Cinque Terre

Manarola
see all photos »

Our Air Transat flight landed us in Frankfurt Germany on the morning of the 26 May. Hartwell was on the same flight (travelling for work, lucky guy!) so we took the train to downtown Frankfurt with both him and his friend Christian (an ecologist PhD who lives in Germany). Hartwell and Christian had catching up to do. We had a great conversation over breakfast - Christian updated Hartwell on the reforstation project in Costa Rica and we shared common thoughts on global energy use.

After two long days of navigating bus, train and plane schedules, we finally arrived in Cinque Terre(Monterosso to be exact). Much thanks to both a friendly Italian law student and a business professor from Norway - without their help we would not be here! :)

Beach in Monterosso
see all photos »

After a slight panic attack trying to find a room on a very busy Saturday (this a popular spot for Italians to spend their weekends on the beach!)... we managed to secure an apartment. After intense and confusing negotiations with an italian baba, we agreed on a price and sealed the deal... mere seconds later, a young american showed up at the door, out of breath and desperate for a room. Since we are sympathetic people due for returning the kindness shown to us (it's true!), we agreed to let Josh and his girlfriend Katie sleep in the pull out bed in the living room of 'our' apartment. Turns out they live in Tuscon, but she is originally from Edmonton and still has family there, no kidding! Needless to say, we got along famously and spent the evening together, um, drinking wine! We had happy hour drinks overlooking the beach, then had a delicious italian meal complete with limoncella courtesy of the table next to ours.

Corniglia (sorry for the rotated photo!)
see all photos »

We spent the next day lounging on the beach trying to beat the heat...  the limone gelato sure hit the spot!

The next day we met up with Josh and Katie again to hike the trail along the coast between the five towns of Cinque Terre. We started in Monterosso, then hiked to Vernazza, then Corniglia, Manarola, and finally Rio Maggiore.  It was a great workout-- we took lots of breaks to take in the spectacular views (see photos!) (Miriam, we found the 'special beach' at Corniglia...  the tunnel was quite something. You forgot to tell us about the troll that demands a hefty sum to pass through!) We went swimming at Manarola, and ate supper in Rio Maggiore on a patio suspended high above the water with 180 degree views of the Mediterranean.

Vernazza - oops forgot to rotate the photo!
see all photos »

Today is our last day in Cinque Terre before we head to Rome on May 31 to meet Rick and Amie! :)