Cinque Terre

After one day of sight-seeing in Florence, Nate and I woke up very early to go on an all day tour of the Cinque Terre.  Friendly travel trip:  if you are looking for day or half day trip, try using the website Viator.  If you are like me and can't afford 7 day tours of Europe, then this is a good alternative.  Viator allows you to search and book tours from many different companies.  You can also read reviews of the tours.  All of the tours Nate and I did in Italy were through Viator and they were all excellent.  I also booked all my Spain tours through them.  They are affordable and cheaper compared to other tours I saw online that offered the same type of tour.  

Cinque Terre is about a two hour bus ride from Florence.  There was a large group going, but two tour guides to break up the group.  Upon arrival, I knew it was going to be an amazing day when I saw this:

Village of Manarola

We would be doing some hiking among the five villages of the Cinque Terre.  Cinque Terre is a national park in Italy.  The homes are built into the cliffs, which drop down into the Mediterranean Sea.  Residents continue to farm the land in a terrace-style.  Our day began in the village of Manarola.  We walked through the picturesque little village with it's colorful houses, and up onto the trail where we were afforded amazing sweeping views.

The houses appeared to just be stacked on each other!

Street view in Manarola

After Manarola, we walked to the next village, Corniglia.  There we had to ascend hundreds of stairs to get to our lunch!  But it was worth the climb.  Our lunch was a seafood plate and pesto.  I love pesto and hadn't enjoyed it yet this trip in Italy, so I was excited about that.  The drizzling rain let up for about 20 minutes, allowing us to enjoy some afternoon sunshine.  Here are some photos from Corniglia...

Climbing the stairs....

And here were our views at the top!

The sun finally came out (for a few minutes anyway)

I love the bright colors with the watercolor filter

After lunch, we began our 90 minute hike from Corniglia to the next village, Vernazza.  You can also take the train between villages (which we also did on the tour a few times).  This stretch of the Cinque Terre is considered to have some of the best views of the Italian Riviera.  Every time we rounded a bend, we were rewarded with sweeping views.  Here are some photos from the hike....

Lots of neature to appreciate

Nate, taking a break from making fun of how slow I hike, to smile for the camera

Sweeping panoramic of the Italian Riviera coastline

Leaving Corniglia behind

Just awesome!

Made it to Vernazza!

In the next village, Vernazza, Nate and I enjoyed some gelato by the sea.  It was the best gelato in Italy, hands down.  Vernazza is a picturesque village built on a peninsula that juts out into the sea.  There were more hotels, shops, and restaurants here than in the previous two villages we visited.

Colorful and picturesque Vernazza

Vernazzo

Street view in Vernazza

Beach in Vernazzo, a great place to enjoy a yummy gelato!

From Vernazzo, we took the train to Monterosso, another village that also caters to tourists.  In Monterosso, Nate and I enjoyed some free samples of local wine, limoncello, and honey.  We didn't have very much time to spend there before catching the train back to the first village (we skipped it coming in), Riomaggiore.  In Riomaggiore, we went on a little walking tour of the village.

Charming home in Riomaggiore

More steps to get a view of the village

At the end of the tour, the group enjoyed a glass of local wine on a terrace facing the sea.  Although it was drizzly part of the day, it really was an amazing day.  I would absolutely recommend Cinque Terre to anyone visiting Italy.  I would love to go back and perhaps stay in one of the villages in the summer, and have time to relax and enjoy la dolce vita.  Cinque Terre is a photographer's dream, with it's sweeping views and colorful villages.  You can also take a boat ride to see the villages from the sea; unfortunately, boats were not running when we went due to weather.  It's hard not to fall in love with the Cinque Terre.

Ciao until next time :)