This is my favorite place in Italy. Cinque Terra translates to Five Lands. Each of these 5 costal towns are unique in character and geography. If you're ambitious, you can hike from the 1st town to the 5th in a full day. Each town has a tiny train station. If you're in the back of the train, you can easily miss your stop. We wanted to start off the day in town #4 Vernazza. Me being me, I caused everyone to miss our stop and ended up in town #5, Monterroso so we started our hike there instead. The moderately strenuous hike from Monterroso to Vernazza turned out to be in my opinion, the most beautiful hike in the world. We started off with views of the beach. As we got higher , the waters got bluer. We crossed small creeks and vineyards high up on the hills. At some points along the trail, there was only about 6 inches of width between the mountainside and dense foliage overgrowth below us (if we had fallen, it would have been less than 6 feet). This is my favorite place.....
Beach in Monterroso looks so inviting
Beach in Monterroso overlooking the Ionian Sea
As we got higher and higher the water got bluer. Monterroso is now in the rear view mirror.
The only sign post we saw
Dense overgrowth provided shelter from the sun
Vineyards along the hike
On such a hilly terrain, this transports a worker and his grapes back and forth
Overlooking Vernazza's Beautiful Harbor. It's all downhill from here! There's still a remaining 1/2 mile hike into Vernazza.
A cool front door
Just a quaint looking front stoop
Boats in the Vernazza Harbor
Wonder what they're looking at?
Vernazza Street Scene
Almost looks too comical