Cinque Terre Day!

Buongiorno!

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the trip so far, as we checked out the five towns called the Cinque Terre. We stayed in Riomaggiore the night before and looked outside before leaving - it was a beautiful, blue-sky day and we were excited to get moving! Breakfast was included in our hotel price, so we went down to Bar Stazione for our meal. We got cappuccinos, omelets, and orange juice, a good start to the day.

We caught the 9:03 train to Corniglia and began walking through the towns. From the train station, we ascended to the city center along the path, going about a half mile up the stairs. We had great views of Manarola and the vineyards as we walked up! Once in town, we explored the various viewpoints and noticed some really cute restaurants (the shark one was my favorite)!

Next, we hit the famous “Blue Trail” towards Vernazza. Along the way, we saw all sorts of vegetation - lemons, grapes, nectarines, cherries, tomatoes, figs, and flowers. We were quite impressed with the monorail grape movers (we called them “contraptions” all day) that were visible all around the hills of the Cinque Terre! It took us a little over an hour to reach Vernazza on the trail.



After descending into Vernazza, we picked up a snack and walked through town. The lemon soda was so refreshing! We did a little souvenir shopping and noticed a cute cat on the scarves, too. Vernazza was tiny and had a cute port, small main town, excellent sea views from the top, and its recognizable tower. It ended up being Ray’s favorite (and mine) for those reasons, though I think our extra time and Riomaggiore makes it hard to fully pick!

After exploring Vernazza a bit, we continued on the Blue Trail to Monterroso Al Mare. We got some great views in both directions along the way! The second leg of the hike took us about an hour and a half. 

We were ready for lunch and done with hiking since the Blue Trail was not open for the other two legs of the hike (and has not been for the last decade due to a landslide), so we sat down for lunch at Emy’s Way in Monterroso. I got a bruschetta plate with anchovies (local specialty), pesto (delicious and local), and tomatoes. Ray got a margherita pizza. I enjoyed a lemon spritz and Ray got a beer. It was nice to rest our legs for a bit and enjoy some great food! I also got to use a little bit of my Italian learned on my last trip to Italy. Our waiter looked a lot like the guy on the restaurant’s logo, so I asked him “come ti chiamo” and we learned that he was Emiliano. He grew up in Italy and opened the restaurant to serve others good food, his way! We walked along the rest of Monterroso afterwards and enjoyed the views!

Next, we took the train to Manarola. The town was small (but not quite as small as Vernazza) so we had a relatively quick visit. It was beautiful! I loved how it was perched on the cliff but still had the characteristic marina and colorful houses. 



After Manarola, we took the train back to Riomaggiore and concluded our visit to the Cinque Terre. Ray wanted to go swimming a little so we headed down to the marina. We enjoyed hanging out there for a while! For dinner, we decided to build a little “picnic” from various foods around town. We picked up a bottle of wine from the local Enoteca/wine house, takeaway pasta from Primo Piatto. I got pesto, Ray got gnocchi with tomato and basil. We also picked up some tiramisu for dessert from Dolci Terre (the same place as the night before). While we had good intentions of only getting one, the owner remembered us, asked if we’d liked our previous one (we loved it), and invited us to try another. We got the coffee one and the chocolate one, and the jury’s still out on which one is better!

I grew up hearing my parents’ stories from their visit to the Cinque Terre and knew I really wanted to go there someday. I am so glad we made the trip out to the 5T - it was everything I imagined it would be and more!

Amy