Cinque Terre is small group of five villages along the southern coast of Italy. I had heard of it from someone back home in COMO and along the way others told of us the amazing views so we decided to make a stop there. We arrived on a Saturday at around 4 pm and were staying in the 3rd city called, Corniglia. We only had two nights there, so we quickly got our packs put away and headed on the coastal hike to the 4th village. The views were absolutely incredible. The hikes between towns took around an hour and a half and you hiked up tall peaks to cliffs, on narrow winding paths.
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| Our village, Corniglia, taken from the path about an hour out |
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an example of the pathways
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When we reached the 4th village, Vernazza, we were hungry, however, all of the local restaurants did not open until 7:30 so we headed for the 5th, Monterosso. That is when we ran into some interesting weather. The way the paths work is you first spend 30 minutes walking up the cliff sides. So many little, crappy, stairs you would not believe it. By the time we were half way up the hike we were just bitching and moaning, wanting food, and getting tired. It got so muggy that we ended up just taking off the ole shirts and attacking the hike with haste. Near the top of the climb it started raining which just made us even more mad. On top of that we started getting pelted with hail. Thankfully it was just a flash rain and did not last long, and to our surprise we realized it cooled us off immensely and made the hike much more enjoyable. Our moods took a drastic turn for the better. We attempted to get a drink at a water fall and passed a lemonade stand along the way. We felt accomplished when we finally got to Monterosso and decided to break the bank and destroy a giant seafood dinner. There was a rainbow that appeared just after our hike, once we sat down for dinner and we took it as a sign to stuff our faces.
We took a look at the menu and decided to go wild and order their famous seafood stew meal. It had fresh lobster, octopus, mussels, scallops, and prawns. We also started off with some brochette and pesto and ordered a bottle of their Chianti. A meal fit for kings, and at the time we felt like it, hell, we were kings. We may have dropped a hundy on it but it was worth every morsel.
The last day of our time in Cinque Terre we checked out the first two villages, however, the paths were closed so we did not do any hiking that day. We just enjoyed the views, bathed in the sun near the beaches, and listened to the waves crash. It was a peaceful day.
Next stop, Venice.
Enjoy!
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