Incredible Italy: The Cinque Terre

Buongiorno!  (Good day in Italian.)

Finally we arrive in Italy.  Instant happiness.  We began our journey with a bang by staying in Monterosso.  It is a beach town on the Ligurian Sea, and one of the five villages that makes up the Cinque Terre region.  The five villages that make up Cinque Terre are unique in that they do not allow any tourist vehicles in the small villages.

... Intro by Dan

Monterosso and the Cinque Terre are just beautiful!  Each village is full of colorful houses which compliment the bold blue of the Mediterranean Sea.  The steep hillsides outside of town are full of vineyards and groves of lemon and olive trees.  The area, along Italy's northern coast, has been made popular in recent decades thanks to the famous Rick Steves who has been pushing the area for tourism since visiting years ago.  We can see why Rick and several friends of ours all loved it here!

We arrived mid afternoon via narrow windy roads on August 23 and enjoyed our first supper in Italy on a seaside patio taking in the lovely views.  After dinner and a stroll through town in search of gelato we called it a night in order to get an early start on a hike he next morning.  Did we mention that part of the appeal the Cinque Terre has are its hiking and walking trails which connect all five villages?

(Side note: that first evening marked the beginning of Dan's recently found love of gelato.  We've spent many a night post-dinner in search of the sweet, delicious dessert!  What do you prefer? ice cream vs. gelato)

The next morning we headed out for a several hour hike towards the neighboring village of Vernazza (photos above) to the southeast.  The path was crowded but the vantage points and views were well worth the effort and the crowds.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch along the small bay/marina in Vernazza before catching the train (yes, we cheated and caught a ride...) to the next of the five villages, Corniglia (photos below).

Unlike it's sister villages, all built on natural bays along the shoreline, Corniglia is perched up on the cliffs with no natural port.  This was definitely my favorite of the villages - it had fewer crowds and lovely views of the coastline.  While roaming the narrow, windy streets we enjoyed a refreshing Granita (a frozen beverage made of the juice from local lemons, sugar and ice).  Yum!

Unfortunately we didn't make it to the final two villages farthest east, Manarola and Riomaggiore.  The walking trails were closed to/from them and we chose to spend our final day exploring Levanto, a larger city to the west of Monterosso, instead.

Our time in Monterosso was a point in our trip where we noticed many English speaking people around us, unlike in France and Switzerland.  We had come to learn how isolating it can be while traveling being the only two to chat with.  Along the trail to Vernazza we met a nice woman hiking on her own from Sweden whom we chatted with for a while along with a girl our age from Durango, Colorado.  Our inability to communicate in a language other than English made us both realize how much we wished we knew another language!  Perhaps Dan will brush up on his German and I on my Spanish?

Our first taste of Italy in the Cinque Terre was fabulous - delicious food, local wine and afternoons spent swimming in the clear blue Mediterranean.  Can it really get any better than this?!

- Kelsey