5 towns of tranquility...

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patience is a virtue emily.....

arrived here for 2 nights not knowing what exactly to expect. nikki had mentioned this as one of her places she HAD to check out  so i was curious as to what the fuss was about. we got the intercity train from milan to genoa where we transferred to a regional one that took us to riomaggiore where we were stayin. we just chilled out the first evening and got our bearings and plans together for the next day.

the views of the surrounding area were amazing

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cinque terre, 5 lands in italian, compromises of 5 little towns along the coast that are all connected by train or a walking trail that takes about 4 and a half hours to walk and is pretty much split 50/50 uphill and down, with some very steep and narrow pathways. Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso are the names of the towns.

we got up early and took the train to monterosso to start our trek back. when we got there we walked through the town and found a little foccacia place and had a spinach foccacia to get us goin for the day. delicious! the trek started with a steep climb up about 700 steps past little vineyards and lemon trees. when we reached a level plain the views of the surrounding area were amazing.

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it took us about an hour and a half to get to the next town which was vernazza. we strolled along the marina and tried some of the fruit from the local grocer before continuing to corniglia. this part of the trail took us to the highest point and the ocean views were class!  there seemed to be more going on here but being the halfway point i guess people coming from both directions were all here at the same time! we stopped here for lunch and watched young german kids jump from the ricks into the water at the marina.

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we strolled on to manarola as the walk was gettin easier at this stage and then finished the walk by takin the Via dell'Amore (lovers lane) path back to riomaggiore. we ended our trail on the rocks in riomaggiore and took a dip in the surprisingly warmish water. that evening we indulged in the seafood and pasta and rounded it all up with some gelato.

an excellent place to visit.