to Waldo's goggles, could see some colorful fish swimming around.

The cherry on top of this beautiful place was that we stayed in a 13th century castle!! The CSer's family has owned it for a few hundred years. There's signs around the area directing the way to the castle and a couple small signs with historical information - we walked by and I asked Waldo, "is that referring to OUR castle?? The 2nd floor is being renovated but the first floor alone has 4 bedrooms, a large kitchen, a really nice big living/dining room... and stunning views (it's pretty much right on the beach)!!

Since I tell everyone who we meet and talk to about our travels, I will also share here that I HIGHLY recommend going to Cinque Terre :-)

---

Photos

Via dell' Amore
The walk from the Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Love Trail and couples take locks and lock them on to a fence or whatever they can find along the way. It's pretty cute.
Waldo and I got one - if you ever go, look for it :) It's on the exit fence by Manarola (on the metal heart at the top).

Our humble abode!
Marco our CSer - one side of the family is Italian from a few generations back but he is Colombian - lives in Colombia and is studying for 2 yrs in Italy. Really kind, welcoming, fun guy.

Comments

[Miss]

Glad you are back on the blog. Our niece and her boyfriend whose name is Aldo did Cinque Terre the year before last. She sent emails back and had the same sentiments you do. Keep on trucking (do they still say that?).