Next stop: Cinque Terre
Oh the famous area of Cinque Terre, where no car can drive and where La Vita è Bella! (Life is beautiful!)
Since getting there takes about 2.5 hours from Florence, we had a short stay in Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre means Five lands. In Cinque Terre National Park, there is five small villages: Monterosso al Mare (being the farthest one), Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore.
We took the train to La Spezia and then took another train to Monterosso al Mare.
In Cinque Terre, you can hike from one village to the other. Since you are going uphill from the first village to the fifth one, the farther you go, the harder it gets! We, of course, decided to do the hike between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza!
It took us an hour and a half to do it and we were sweating like crazy! Great work out! Amazing views! Before the hike, we were sad about the gloomy weather but in the end it was great because it would have been quite the hike with the burning sun!
Anyways, here’s a few pictures from our hike!
You see the small village in the lower right corner of the following picture? It’s Vernazza. Between Monterosso and Vernanzza, there si two big mountains. The hike takes you up both mountains. Enough said!
See how the view is amazing even with the thick clouds in the sky?
This is Monterosso al Mare. I just love the colours!
Me before the sweaty mess.
Italians grown wine grapes in the mountains of Cinque Terre.
I don’t know if it shows but the paths were very narrow.
I really wonder how people get to their houses around here. Oh honey, I forgot to buy milk. Can you run down the mountain to go get some please? See you in 5 hours!
I guess it’s a great way to stay in shape!
See Vernazza over there? We’re on top of mountain number one at this point!
My thought at that specific moment? I’m for sure getting a big gelato when we get there!
Helllllllooooo Vernazza! So nice to finally see you!
After visiting Vernazza (quickly), we took the train to Manarola. The style is very similar as Vernazza.
Unfortunately, with the train schedule, we didn’t have time to go to Corniglia and Riomaggiore.
If you are an outdoorsy, you have to go hike the 5 villages! The view is breathtaking and it is really is fun to do!
Ciao!
Alex
xox