Cinque Terre

After we left the farm, we traveled to Cinque Terre, which is comprised of five coastal cities along the western border of Italy. It is pretty much hippie-heaven; UNESCO declared it a protected territory, there are recycling bins everywhere, and hikers flock to trek in the beautiful scenery.

Cinque Terre is also known for its vineyards. Since its so hilly, there are tiers of grapes along the mountains.

tiered vineyards

We stayed in the only hostel in Manarola — we had to lug our heavy suitcases up a mountain and about 40 steps to arrive at the front door. But I packed it, so I carried it with only a little complaining.

 Manarola

In Cinque Terre, you can either hike between the villages or take the train. So in the a.m., we were ambitious and started out on the trail. We hiked north to Corniglia, where we had to march up 382 steps to make it into the town. That was fun...

steps up to Corniglia

From there, we decided to take the harder trail up into the mountain for a bit of a mid-morning workout, to reach the next village. Turns out, it really went up the entire mountain. I kept thinking it was going to turn and head back down, but in the end, we ended up with a tremendous view and some buns of steel.

view of Corniglia

We finally made it down to the next village, Vernazza. It was quaint, lined with little shops and cafes, and was definitely my favorite town. We grabbed some lunch, got lazy and decided to train it to the most northern town, Monterosso.

Monterosso