Day 4: The Cinque Terre

Andrew keeps telling me that I post too many pictures on these Italy posts. I honestly can't help it. There are hundreds of pictures I'm withholding...I promise. Maybe a few of you will soldier through.

In case you didn't know, Andrew and I decided to stop dreaming about it and go to Italy back in October. Other Italy posts can be found here: 

Intro 

Day 1 (Milan)

Day 2 (Lake Como)

Day 3 (Bellagio, Bergamo etc).

This post is not a joke. These pictures are actually real. The Cinque Terre along the Italian Riviera is amazing. We woke up early the 4th day and prepared ourselves to hike along the Cinque Terre (or "the 5 lands"). These five lands cling to the cliffs along the Ligurian coast and for centuries one could only navigate from one to another by footpaths. 

This is the port at Rapallo which is where our hotel was located. We took a train to the last town, "Riomaggiore" and hiked our way back (we didn't actually have time to hike between all 5 towns so we took a couple trains as well). These pictures aren't necessarily in order (but mostly they are). Sadly, I can't remember where we were in all the pictures...but I marked the ones I know.

Riomaggiore

 This is what the path that went along the sea looked like. But as you can see behind us...it was closed .

The only way to get from one town to another is either by train, boat, or hiking. We did as much hiking as possible. The boats weren't running because of a strong current that day. There are basically two trails that connect the towns, one by the water and another up the terraced hillside. The path that runs along the sea was closed because of recent landslides. But hiking up and down the terraced vineyards was infinitely better in my opinion. The most gorgeous hikes I have ever been on in my life.

Before heading up the mountain, we managed to get down to the water so we could put our hands in the Mediterranean Sea. We were the only ones on this small shore and there was an empty canoe JUST SITTING THERE...calling our names! But quickly our senses kicked in and we realized we didn't want to be those Americans that needed to be rescued because they took a canoe out on the choppy water (the ferry's weren't even allowed to operate that day). But it was oh so tempting!

It took us a while to find the path uphill but it was well worth the effort. We didn't see another soul the whole time we hiked!

For lunch we stopped at the top of the hill where there was a covered picnic bench (I say picnic bench but of course, it's Italy, so it looked like an ancient ruin with vines of grapes draped along the sides). We ate meats and cheeses and drank fruit nectar. It was heaven.

The hike between Riomaggiore and Manarola

Descending into Manarola

 

About now is where my pictures sort of blend together in my mind and I can't quite remember which picture is from where. At some point we took a train to Corniglia. Corniglia is actually located at the top of the cliffs (so even though we took a train to the general location, we had to hike up to actually get there). It is considered the most remote of the Cinque Terre for that reason.

Corniglia (it smelled like citrus and olive oil...all I remember is eating wonderful gelato and how good it smelled)

We hiked along the ridge you see here from Corniglia to Vernazza at sunset

Vernazza

I love that it looks like Andrew has a pony tail in this picture 

We ate fresh mozzarella by the boats. Vernazza was very charming. We didn't want to leave.

 

 We weren't quite done yet. After this we took a train to the last town, Monterosso al Mare where we had about 1/2 hour before we caught another train back to our hotel. We showered and drove to Portofino for dinner. I'm sure Portofino would have been lovely to see during the day but after being in these quaint little towns, it felt a little too touristy and upscale for my taste. You can imagine we were all asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.