Cinque Terre

What a fantastic day!  Hit all 5 cities in Cinque Terre and spent 4 hours on the beach!  Huzzah!

We got up early to catch the 8:07 train to Corneglia.  The first 200 steps up were the hardest!  They were just from the train station to the hilltop town.  Cute, quaint, super compact!  We bought pastries from here and took them out to the end of the city overlooking the sea to eat them.  Stopped in a grocery and bought meat and cheese and apples for the hike.

We set off.  Immediately the path meandered up toward the top of the hill.  It was being maintained and we were walking on poppies and other fresh flowers chopped off by the guys with weed-wackers working a km or so in front of us.  It was hot though, and we had to stop several times to cool down.  When we caught up with them, we started climbing for real.  Elongated stairs so that pack animals could use them too. 

This path had spectacular views back toward Corneglia and even more gorgeous views toward Vernazza.

We arrived in Vernazza and walked straight down to the water.  We sat on a shaded bench and devoured all of the food we bought in Corneglia.  

We bought Meghan a swimsuit and headed for the last town, Monterosso del Mare.  This walk was much more challenging.  There were times I wanted to quit, an especially brutal first 1/4 of the trail was straight up.  We had been warned by a lady in the swimsuit store that the beginning of this trail would be brutal, and she did not disappoint.

But, we did it!  And walking down into Monterosso has such a good feeling when you know you pushed through the 4 miles and made it.  We went to eat and then walked to the other side of town to rent 2  umbrellas and 4 lounge chairs.  Very relaxing so we spent the whole 4 hours on the beach.

We hopped on a train to go to Levanto for dinner.  When we arrived, I was unwilling to stay.  The city was gigantic and I didn't want to walk away from the train station there for fear we would not make it back. Fortunately, the next train was in 10 minutes and it was express.  It stopped in Monterosso and then Riomaggiore.

We ate dinner at Ristaurante Lila.  The food may have been the best I had for the trip so far.  Tuna seared on the outside and raw on the inside with eggplant ragout and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.  Mike had ravioli stuffed with grouper with cherry tomatoes and clams.  Yummy!  Home Run!!

Caught the train back to our place at @9:30 and went to bed!  A long and exhausting day but wonderful!