Cinque Terre Trail
We took off early in the morning to hike the Cinque Terre trail connecting the 5 towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. It was good we headed out early and that we started in Monterosso, as the day became hot quickly and we did most of the steep hiking in the cooler part of the day and under cover or shade (mostly). The trek between Monterosso and Vernazza was particularly grueling and we felt like we were doing a stairmaster workout. But the views we had along the way were spectacular, and for a while, we felt like we had the path to ourselves. You cannot adequately photograph the beauty of the Cinque Terre, pictures along cannot describe the wonder. In a word, it is breathtaking. Hiking the path is more than just the views you get, it is the sounds of the birds and cicadas chirping in the back ground, the smell of the flowers and native foliage, the terraced landscape growing grapes and vegetables, and of course the expanse of blue sea below. It was wonderful to hike between all five towns.
We took off early in the morning to hike the Cinque Terre trail connecting the 5 towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. It was good we headed out early and that we started in Monterosso, as the day became hot quickly and we did most of the steep hiking in the cooler part of the day and under cover or shade (mostly). The trek between Monterosso and Vernazza was particularly grueling and we felt like we were doing a stairmaster workout. But the views we had along the way were spectacular, and for a while, we felt like we had the path to ourselves. You cannot adequately photograph the beauty of the Cinque Terre, pictures along cannot describe the wonder. In a word, it is breathtaking. Hiking the path is more than just the views you get, it is the sounds of the birds and cicadas chirping in the back ground, the smell of the flowers and native foliage, the terraced landscape growing grapes and vegetables, and of course the expanse of blue sea below. It was wonderful to hike between all five towns.
View of Monterosso from the trail (our hotel is the yellow and red dual building in the middle right part of the picture. Our room is the upper right window)
Terraced landscape
Monterosso to Vernazza was 3 km and Vernazza to Corniglia was 4 km, each climbing a couple hundred feet in elevation and then back down again. Corniglia to Manarola and Manarola to Riomaggiore were both 1 km in length and fairly flat. The last section of the walk, between Manarola and Riomaggiore is called the Via dell Amore, the path of lovers. It was a nice walk to the end for us after the tough stretches previous and we enjoyed the easy walk in. Of course, we were not about to take the trek back and hopped the train back to our hotel.
Monterosso to Vernazza was 3 km and Vernazza to Corniglia was 4 km, each climbing a couple hundred feet in elevation and then back down again. Corniglia to Manarola and Manarola to Riomaggiore were both 1 km in length and fairly flat. The last section of the walk, between Manarola and Riomaggiore is called the Via dell Amore, the path of lovers. It was a nice walk to the end for us after the tough stretches previous and we enjoyed the easy walk in. Of course, we were not about to take the trek back and hopped the train back to our hotel.
Vernazza (the most picturesque of the five towns) 
Town of Vernazza with Monterosso in the back ground 
Town of Manarola
Corniglia with Manarola in the backgroundWe spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the beach, swimming and reading and enjoying our last few days in Italy. We travel tomorrow to Milan for our flight out Saturday back to the States. The Cinque Terre has been nice, but I think we like our beaches in the US just as much.
Dan and Carol on the Via dell Amore
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