From Switzerland we traveled to arguably the most beautiful place on the planet: Cinque Terre, Italy. Some might prefer the Caribbean for sparkling, clear waters and tropical paradise-ness, but this has totally got it beat in my book! Cinque Terre, or "Five Lands", sits on the Mediterranean coast as part of the Italian Riviera. The coastline, the five cities that make up Cinque Terre, and the surrounding hills and vineyards are nationally protected and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area has been settled and farmed for about 1000 years, and is known for its wine, olives, anchovies, and pesto. Wil and I tried them, and they are all the best we've ever tasted!
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| Manarola clock tower. |
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| By the church in Manarola; the cornerstone is from 1338! |
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| Manarola by sunset, so beautiful. |
The five cities of Cinque Terre are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Trains, walking paths, and boats are the main connections between cities; I think only recently have some of them been made accessible by car or bus. We stayed in Manarola, which seemed to be the least crowded with tourists. Manarola has essentially one road winding up the hill from the train station, with other small alleys branching off that road. Near the sea is a large square with lots of food and music. Only one of the cities has a real sand beach; Manarola has a steep, rocky harbor that's perfect if you like swimming in deep water.
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| We tried taking an underwater selfie... |
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| ...but this one worked better. I got a new bikini, and Wil's trusty old Mizzou hat sent for a swim in the Mediterranean! |
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| Floating in Manarola's harbor, looking up at the town. Pure bliss. |
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| The water was so clear! We could see little fishies! |
We hiked and swam a lot while we were in Cinque Terre, since those are the main activities. Since the easy coastal road from Riomaggiore to Corniglia is closed, we decided to take the mountain path up to a tiny city called Volastra and then down to Corniglia. I don't know how the original inhabitants used to do that with all their goods!! We were told it would take about 2 hours to get from Manarola to Corniglia, but it took us an two hours just to get to Volastra and we gained 350m elevation. On the plus side, I had the most delicious fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and pesto sandwich!!
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| Up in the hills looking toward the northwestern part of the Cinque Terre. At this point we were descending into Corniglia. |
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| So many vineyards with amazing grapes! |
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| This is what it looked like every time we had a coastal view. The city you can see down there is Manarola, where we stayed. |
The next day, we wanted to walk the coastal path from Monterosso to Vernazza. Much to our surprise, it was just like the hike we had just taken: lots of elevation gain, lots of stairs...but spectacular views. We even made some friends from Michigan. As a matter of fact, the woman we met went to my rival high school for a year! One of my favorite things about travelling is getting to meet such wonderful people and encountering people from your area of the world.
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| Us hiking. I got a new hat, which I promptly sweated through, but my face didn't get any sunburn! |
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| Vernazza had an old watchtower! Dexter made sure to climb it. |
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| Vernazza from the watch tower. |
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| A view of Monterosso, and you can see some of the terracing. |
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| The traditional sandy beach with umbrellas in Monterosso. |
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