We SO earned the beach

This morning we woke up early to go hiking. The 5 Cinque Terre cities are all connected by paths either really close to the water or up on the terraces. Sadly, the path on the water was eroded away by a landslide so we had to walk on the high hiking trails. When we woke up, we walked to the train station and got on a train to Corneglia. 

In Corniglia, we walked around and got some pastries for breakfast. Then we started walking. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza (the next town) was fairly easy and really pretty. Most of it was overlooking the water and the cliffs. The book said that it was a two hour hike and we did it in an hour and a half. Way to go Vances! 

It was too early to eat lunch in Vernazza like we had planned, so we sat down on a bench in the shade and had some bread, cheese and peaches. I didn't have a swimsuit so the family set out to find me one. I ended up getting one that was red with little white flowers sewn onto it. After our mission was accomplished we set off to hike to Monterosso. 

The first 30 minutes of the hike was complete TORTURE. The path only went one direction... UP. It got better after a while and then it went DOWN. There wasn't a single part, more than 5 yards, that was flat. I think it was totally worth it though. Towards the top, we could see all of the 3 cities we had crossed. Manarola, Corniglia and Vernazza. We got to Monterosso around lunchtime so the four of us split two pizzas and a seafood salad. Then it was BEACH TIME! We rented two umbrellas with four sun chairs from 2:00-7:00. I went swimming right away then laid out in the sun for a while and accidentally fell asleep! Thank goodness I didn't get burnt. When I woke up, Helen and I went to go get sodas. We walked there and back along the beach, then sat and played Donkey for a bit. 

By then we both were a little hot so when Mom and Dad got back from their walk, we got in the water again. When we got out it was time to go.

We caught the train to Levanto but didn't like it and then took the next train out to Riomaggiore. We ate dinner at the best restaurant ever. I had the fresh catch of the day which was sea bass, Mom had grilled tuna with capers, olives and tomatoes, Dad had grouper ravioli with clams and tomatoes and Helen had pesto pasta. After dinner we had some gelato walking back to the train station. Once home in Manarola we could fall into bed on happy, full stomachs.