Cinque Terre, Italy - Rest & Relaxation...kinda

 

After our whirlwind tour of Rome and the Naples sites we were ready for a few days of rest and relaxation! We took about a 3 hour train ride from Rome to the Cinque Terre on Italy's west coast on the Ligurian Sea. The train into the Cinque Terre runs under the mountains in World War II tunnels. To get from the train to some of the towns, you have to walk in these old bunker tunnels. There are 5 towns in the Cinque Terre and we decided to stay in the 3rd town Corniglia. Corniglia sits up on the cliffs high above the ocean. To get up to this town we had to walk up 328 steps! It was quite a walk with a big backpack on. To get to our hotel we had to walk through the cobblestone, winding streets of the small town. We poked our heads into a small shop to ask where our hotel was and the guy yelled across the small square to our hotel owner; yes the town was that small! We were pleasantly surprised to find our hotel had a sea view, a rooftop terrace, and a kitchen! After our no thrills, closet room in Rome, we were very grateful to have a nice room!

Streets of Corniglia:

 

Train tunnel:

After relaxing for a bit in the hotel we decided to take a hike to the next town over, Vernazza. There are tons of hiking trails in the Cinque Terre, with the main trails linking the 5 villages. The hike to Vernazza took us about 1hr 45 min.  The trail was well maintained with cobblestone paths and walls along the way.

Trail to Vernazza:

Along the trail we had excellent views of our town Corniglia up on the cliffs.

Corniglia:

The hike was a bit strenuous at times, but eventually we started to go downhill into Vernazza. We had excellent views of the town as we descended. We could see the old town castle and the beach below. The town itself was a lot more crowded with tourists than our small village.

Coming down to Vernazza:

 

Vernazza's Harbor:



 

Streets of Vernazza:

 

Before leaving Vernazza we decided to go into the grocery store to buy some food for dinner. The grocery store was tiny! Jeremy had his big backpack on and got yelled at for wearing it. Then I tried to order some pesto, but the lady kept telling me the amount in the metric system and I had no idea how much to order or how much it would cost! After much confusion and chaos in the store we finally made it out and took the train back to our hotel. We made a nice homemade Italian meal and ate it on our terrace overlooking the ocean!

View from our room:

 The next day we hiked to Manarola. the town next to ours in the other direction from Vernazza. The hike took us about 2 hours and was pretty strenuous during the first part. We climbed up until we got to a small village up in the mountains called Volastra. All along the trail were grape vines. It was beautiful! There were some grapes left on the vine that supposedly they use these grapes to make Sacchiatra, a liqueur only found in the Cinque Terre.

Vineyards along our hike:



Once we got to Volastra, we took a short break for some lunch and then continued to hike down towards Manarola. On the hike down, we walked through some olive groves. The olives on the trees weren't ripe yet though. The village of Manarola is on the ocean, but doesn't have a beach. We were able to walk around some of the cliffs and get some good views of the ocean and the small harbor in Manarola.

Rough Seas!

After exploring the town a bit and getting gelato of course, we headed back to the hotel for another homemade dinner on our terrace.

The next morning we hiked from Manarola to Riomaggiore. The hike was super steep and it was so humid out! The views from the top were amazing though. You could see Manarola below, surrounded by all of the grape vines, and then the cliffs butting up to the ocean. After a strenuous climb up, we finally started hiking down to Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore was a bit of a bigger village than the other we had been to. It had a small, rocky beach, that unfortunately we couldn't get to because of rough seas. The village had a small harbor, but most of the boats were pulled in due to the ocean conditions that day.

Riomaggiore:

Later that night we went out for some local seafood, tried the famous Sacchiatra liqueur and roamed around the streets of Corniglia. The next day was our final day in the Cinque Terre. We were hoping it was going to be a sunny beach day, but unfortunately it was quite overcast and rainy. The rain cleared a bit in the afternoon, but still was not beach friendly weather. We took the train over to Monterosso, the largest and most touristy village of the five. The village had 2 sandy beaches and tons of tourist shops. As we strolled along the shore we found a cool WWII bunker perched up in the cliffs.

Bunker:

 

The beaches in Monterosso were nice, but they definitely weren't the cleanest I've ever seen. So maybe, it was a good thing the weather didn't cooperate!

 

Monterosso:

After exploring Monterosso, we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza. This hike wasn't too difficult and had lots of other people on the trail. The views again were spectacular, and as you got closer to Vernazza there were great views of the town below.

View of Vernazza from trail:

 

 

Overall the Cinque Terre was amazing. We did quite a bit of hiking, so I'm not sure I would say it was complete rest and relaxation, but it was definitely a much needed break from the big cities we have been exploring. Next we are off to Beaune, France to check out the vineyards in Burgundy!