Cinque Terra is a group of five towns located on the coast of Northern Italy. So on a hot weekend in June what better to do than go spend some time by the water. The towns are built on the sides of cliffs and are truly beautiful and amazing especially since interspersed with the towns are equally beautiful and amazing vineyards that are terraced along the hills.
So after a short 4 hour drive we arrived in Monterosso, the northern most town, on Friday. We enjoyed a few drinks, a short walk into the old part of town and to the top of a hill, and a lovely dinner on the board walk. Monterosso is the most developed town of them all and the most tourist packed. It also has the largest beach areas. While we stayed in Monterosso we really didn't spend much time there.
On Saturday we woke early and set out to hike from Monterosso to Riomaggari, the southern most town. We made it to Vernazza without problem after about 1.5 hours. We were told that the path to Corniglia was closed, we tried it anyway and besides a few OSHA violations it was perfectly fine. While the rest of the towns terrace down to sea level, Corniglia is situated at the top of the cliffs, so to get there from the Train it is 300 steps up and to get to the water it is 300 steps back down. Despite adding 600 steps to our journey, we swam there anyway since we had just completed 3 hours of hiking and thought we were through the worst of it.
Then we tried to reach Monarola. The map again said the trial was closed but we thought we are smarter than the map (the last part was allegedly closed too) so we tried. Well this part unfortunatley really was closed and the detour took us STRAIGHT up to the top of the mountain for over an hour before winding down vineyards on the other side. It was truly amazing and probably the prettiest part of the whole hike but also the hardest and longest at the hottest part of the day. Luckily we were able to reward ourselves with Gelato and it was only a 20 minute handicap accessible hike to Romaggio where we rewarded ourselves again with an amazing dinner and a train ride back.
(I was so exhausted we didn't take single picture of the hike UP! But here is one of the view from the top -- note the city to the left in the picture is on top of cliffs, so that is how high we were. )This picture doesn't even begin to describe the beauty and intrigue we saw along the way. Doorways to terraces in the strangest places reminding you of Secret Garden, old rock foot bridges over small gullies, the crazy roller coaster (I will tell that story later) all while surrounded by friendly locals and workers along the route. All in all it took us from 9am until 6pm to do the whole hike with breaks and exploring included.
So on Sunday we did a lot of lounging and no hiking! We took the boat down to Rommaggio enjoyed the towns via the sea, then we went to Monterola via train and enjoyed some beach/rock bathing another lovely meal and a train back to Monterosso. Where we sat on the hill of our hotel with some beer and wine and relaxed as we watched the sun set.
(Picture of Monarola while swimming)
Monday was also pretty lax with a little beach time including some paddle boarding and a train ride to Vernazza for lunch. A short train ride back to Monterosso and some more gelato and we were on our way back to Vicenza.
(Picture from our hotel in Monterosso)
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