Day 4 - Exploring Cinque Terre

Day 4 - Exploring Villages of Cinque Terre

I (Randy) should have probably started our Cinque Terre portion of the trip with some back ground information. Cinque Terre is an area on the west coast of Italy. It's mainly known for its 5 picturesque villages. From north to south:


Monterosso

Vernazza

Cornelia 

Manarola (Where we are staying)

Riomaggiore 


Each town has its own vibe, charm, beat.  Whatever you want to call it. Hiking between the towns is popular since the hikes are fairly short, and thus you can experience multiple towns on a given day.  You can also take the local train to each (literally 5 minutes between each), or there is a ferry service that runs between the towns.


This morning started out rainy as we headed out to breakfast. Luckily it cleared up as we finished eating.



Yesterday as noted, we hiked between Manarola and Riomaggiore. The plan today had been to take the ferry from Manarola to Monterosso and explore the town. Then hike to Vernazza, explore it, then train back to Manarola. 


After our tough hike yesterday, we decided to skip the hike part and just ferry and train to each town. We then found out the ferry doesn't stop in Manarola since they are working on the dock. So plan B. Train to Monterosso, train to Vernazza, and ferry back to Riomaggiore and do the easy hike back to Manarola. To make a long story short, the ferry didn't run today to any of the towns due to rough seas. So ALL ABOARD....



First stop was Monterosso via train. Like four of the five towns (Cornelia is the exception), Monterosso sits on the water and the town has a couple main streets that run up the hill. Shops are situated at street level with dwellings above. Hillsides are dotted with terraces growing grapes and lemons. Monterosso has an old convent, cemetery, and castle on a small hill which we walked up. We then wandered through town, drank a lemon granita (slush) and had a snack of bruschetta before heading to take the train to Vernazza.















Vernazza is supposed to be the hipper/partier town. It had one main street with shops. It seemed like it was more crowded than the other towns. Maybe everyone wanted to be hip. Back to the train and back to "home", Manarola.









Back in Manarola we did a short hike up on the terraces that over looked the town. After the hike we enjoyed another snack and headed back to our Vrbo for some downtime before dinner. 







We had dinner at a local place known for its pizza, which was delicious. Dessert was tiramisu and cannolis, both of which were delicious. We discussed which of our dinners was the best and even though we had favorites, all were good. As far as the towns go, we think we liked "our" town of Manarola the best.








Overall, we had a great couple of days in Cinque Terre. We highly recommend spending at least two days here if you make it to Italy.


Tomorrow we pack up and head to Florence for some pasta, wine, and lots of Renaissance art.


Chiao!




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