Cinque Terre - Day 3 - Levanto to Monterosso and Day 4 - Monterosso to Vernazza

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LEVANTO TO MONTEROSSO

We set off this morning for Monterosso. Great to be able to have our luggage sent on ahead of us and know that dinner has been booked for this evening. A cool morning but brilliant sunshine. We left Levanto and immediately start a steady climb over a distance of 530 mts.

We had to channel our inner goat ( glad Vicki is a Capricorn) at some parts of the walk. There was a mix of asphalt, soil, steps ( some quite steep), dry river beds ( that's what they looked like).

We passed many houses , vineyards, olive groves, oak and pine forests. There were spectacular views of the sea both back to Levanto and forward to Monterosso. There were not many people on the trails. When we arrived in Monterosso we took a walk through to the old town.

After lunch we checked into our hotel which is in the new part of the city called Fegina and then further explored the old part of town.

Dinner was in a great restaurant called Myki. More seafood and some spectacular setting alight of some dishes by the waiters. Not sure of the purpose but it looked good. Enjoyed a complimentary limoncino at the end of the meal.

MONTEROSSO TO VERNAZZA

Another day of crisp morning and brilliant sunshine. Started off with a look at the local markets and then realised that the beginning of the walk near the beach was closed and there was a detour so we had to go behind the Town Hall and go up many, many steps and then down many, many steps. More people today as Monterosso is one of the five towns of the Cinque Terre. The walk today takes you up 3 metres in altitude. The ancient path is lined with dry stone walls and small arched stone bridges. Again there are many terraced vineyards and olive groves and lemon trees until we reached the Port of Vernazza.

We stayed in a Pensione at the top of the hill but illness has struck. Before we left Oz Kevin had bronchitis and he has now passed on to Vicki some sort of respiratory illness with chills included. The afternoon was spent asleep for 5 hours dosed up with Codral. We dressed for dinner and unfortunately our restaurant for the evening overlooked the sea and it wasn't warm. We had a lovely meal but cut it short as we were freezing. A shame. Slept all night and woke feeling just OK but decided to go by train today rather than walking.

Fabulous cappuccino with breakfast decorated with fresh flowers.

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Photos

Rocky walking trails
I think they looked like dry river beds