Week Eleven: Cinque Terre

Italy is a beautiful country. When the lush, fertile rolling hills of Tuscany meet with a painted clear blue sky, my soul flies. I love being caught between the soaring peaks of the Apennine Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. It's a captivating country. But I can easily say my favorite part of Italy is Cinque Terre - a set of five small towns right along the northern coast in the region of Liguria. 

Because the towns lie so close together, it's a single train ticket to travel from the first town, Riomaggiore, on to Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare. All of the cities look like they've been etched out of a very colorful stone. The colorful houses that are built into the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean are perfectly picturesque. 

We went first to Corniglia and climbed a set of 368 steps leading up to this view over the sea. 

After Corniglia, we headed to Vernazza and explored the town a bit. We settled for a lunch spot in Vernazza. Cinque Terre is best known for pesto, seafood, and focaccia bread. 

In Vernazza we also took some photos on the edge of the shore. Monterosso al Mare is really the only one of the five towns that has a physical beach, but I loved the jutting rocks of the other towns.

After Vernazza, we headed to Monterosso al Mare and my group split up. Because my friend Alyssa and I were looking for more of a climbing experience, we headed back to the first two towns, Riomaggiore and Manarola. Riomaggiore's hiking trails were closed because of recent mud slides, so we headed on to Manarola. 

This is Riomaggiore:

Manarola was exactly what I was looking for. Even though the physical hiking trails were closed, we found a couple beaten semi-off-limits trails that gave beautiful views of the village. 

It was easily my favorite. 

After climbing up and above, we snaked down and around the village to see this:

Finally, we settled on a couple rocks and watched the ocean for an hour before heading back to Florence. 

I couldn't have been more pleased with visiting Cinque Terre. My only complaint was my lack of time. I could spend an endless amount of time exploring each of the towns! 

♥ Em