The Cinque Terre: La Dolce Vita

Our Village
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Finally the Cinque Terre, the world renowned, beautiful Italian destination!!!! We made it. Peter has entered Italy and I don't think we will ever leave. The land of Spaghetti and Pizza. We love it.

We have arrived to one of the most beautiful places in the world. I had wanted to visit the Cinque Terre since the first time I herd about it on a trip to Italy when I was in high school. The Cinque Terra, which literally means 'Five Towns', is a series of, you guessed it, five tiny villages - Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso -  that are suspended on cliffs along the Mediterranean.  The villages are connected by a trail, as well as the train if you want to be a looser and take the easy way. The trail winds it's way along the sea, through olive tree groves, grape vines, and along beautiful rock walls into the little town centers of the villages, it is truly breathtaking.

an absolutely amazing time

The Trail
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We planted ourselves in the village of Riomaggiore where we rented a small apartment that overlooked the main street.  On our budget getting a room that overlooks the sea was near impossible.  But, we were fine, since our apartment was clean and comfortable, and came with a kitchen that allowed us to take advantage of all of the fresh pastas and vegetables in the shops below our place.

Since the pass to hike the trails is a bit expensive, we opted to spend the first day taking a trip up the coast to the town of Santa Margarita and the infamous rich-hangout of Portofino.  This turned out to be a good idea because the weather was terrible, so walking the trail would have been out of the question anyways.  The weather was so terrible however, that it pretty much limited what we could do when we got to Portofino.  So, we drank some coffee in the main Piazza and then turned around to head home...soaking wet by this point.

Suz
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Thankfully, the next day we woke up to perfectly clear skies and 70 degree weather.  We were off!  The beauty of this walk is hard to describe, and not really done justice by the photos, it is amazing.  The first part is only about 20 minutes long and is on a perfectly paved trail.  The 'Walk of Love' as it is called, it the perfect start to a day of infinite glee.  As we continued on the trail it became a bit more rugged and steep, but each time we felt like we were getting tired we would come over the hill to find another picture perfect village below us where we could stop for a bite to eat and a drink.  About five hours and 12km after we left our town we arrived at the end village where we treated ourselves to a cold beer and a train ride home.

Suz
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Without the spunk of the second day, and with much more sore lims, we didn't really get started until late on the third day.  We made it back to the third town were we decided to buy some groceries and head back down to the trail to home.  As it turned out our timing was perfect, as we got to enjoy sunset for the last hour and got back to our apartment right as the sun went down.

All in all, an absolutely amazing time.  The Cinque Terre was without a doubt one of the most beautiful and enchanting places we have ever been to, and it will remain in our memories as a real highlight of the trip.

Cinque Terre
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Now, off to the Leaning Tower of Pisa for a quick photo-op, and then on to Florence for a few days.  take care everyone!