Europe: part 10

Cinque Terre

We woke up in Milan where we took the early train heading down the western coastline of Italy. Brian saw on Rick Steve's Europe the night before we left the area Riomaggiore along with 4 other close cities. It took us from Milan to Riomaggiore about 4 hours. On our trip down we ended up talking to a couple from California who gave us more information on the 5 cities. They said there were cool trails from each city that linked them together and that it was a must do! We also heard from them that Vernazza was hit really hard last year by a heavy rainstorm and a mudslide. We decided in order to see everything we wanted we would need to drop our bags somewhere and get on the trail.  We decided to get off at the middle city and work our way from there. When we got off in Cornelia we realized we shouldn't have stopped there because the train station was by the sea and the city itself was on the hill way up behind us! But we made a decision right? We got our bags and began climbing the hill. We reached the top both angry and hungry when an Italian came up to us and said. Hungry? Come. Sit. Eat. And pointed to his outside cafe overlooking the Mediterranean and the beautiful city a few miles south. 

We ate yummy Italian food.

We decided we wanted to go stay in the southernmost city, which is Riomaggiore. We went back down the hill with our luggage and had to wait at the train station again for over 45 minutes! I was frustrated because the sun was out and here we were with our luggage and nowhere to go at 2 in the afternoon. Finally the train came. We hopped on and rode it down two stops and began looking for a place to stay the night. 

We ended up asking a man who pointed us to edi. We went in and asked edi for the best view for our hotel. Although we paid double that night than any other night, it was worth it for the view we got right on the marina. 

Once we got our luggage in the hotel we set off for the trails. We first went to the lover’s trail that was a lovely walkway right on the coast. It was beautiful and only 20 minutes of a walk. We were then in the next city. We jumped on a train north to Vernazza and walked around the city that was destroyed by the horrible thunderstorm and mudslide last October. 

We got a gelato in town and walked the city. We couldn't get up the tower Brian so desperately wanted to get up to because I believe it was having repairs done to it. We instead set off for the trail between that city and the one northern most. We began and we saw a sign that said the trail would take 90 minutes to walk and complete. It was a beautiful hike and a great view of both cities. 

I wished that it would have really taken 90 minutes because 2 and 1/2 hours is way too long! We got good pictures of the trail and city though. 

While on the trail, we ran into a man who was selling fresh squeezed lemonade.  He said drinks were 1 euro.  I told brian I was dying of thirst..so we got one!  after he squeezed the lemon and put it in a cup for us, i took a drink and said "Mmm thats good".  He said that will be 2 euro.  We were like..you said one.  he said oh no..its 2 euro...  dang Italians!

By the time we finally hit the northern most city we walked to the train station and headed down to Riomaggiore once again. There we decided to eat outside by the sea. It was very nice and we had a great view of the sunset.  

The food was great and the hot chocolate was pudding. We left that place and got some gelato. This was by far the most expensive area of our trip, but the most beautiful. After that we went around the city just walking until it was dark out. We then went to our amazing hotel and went to bed.