Europe, September, Week Three, Part 1: Cinque Terre!

Ahhhh, Italy! What a wonderful place. Kris and I met in Zurich, Switzerland on 15 September and took a train directly from there to Milan, and then caught a connecting train to La Spezia, which is the southern ‘entry town’ to the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre is comprised of five towns: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare, going from south to north. They are all perched on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, which means sunshine, warmth, and swimming!

This is the life!

We spent a night in La Spezia to take a break from a full day of traveling and took the train to Riomaggiore first thing the next morning. Each of the towns was beautiful and quaint, and full of American tourists! Let’s just say that Rick Steves has that whole area on lockdown; it's awesome! After getting settled in our room at the very top of town (quite the hike with our many backpacks and lots of stairs!), we walked back to the main part of town and decided to go on the quick, 20-minute hike to Manarola, the next town. 

A cute little bench on the Via dell'Amore where lovers can sit and share a kiss :)

The hike between towns is called the Via dell’Amore, since that trail was the main way young people could get to the different towns to find a husband or wife before trains and cars came into the picture. Hiking between Riomaggiore and Manarola is the quickest and easiest of the four sections, and it is absolutely gorgeous! We had wonderful weather the whole time we were in the Cinque Terre, so we basked in the sun and admired the sea views and the lovers’ graffiti scrawled on most surfaces (including plants). It’s a tradition for lovers to lock padlocks onto fences, gates, and metal netting and then throw the key into the sea, symbolizing their endless love. Needless to say, when you’re on the Via dell’Amore, you’re going to see A LOT of locks. It’s pretty cute. :-) 

Manarola, as the sun set.

We wound up hiking the portion between Riomaggiore and Manarola three times on Sunday; we walked once at our leisure, then we decided we wanted to go swimming in Manarola and had to go back to Riomaggiore and get our swimsuits, then we decided we wanted to take sunset pictures before our dinner in Manarola, so we had to go back and get our fancy SLR cameras. Whew! Good thing it was a very easy walk! We had a fantastic sunset dinner at a restaurant in Manarola that overlooked the water and was right near the town’s small marina and then headed back to Riomaggiore for the night.

Caprese salads! We shared these as an appetizer
every night in Italy. SO delicious!!

The next day, we took the train to Corniglia, which is perched on top of an outcropping overlooking the sea. The train station is below, and we sure as heck weren’t going to walk the kilometer up the hill with all our stuff! Luckily, if you have a pass to hike between the towns, which is required, then you can also use the buses that they have! So, we hopped onto a bus and were dropped off in the town square. After getting settled into our room there, we decided to pack a lunch and hit the 90-minute hike north to Vernazza. This hike was much more strenuous; lots of steps and ups and downs, but absolutely worth it! It was another day of HOT, beautiful weather, and when we arrived in Vernazza, we enjoyed our lunch at the marina. I think Vernazza was the most picturesque of the towns, although Manarola was quite stunning as well (those two were my favorite towns, if you can’t tell).

The marina at Vernazza.

Overlooking Vernazza from our trail-side cafe.

We explored Vernazza for a while and then headed back up the trail until we reached a café with a beautiful view of the town below, where we refreshed ourselves with coffee (for Kris) and a Coke (for me). I’m not a soda drinker, but I didn’t want anything hot, and a fizzy Coke sounded just right. A moment of weakness, but oh-so delicious! After our return to Corniglia, we walked through town a bit and took pictures and then had a tasty pizza dinner in town. Then, we took a bottle of wine and some chocolate down these awesome steps to the marina far below and sat on the rocks and enjoyed our dessert as the waves crashed in before us. It was an excellent end to another beautiful day.

Kris relaxing on the terrace at the cafe overlooking Vernazza.
Perfection.

Sunset in Corniglia.

We moved onto Vernazza by train the next morning and settled in there before more explorations. Italians take their time doing everything and aren’t really on a schedule, so it took us forever to get checked into our room in Vernazza, but it all worked out. We then hiked the other 90-minute trail to Monterosso al Mare, the northern-most town and the one with the best beaches. This time, we were prepared and already wearing our swimsuits, so as soon as we arrived at the end of the trail, we set up a spot on the beach and jumped right into the Mediterranean! I love swimming in the sea or ocean and I don’t get to do it enough, so it was a real treat to get to swim in the Med a couple of times. 

A beach in Monterosso al Mare

After a few hours of relaxing and walking around Monterosso, we decided to take the train back to Vernazza and try to find some dinner. We found another great spot to eat at the marina overlooking the sea and enjoyed yet another delicious pizza and gorgeous sunset.

Sunset and a boat between diners.

The restaurant we went to in Vernazza on our last night
in the Cinque Terre. Beautiful!

I was spotting these little lizards ALL over the place! They were so fast!

 The next morning, we left Vernazza and hopped onto a train headed to Roma! To be continued… :-)