Since we originally began planning our trip to Europe, the Cinque Terre portion of the Italian Riviera was a must-do! We saved it for a time frame when we would not require internet because the tiny fishing villages are just not connected like we normally would need them to be. While there – we had such a great time – we barely even missed it.
We stayed in Riomaggiore and loved our view over the main road. With no cars in the town, it was a great people-watching space! As we explored the picturesque towns, we were very happy with our Riomaggiore base.
We did two of the four hikes between the towns and took the train, shuttle bus, and boat to supplement the hiking.
The Via dell`Amore to Manarola was a lovely, striking walk and was even more romantic after dark. We walked all over the town of Manarola and climbed over and on top of the vineyard rock walls surrounding it. A scientist has speculated that there is an equivalent amount of wall in Cinque Terre to the total amount of wall in the Great Wall of China. Cinque Terre walls were all assembled and retained without mortar. After climbing those hills, it became easy to see why the local wine, the Sciacchetra is as expensive as it was but delicious and worth it.
The hike from Manarola to Corniglia was more strenuous but a nice cliffside hike nonetheless. We took the shuttle to the top of Corniglia and saved the 377 steps in switchback stairs for our journey back to the train station. The next day we were supposed to go from Vernazza to Corniglia or Monterosso but instead found a bottle of Prosecco and whiled away the afternoon on a bench at the harbor piazza. That’s where we met Mike and Sue (Maylene will connect the dots in her post). Monterosso was fun, but definitely a resort town and not really up our alley. Vernazza’s lovely harbor piazza almost had Riomaggiore beat but we loved the residents of the area and watching the town wake up and fall asleep.
We saved a few of the hikes because we’re definitely coming back to CT and we wanted to go swimming before summer was over. The swimming was good with crystal clear water and small waves until medusa (jellyfish) drove us out and my slipper broke on the rocks so Maylene had to pull a broke-anic with a rubberband until we made it to the apartment.
Cinque Terre was everything that we thought it would be: beautiful, relaxing, and a really mellow place to hang out and do a whole lot of nothing. Here are more pics.
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